Welcome to the land of the desert

The UAE is made up of seven independent sheikhdoms: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah.

They cover approx. 83.600 km² of the north-eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, roughly the size of Austria.

The Emirates border Saudi Arabia to the south and west, and the Sultanate of Oman to the east and north. The country has a coastline of around 1.320 km on the Persian Gulf and around 100 km on the Gulf of Oman (Arabian Sea between India and the Arabian Peninsula).

The country is surrounded by sandy desert (including the second highest dunes in the world - up to around 300 m high - near the Liwa oases near Abu Dhabi), by salt desert and mountain formations in the north and east, the foothills of the Hajar Mountains ( Hajar=rock). The highest elevation is Jebel Yibir at 1.527 m.

Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate, followed by Dubai, and takes up a good 80% of the country. The south of Abu Dhabi merges into one of the largest sand dune landscapes, the Rub al Khali. Interestingly, the translation of the term Rub al Khali means something like “Empty Quarter”.