Hatta Heritage Village -- Pronounced as Haata ( Soft t )
Manasi Chakrabarti {Bandyopadhyay}
There is a wide-spread belief in India that Dubai is a place only of skyscraper and shopping mall – you have nowhere to go besides this frame. If I did not come here to live for a long period, perhaps I’d also believe that.
Dubai , like the whole UAE , knows , how to beautify
everything, how to put emphasis on her traditional culture, how to respect her
past. Hatta Heritage village is one of such places that brings flavour from those bygone days !
Hatta Heritage village is in the heart of Hatta town . Hatta
town lies to the south-east of Dubai's
main territory and is about 134 km east of Dubai City and located relatively high in the Hajar
Mountains. The area was once called Al Hajerin or Al Hajeran, in reference to
the two mountain peaks guarding its north and south borders. It borders Oman to the east and the south,
the Ajmani exclave of Masfut to the west, and Ras al-Khaimah to the north. There
are two roads to go to Hatta , either take via S 112/ Maliha Rd from Dubai and
follow E 102 route towards Hatta or take
Hatta-Oman road which goes in front of Dubai International City / Dragon
Mart towards Madam.
We started our journey from International City on 10.30 a.m. . It was 2nd December, the National Day of UAE and each and every one is in
festive mood. Flag of UAE was flying everywhere ; cars , shops, buildings were decorated; children were running , playing, laughing , helping their parents to carry mats, folding chairs, foods, water bottles, badminton sets to their cars because it is a time for outing .
As we came closer to the road going through the Hajar Mountains , I
felt excitement rising in my mind. The scenic beauty was something new to my
eyes, though not to my mind. Before coming to UAE, I had read a little bit
about Hajar Mountains and now I made myself busy to watch outside and take photos.
The road goes through a not-so-high mountain range with different shades of
colour and in one place, we see the
dune has decorated her with coloured stagnant waves. Hajar mountains seem to be
very much interesting to me, I shall come back to it later.
We reached main round-about of Hatta. In this round-about we saw
Hatta Fort Hotel, Hatta Co-operative Society & Hatta Mall. Here we noticed a signboard
towards Hatta Heritage Village and we took that road.
Hatta Heritage Village, Opened in 2001, has been preserved and reconstructed by the
government to house rural living dating
back to sixteenth century A.D. It consists of traditional mud huts, building,
life-size prototypes, documents, sculptures and so on.
One of the largest houses within the Heritage Village is the Bait Al Wali, ( Bait means house) where
the ruler would reside. It has several rooms, a courtyard and a shaded seating
area. Here we saw "Social Life" , "Fort and Citadel” "Poets Majlis’’ " Drawing room" " Bed room", how to dry
dates, pottery and utensils made by
villagers using clay, leather and copper - mined in the mountains ; read the boards to
know about social customs, from marriage to folklore, games to traditional
songs.
The Hatta Fort (built in 1896 and restored in 1995), is one of the
most significant architectural monuments in the UAE. This fort serves both residential and defence
purpose. It has a large internal courtyard and an 11m high watchtower. The
building wall is made of mountain stones
and mud bricks with the ceiling made with palm fronds, trunks and mud. This
type of ceiling I have seen in Al Ain fort too. The two round watchtowers (1880s)
overlooking the village, are located 2.5m above ground level and have a
small door and semi-circular staircase leading to the roof. Guards would use
ropes to scale the towers and enter through the doors.
Hatta's main economic factor is tourism and water.
Historically the area was able to grow date palms, the fruits were used as a
food source, while the tree as I have stated before, was used for building material. And we went to see
Al Sharia – the date palm tree farm , and falaj - the ancient irrigation system
. Falaj extends several kilometres underground before appearing on the surface.
There is Hatta Hill Park where people had been enjoying picnics and barbecues. From the
tower inside this park can take in a bird's-eye view of the Hajar
Mountains and the villages. Splendid , I assure you !!
For mountain biking, hiking or camping Hatta is one of the
best places among UAE.
The first Honey Festival of UAE took place in Hatta on 1st -4th February 2017 organized by Dubai Municipality. Beekeepers came with different varieties of natural honey products made in this region and outside . People were introduced to different types of honey and how to identify these based on colour, texture, taste and smell. The festival featured a number of activities and events including tent shops, an exhibition for honey products, lectures, specialized sessions and training courses on beekeeping.
You may watch this video of mine for a photo journey unless and until you reach there physically. This is Part - 1. Part - 2 will be uploaded soon.
Please watch in full screan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA0reG0zy8c
Opening hours of Hatta Heritage Village : Saturday to Thursday, 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM
Friday 2:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Official Holiday :8:00 AM – 8:30 AM
Free Entry
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