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?

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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.