Sunday is the start of the week and at the moment my routine involves visiting my most remote school first. The photo above shows typical scenery in Al Garbia (The Western Zone). Irrigated trees along the central reservation and red sand everywhere else.

The towns have lots of greenery along the roadside. All irrigated of course, with lots of date palms – date season is over now. Madinat Zayad (pictured) hosts a date festival at the end of July/ beginning of August each year. This is one of the highlights on the regions calendar after the Mazayina Dhafra Camel Festival.

Madinat Zayad is the only town we pass through on the trip from Abu Dhabi to the Liwa Oasis and I work in two schools there, so visit twice a week. Will be back tomorrow.

The Liwa Oasis is a string of settlements spreading east and west from the main town of Mezairaa (take a look on Google maps)

Again the town has lots of irrigated palms and gardens as well as fountains but the surrounding land is all red sand.

The underground water supply that created the oasis is put to good use with lots of plantations of date palms but also smaller plots that look to be growing a variety of vegetable crops. There are also large areas of ‘Fodder Farms’ devoted to growing hay which is used to feed the camels which can be seen roaming the sand dunes.

Most signs are in Arabic and English which is just as well. Unfortunately in this case the sign does not really help unless you have a little local knowledge. The school is actually called Moatah School. It really is in the middle of nowhere. No problem with girls sneaking out of school early and walking to the shops.