Hawar Islands Archipelago

Overview

Hawar Island is an archipelago of islands off of the coast of Bahrain, close to Qatar. They can be reached by private jetboat and Hawar Beach Hotel has the monopoly on island accommodation: it’s the only hotel. The hotel has comfortable rooms, a pool with water slide and options for water sports such as stand up paddleboarding, kayaking and snorkeling. It’s a great getaway for family and nature photographers alike. It is worthwhile noting that the hotel is gated due to the plethora of free roaming wildlife on the island, including spiny tailed lizards, gazelles and oryx.

The team at Hawar Beach Hotel has a noble focus on ecotourism and one can choose from multiple day or half-day tours, including visiting dugongs, archaeological sites and various arabian animals. We chose to visit the island of Rubud Al Sharqiyah, the world’s largest breeding colony of cormorants, as well as the safari jeep tour on Jazirat Hawar, the main isle. Hawar Island in Bahrain is definitely one of the best places to visit in this small country.

Itinerary

Cormorants tour on Rubud Al Sharqiyah Island
Safari jeep tour
Eco Tours
Overnight Option and Sunset at Hawar Beach Hotel
Day Trip Option to Hawar Island
An Unexpected Evening at Al Dur…

Cormorants tour on Rubud Al Sharqiyah island

This tour provides a unique visit to Rubud island, part of the Hawar archipelago. It is home to the largest protected nesting colony of Socotra cormorants in the world. The interplay between these birds is fascinating and it’s quite an aerial display with birds flying above, birds nesting on the ground and little teenager birds running off to explore. Unfortunately those that wander off too far from the group end up perishing at the outskirts as they are often unable to find their way back. Our guide explained that this is all part of the circle of life! Still, it’s sad to see their lifeless little bodies and even worse seeing some of them in action wandering too far from the main group! To protect the birds, there is a requirement to stand at least 50metres from the nests at all times.

Our guide took us for a walk around the island where it’s also possible to see some shipwrecked tankers not far from the shore. There are also many other wildlife species to observe here, not limited to: seaturtles and their incredible nested eggs, herons in V-formation, flamingos coming in to land and huge osprey nests with their owners circling above.

It’s really worth a mention that this little island (Rubud) off of an island (Hawar) off of an island (Bahrain) off of an island (mainland Middle East) is being significantly destroyed by our consumerism and the use of plastic. The images below show the extent of what is happening to our planet from waste products.

Be prepared to get your feet wet on arrival and departure: the jet boat can’t always reach the shore as there is no jetty or artificial mooring on this beautifully preserved little island. So the boat will dock approximately 50-100 metres off shore and then it’s time to pack your belongings into a water safe bag, take off your shoes and wade on out…

Safari jeep tour

When one hears the name of this tour, images of open ‘wind in your hair’ African safari vehicles are conjured. This is not the case. In the middle east, this translates to a state of the art, air conditioned, all-inclusive modcons four wheel drive with choice of radio and unlimited drinks in the door next to you. It’s a jeep with a difference.

This tour was a great one to do first, as an introduction to the landscape and position of Hawar Island within the gulf. Setting out, visitors can expect to see all kinds of wildlife, from oryx, gazelle, humpbacked dolphin, marsh frogs, rat snakes and a myriad of birdlife. A guide will take you along all the off-trail roads on the main island of Hawar: Jazirat.

There are a few sites along the way of note:

A few more comments on the Eco Tours

Unfortunately the dugongs and sooty falcons were not in season but they would be well worth a return trip.

Our guide was informative and flexible. These are effectively private tours which enabled us to modify our itinerary slightly. Most notably, this involved ‘jeep stalking’ a magnificent osprey who had clutched a fish in his talons and was perched atop a post for approximately 30 minutes, nearby our hotel. We were able to take some incredible snaps of this gigantic bird before it flew off with its dinner elsewhere.

Overnight Option and Sunset at Hawar Beach Hotel

It’s truly worthwhile catching a sunset on Hawar Island. The piercing yellows, oranges and reds seem to embody all things Middle Eastern and will stay with you long after you leave.

I’d suggest staying overnight at the Hawar Beach Hotel if you are able… and perhaps even heading upstairs to the bar where they will serve you a Heineken in a superhero cape…

Day Trip Option to Hawar Island

There is an option to visit Hawar island for a day trip on Fridays and Saturdays (the Middle Eastern weekend) as long as bookings are taken well in advance. This would be a very long day out from a Manama-based hotel, driving down to the tip of the island to catch the 8am ferry from Durrat Marina, spending time on the island, and then catching the 4pm ferry back to the mainland of Bahrain, in addition to the drive back to Manama. The distance by car is approximately 45 minutes and by bus approximately 60 minutes, depending on your point of departure.

An Unexpected Evening at Al Dur…

Unfortunately we left our passports at reception on checking out and thus also extended our trip by an hour or two in the car park at Al Dur, an industrial water and power project on the east coast of Bahrain. Thankfully the staff from Hawar Beach Hotel sent them express post on the next jet boat out and we were then on our way! We caught another lovely sunset though!

Don’t miss your chance to see Hawar Island Archipelago: one of Bahrain’s best tourist attractions!