A Many people dream of making a business out of their hobby, which is exactly what Mark Freeman did. The owner and managing partner of Noukhada Adventure Company, which runs kayaking tours of the mangroves, speaks about what he has learnt about Abu Dhabi's marine forests.
What do you do in your spare time?
I tend to do a lot of kayaking because I am forever looking for new routes and new islands. It consumes a lot of my time.
How did your business evolve out of your love of kayaking in the capital's mangroves?
I had a management consultancy, but my passion has always been sailing. Abu Dhabi has some of the best sailing conditions and places to go to do that, but it was just very frustrating trying to find somewhere to keep your boat - and it was expensive. We worked out that kayaks were the best way for the majority of people here to get out on the water. Three years ago we experimented, borrowed, cajoled [to get] four kayaks and have ended up with over 100 now - and quite a thriving business.
What, for you, is so fascinating about the mangroves that you want to educate other people about them?
How many other trees live in seawater? It is just such a fascinating environment. Here we are in a place that people outside here only know as desert. It is fascinating that half a kilometre from the main road of Abu Dhabi you can lose yourself in the Middle Eastern equivalent of a rainforest.
So what have you learnt about mangrove trees?
We think it's the same species (avicennia marina, which is also known as the grey or white mangrove) that - bizarrely - grows on North Island, New Zealand. I would love to know what the connection is there.
What kind of wildlife have you seen while out there kayaking?
We found a seahorse over a year ago now. We don't get dugong (sea cow) in that set of mangroves. Because of all the dredging and development around, there is just not enough sea grass for them to come in. We do get dolphins, humpback dolphins - but not in the mangroves, around them. My two favourites are probably the ugliest in there - the mangrove slug and … jellyfish, which swim in, flip upside down, sit on the bottom and farm algae.
And you are also building your own boat? Explain that.
It is a proper, large-scale model radio-controlled sailing yacht that you have to build yourself out of wood. It's a metre long and about two metres high. It was last year's birthday present, and I am coming up to [my] next birthday, and I still haven't finished the hull. It's in the spare room, so whenever we have guests I'm not allowed to glue or varnish. That's my excuse for not finishing it yet. It will be my summer not-getting-hot-and-sweaty activity, I think.
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