Sir Bani Yas Island Abu Dhabi offers some of the most exciting adventure sports and nature experiences in the region. Staying at Anantara Al Yamm Villas in Abu Dhabi will allow visitors to participate in a range of dune and water based adventure activities while enjoying free roaming wildlife at site.

Abu Dhabi offers a range of sporting experiences to suit everyone from amateurs to professionals. Its desert landscape and surrounding ocean provide excellent opportunities to test an array of adventure sports.

Dune bashing in the Liwa desert is popular with visitors and is the highlight of many a desert safari. The steep drops and vertiginous climbs over sand dunes is the first taste of adventure sport in Abu Dhabi for many. Navigating massive dunes in a 4×4 particularly in the Empty Quarter is the height of desert based adventure experiences. Wadi bashing, a sport peculiar to the region involves guiding a 4×4 along rocky, dry riverbeds. Going over boulders in gorges holds its own thrills for aficionados of the sport. Other high octane dune sports include quad biking and zigzagging down 984 foot high sand slopes on skis or a skateboard. Camel racing is popular with the locals. While adventure sports fans may not be able to participate directly in the sport due to its particular restrictions, they can catch the action on race days in Shweihan and Liwa and see practices at the camel paddocks at Al Wathba.

Fans of water adventure sports should not miss Wadi Adventure in Ain Al Fayda near Jebel Hafeet. Its manmade white water rafting, kayaking and surfing facilities are a first in the region. The 3.3 meter surf wave is the most impressive of its kind and the 1.7 km kayaking channel is said to be the world’s longest. With such impressive credentials there is no doubt adventure sports buffs will enjoy the facility. The open water on the public beach at Saadiyat Island is also said to provide exciting waves. Once in awhile a really powerful dream wave allows wave riders to surf inside it. Free diving where divers go down to dangerous depths and resurface in one breath risking deep water or shallow water blackout is gaining popularity here.

Using momentum to throw themselves around the city using rails, walls, stairs and any type of ledge, known as parkour has its fans in the city. The Abu Dhabi parkour group meets every Friday at 4 pm. Skateboarders can hook up with like minded people at events organized by the BMX group at Al Hosn Skate Park.

Probably the biggest and best in adventure sports is the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, an endurance race involving a team of four making their way through a 400 km route on a punishing regime of trail running, sea kayaking, rope works, mountain biking, desert orienteering and adventure running.

Thanuja Silva is a travel writer who writes under the pen name Auburn Silver. She has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world. Google+