Business Traveller (Middle East)
RESTORED TO HEALTH
Turtles and hotel guests are being coaxed back to fitness in the recently opened Jumeirah Al Naseem, discovers Dominic Ellis
Turtles and hotel guests are being coaxed back to fitness in the recently opened Jumeirah Al Naseem, discovers Dominic Ellis
Ashort walk from the busy breakfast in The Palmery at Jumeirah Al Naseem, I’m in an altogether more tranquil spot watching turtles glide up, down and around an 150-metre lagoon. They’re easy on the eye and large informative signs provide details of different species. I’m alone in this retreat within a retreat, marvelling at the turtles’ range of ages and sizes; not even seasoned divers may have seen adults this large (the biggest is 110kgs).
The lagoon bridges Al Naseem and the rest of Madinat Jumeirah, which stretches out along the adjacent buggy-strewn pathways, and the prime position is appropriate since the rehabilitation project is a linchpin in Jumeirah’s CSR drive; it’s the first hotel globally to feature a sea fed and customdesigned turtle lagoon for rehabilitating critically endangered sea turtles.
We’re only staying one night but after several visits to the Family Lounge, dinner on the Rockfish terrace facing Burj Al Arab (lit up tonight for Chinese New Year), deep sleep in an Ocean Superior room, half-an-hour kayaking, spot of badminton, game of table tennis, and swim in two pools – rounded off with a warm Jacuzzi soak at sunset – I’m ready to go again, and I’ve not gone anywhere near the Talise Spa (the enormous bathroom, stocked with generous Amouage toiletries, felt like a mini-spa in any case). Through settings and services, resorts have this recharging power that few city hotels can rival, and when it comes to the breadth of service offering, few can hold a candle to Madinat.
For the turtles, it takes a little longer, anything from two to three months for the smaller ones to 18 months for the largest. The majority are juvenile hawksbills, which are found washed up on the Gulf coastline during December, January and February, suffering from the adverse effects of cold sea temperatures, ingesting plastic rubbish and injuries sustained from boats and water craft. During the recovery process, they
are subjected to ongoing veterinary examination and monitoring, with appropriate medication or surgery being administered as necessary.
The hardback book, Madinat Jumeirah 10 years of
Heritage at the Arabian Resort of Dubai (published by Motivate), states: ‘Smaller turtles are generally the fastest to recover. However some are simply too badly wounded to return to the wild; they remain at Madinat Jumeirah where quality of life is ensured’.
Jumeirah’s commitment to turtle conservation stretches back to 2004 when the Dubai Rehabilitation Turtle Project (together with Dubai’s Wildlife Protection Office) first made waves, but this facility takes it to another level. To date, more than 1,090 rescued turtles have been returned to Dubai’s waters.
The project has three main goals: to rescue, rehabilitate and release back into the wild any sea turtles that are found sick or injured throughout the region; educate local children, citizens and international hotel guests about sea turtle biology and the local and global plight of the sea turtle (since we’re responsible for two of the three main causes); and to understand the success of rehabilitation and to research turtle movements throughout the region and beyond via a satellite tracking initiative (one travelled an astonishing 8,600km in nine months, almost reaching the coast of Thailand). Last year, a couple of turtles were tagged and released and the resort reports positive progress.
I take one last look as two adults pop up for air, one revealing a beautiful brown-and-white patterned head and the other showing vast bulbous eyes and small sharp teeth.
Turtle feeding happens each Wednesday at 11am and the first release from the new resort will be in April.
CONTEMPORARY DESIGNS
Compared with Mina A’Salam, Dar Al Masyaf and Al Qasr, Al Naseem is a more contemporary Arabianthemed hotel. Emirati artist Mattar Bin Lahej was commissioned to create a number of statement art pieces such as the large stainless steel caravan of camels running on water, which is located outside the hotel’s entrance.
Another sculpture, behind the lobby, is a poem written in Arabic calligraphy by Dubai’s ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Burj Al Arab is visible beyond backdrop glass on arrival (or at least the lower half), although it’s not quite as open or panoramic as I imagined. You won’t find pots and pans suspended in thin air elsewhere in Madinat, but it seems to work at the entrance to The Palmery, similarly the Bedouin camp etchings on the room walls lend a lighter Arabesque quality. Two galloping horses, painted deep blue, make for an arresting sight to the right of the lobby as we walked to the rooms.
Al Mandhar Lounge makes for a pleasant afternoon tea spot but we were escorted onwards to the Family Lounge (going down to ground, the lobby level is 2), opposite a comprehensive kids’ club, which served a range of regional and international light
bites, and complemented by a juice bar (wine in the evenings) in the corner.
There’s plenty to satisfy every palate here; the Jumeirah-logo-topped sweets on the Moroccan and Turkish tray made me smile and alongside the freshest moutabel were cucumber sandwiches and later, delicious mini-burgers, accompanied by a wide range of hot beverages. Black-and-white traditional Arabian prints hang on the walls, and the terrace affords views of the Wadi pool. We spotted a famous football manager with his young family, much to the excitement of 10-year-old; such is the way with Jumeirah lounges.
An elevated area above, accessible via steps, contains the adult-only pool and SugarMash but most will head to the huge one that dominates the back, complete with attractive wind chimes and sections for Jacuzzi jets. None of the pools was especially deep although safety wasn’t compromised with lifeguards at every turn. The children’s pool had fountain jets but looked more suitable for younger ones.
Our fourth floor rooms (#410/#412), left from the lift, were ideal for extra discretion while the other rooms lined up further along the corridor to the right. The ‘balcony’ was just a rail, but it didn’t seem to matter as the sliding doors had knock-out views of Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel; the one caveat with the rooms this side is the constant traffic to and from the Burj, and surrounding music, in the afternoon (we stayed Friday), but I slept soundly in the evening.
For dinner, we ate outside on the Rockfish terrace where service was a curious mix of attentive and careless with food arriving promptly but there was no drinks menu; when we asked, we were given a white recommendation which didn’t arrive, and half way through the mains we were poured a glass of Rosé. Around the table, the prawns were wholesome, sliced scallops fresh and my turbot wrapped in vine leaves and couscous fine, if a little dry, even with the sauce accompaniment – the same for my partner’s seafood mixed grill.
Four external restaurants, operated by international names, include artisan burgers from New York’s Black Tap; Tuscan Il Borro by Salvatore Ferragamo(see video on facebook.com/BusinessTravellerME); the Philippe Starck-designed Japanese Katsuya (work ongoing during our stay); and Dubai-based brand Flamingos by Tasha’s.
We rounded off the stay with lunch at the casual Kalsa Pool Bar, whose menu includes traditional Italian street food, and I liked the pizza fritta Fiorentina (ricotta, spinach, pine seeds, AED50), accompanied by a Marrakech Apples mocktail (fresh lime, mint, apple juice and syrup), which came in a cocktail glass.