Al Futaisi
Al Futaisi (Arabic: الفطيسي) is an island about 8-kilometre (5.0-mile) southwest of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with a size of approximately 50-square-kilometre (12,000-acre).[citation needed]
The largest part of the island, which is 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) long and 5-kilometre (3.1-mile) wide, is covered by a wildlife sanctuary but also a resort for ecotourism was built on Futaisi.[citation needed]
The discovery of old water catchments showed that the original settlement of Futaisi dates back several hundred years.[1] Although the island does currently not have any fresh water, it supports a diverse flora and fauna with Dugong, Osprey, lizards (Uromastyx) and Gazelles.[2]
Futaisi is not connected to the mainland by bridges but has a small airport and a boat dock.[citation needed]
A special sign of the owner of the island, Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, was the construction of a waterway formed by Latin letters in the south of the island "at 24°20′48.32″N 54°19′57.42″E / 24.3467556°N 54.3326167°E", which produced the word 'HAMAD'. The individual letters were almost 500-metre (1,600 ft) long, the channel width was 44-metre (144 ft) and the total width of the word extended over 1,700-metre (5,600 ft) which allowed the word to be read from air or satellite images like Google Maps. The project was abandoned and the waterway filled in by 2012.[3]
References
- ^ "Gulfnews : More water reservoirs found on Futaisi isle". Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ "UAE - Maps & On-line Tours - UAEinteract". Archived from the original on 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Fitch, Asa (10 April 2013). "Abu Dhabi Sheikh Has Name Erased From Private Island". MIDDLEEASTREALTIME. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 June 2019.