DUBAI // A star-gazing group is bringing its focus back down to Earth with plans to expand its desert camp into an educational resort for families.
The Dubai Astronomy Group will add a farmyard, playground and chalets to the site in Zubair, near the border with Sharjah.
The aim is to give visitors more activities during the day before the serious business of looking up at the skies starts when the sun goes down.
"People look at the sky at night, but what about during the day," said Hasan Al Hariri, chair of the Dubai Astronomy Group.
"Here we will have activities during the daytime. They can spend three or four days in the camp without running out of things to do."
When the site opened three years ago, there was only a basic desert camp. Now it boasts a permanent observatory, an office building and a small restaurant block.
The third phase of its expansion, which will start soon, will transform the area into an educational resort featuring chalets to make life more comfortable for people staying for long-term star-gazing projects, as well as guests who might not own a tent.
There will be a farmyard with goats and sheep, regular seminars on planting in the desert, and an area for people to fly remote-control helicopters.
The camp could also be used by schools and boy scout groups.
Mr Al Hariri said the camp, which measures about 400 metres by 500 metres, cost Dh4 million to build but he did not say how much it would cost to expand.
At the beginning of the month about 400 people visited to watch the Perseids meteor shower.
Guests typically pay Dh100 a night. So far the camp has been run on a non-profit basis, but it could become more commercial in the future.
"We will see how it goes," Mr Al Hariri said. "We will gather feedback and use that for the basis of design for new camps in other places and perhaps in other countries, too."
He said the idea could be successful because it was something unique for the UAE.
"This has never been done in the region before, it's something completely new for Dubai," he said.
Mr Al Hariri said he hoped the camp would encourage people, especially youngsters, to spend more time outdoors and connect with nature, particularly out in the desert.
"There are too many attractions available indoors," he said. "These things really pull people out from the natural environment. They are artificial activities that stop people from enjoying nature.
"When we were children, there was not much TV and we used to go and play outdoors. In building this camp I'm trying to provide a similar environment for my children and for everyone. "Going to the park isn't touching nature. Touching nature means going to the desert - that's the real nature, looking at the beauty of what we have in our environment. These things make us very close to the Earth."
Mr Al Hariri said being in an environment where they could learn from the desert, and the stars, could foster a sense of wonder in the natural world in children that could translate into a desire to study more.
"If you stimulate children, take them out into the natural environment and show them the beauty of natural things, they will become scientists," he said.
mcroucher@thenational.ae
