Buraq Dam - UAE Mountain Bliss
For the Quadrantid meteor shower in early January. we chose to explore a new spot up in the Hajar mountains of the UAE - Buraq Dam.
While the dam didn’t have any water - in fact most of it looked very dry - during out visit, it offered a beautiful quiet and dark spot to look into the night sky, surrounded by mountains. The only downside: The flight path of the DXB runway runs almost directly above this area, so you get a lot of planes in the sky.
It’s a relatively easy drive about an hour out from Dubai, and only the last few hundred meters need a bit of careful driving if you’re not in a 4x4.
We had a few lucky moments dawn, starting to see some meteors after midnight on the northeastern side, but I could only capture two on photos - can you spot them?
This short timelapse video below gives an idea of the amounts of planes flying into DXB during the night, slightly disrupting the peace and quiet of the Hajar mountains.