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The historic Al Jahili Fort has been a residence for Abu Dhabi's royal family and a British peacekeeping force. Melissa Sleiman hears its history during the inauguration night in Al Ain.
In between Oman's Hajar Mountains and the seemingly endless dunes of the Empty Quarter desert lies a reminder of the days when the United Arab Emirates was no more than a huge sandpit. Al Jahili Fort was a symbol of power at a time when territorial disputes frequently occurred.
The mud brick building lies in the heart of the oasis city of Al Ain and is one of the UAE's oldest landmarks. It was built in the last decade of the nineteenth century by Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, grandfather of the late UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, and used as a summer residence.
Today, at the inauguration of the fort following its extensive restoration, the building rather resembles a huge and magnificent sand castle.
It's the last day of the National Day festivities in Al Ain and there are camels and men serving tiny cups of Arabic coffee everywhere you look. There's even a stage for cultural entertainment.
Little girls with golden ornaments in their hair, wrapped in huge national flags, gaze through the entrance. Behind them, rows of singers in dishdashes wave their canes and sing hypnotising tunes. Children run around in a Bedouin tent. It's a celebration of the olden days.
A number of guests can remember the fort in its old state. Wandering around, I run into David Neild, one of the former inhabitants of the building. He joined the Trucial Oman Scouts, a British peacekeeping force in 1959, which came to Al Ain in the early 1950's as the region was then a British protectorate. The fort served as a base for a unit of the Scouts.
"Our job was to keep the peace and security of the Trucial States [as the UAE was known until 1971]," the 70-year-old tells me.
"We would patrol and act rather like United Nations observers do today. There were quite a lot of problems in the area at the time - border disputes, tribal problems. We had camps all over the region and kept moving along, living in tents most of the time. The fort was my favourite place to stay in."
Neild, then aged 20, was the youngest officer of the Scouts ever to come to the Trucial States. It was his first trip outside of Britain, but he was soon second-in-command, reporting to the squadron commander, before eventually becoming one himself.
Neild and his commander were the only British officers in the fort, and were in charge of two hundred Bedouin soldiers. It was it imperative for them to learn Arabic.
"It was a shock for me to come over here," laughs the lively old man. "The biggest amazement was that there was no electricity. Living here in summer, it became very hot indeed. We lived by killing goats and eating them. Sometimes we'd get fish from a guy coming in by camel or tinned food, and there was no refrigerator!"
Neild left the British Army in 1968 to form and command the Ras Al Khaimah army. Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, then the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, asked him to establish the mobile force from scratch as he wanted a private army.
Neild stayed for three years. After that, he left for Rhodesia [now known as Zimbabwe] and went into farming. He'd had enough of the military and wanted a quiet life, he says.
He's now back in the region for the third time, and this time he has brought his wife with him.
"Two days ago, I celebrated my birthday by having dinner at the house of one of my old Arab friends. It made me think of when I spent my 21st birthday here with only the Arab soldiers. The other British officer was on patrol at the time. I think I was gradually accepted by the locals. The friendships that survived almost 50 years are proof of that."
Neild wasn't the only Briton who got along well with the Arabs. The late British explorer, travel writer and photographer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, better known in Arabia as Mubarak bin London, also passed by Al Jahili Fort during his adventures.
Thesiger famously crossed the Empty Quarter - a huge sand desert encompassing parts of Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - twice in the 1940s and became one of the Bedouin during the five years he spent with them. A permanent exhibition about his life is featured in the building.
Two of his travel companions at the time, Salim Bin Ghabaisha and Salim Bin Kabina, are present at Al Jahili Fort to talk about their journeys with Thesiger in the desert. They're walking with canes and their extremely tanned faces are covered with deep wrinkles.
Both seem to have adjusted well to harsh weather conditions. As teenagers, they accompanied Thesiger during the Empty Quarter desert crossings. "It was very tough," says Bin Ghabaisha to the Arab journalists gathered around, who are having trouble understanding his heavy accent.
"It was extremely hot and back then, the Arabs were killing each other with knives right and left. We travelled from winter to winter and didn't miss any place in the Gulf. There's nothing that a Bedouin is unable to do. I could do it again right now if I wanted to."
