Masafi

Masafi (Arabic: مسافي‎) is a village located on the edge of the Hajar Mountains in the United Arab Emirates. It sits at the inland entrance of the Wadi Ham, which runs down to Fujairah City. The border between the emirates of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah runs through the town, which houses a barracks used by the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces.

Masafi

مسافي
Masafi
Coordinates: 25°18′48″N 56°9′46″E
Country United Arab Emirates
EmirateRas Al Khaimah, Fujairah
Elevation
567 m (1,863 ft)

Overview
A Falaj (man-made underground aquifer) at Masafi Fort

Until relatively recently, with the construction of the Sharjah to Kalba road and the 'truck road' between Dibba and the 311 highway at Ras al-Khaimah, the road through Masafi was the only route from the interior to the East Coast of the UAE. The road from the inland town of Dhaid splits at Masafi, leading to Dibba to the north and Fujairah City to the south.

Masafi Fort

A number of excavations point to Bronze Age habitation in Masafi,[1] which has a recently restored (2012) stone and adobe fort, smaller but architecturally similar to the nearby Al Bithnah Fort, also restored as part of the same project. The fort encloses an exceptional example of a falaj, an underground waterway constructed to channel water from the mountains to the oasis towns of the interior.[2]

At the turn of the 20th century, Masafi was a village of some 50 houses, with the villagers being split between the Sharqiyin and Mazari tribes,[3] with some 30 cattle, 350 sheep and 5,000 date palms.[4]

Masafi was the site of a rough airstrip used by the Trucial Oman Scouts.[5]

Climate
Climate data for Masafi, United Arab Emirates
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °F (°C) 83.5
(28.6)		 86.0
(30.0)		 94.1
(34.5)		 105.4
(40.8)		 109.2
(42.9)		 111.7
(44.3)		 109.9
(43.3)		 110.8
(43.8)		 107.4
(41.9)		 101.7
(38.7)		 93.4
(34.1)		 85.1
(29.5)		 99.8
(37.7)
Average low °F (°C) 45.7
(7.6)		 44.1
(6.7)		 52.5
(11.4)		 56.1
(13.4)		 64.4
(18.0)		 72.9
(22.7)		 78.1
(25.6)		 76.5
(24.7)		 70.9
(21.6)		 64.9
(18.3)		 57.0
(13.9)		 46.4
(8.0)		 60.8
(16.0)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 0.85
(21.5)		 0.94
(23.8)		 0.27
(6.9)		 0.58
(14.8)		 0.0
(0.0)		 0.00
(0.1)		 0.02
(0.4)		 0.09
(2.4)		 0.19
(4.7)		 0.31
(7.9)		 0.12
(3.0)		 0.37
(9.4)		 3.74
(94.9)
Source:

Water bottling

Masafi is a branded producer of bottled water, juices and other consumer goods such as tissue paper. The company's 250,000 m² bottling plant is located in the northern part of the town, part of Ra's Al Khaimah. Capable of producing 90,000 bottles an hour, the plant produced, until 2017, the only bottled water in the UAE labelled as mineral water,[6] changing its branding to identify as 'Deep Earth Water'.[7]

In 1980, the company was the sponsor of the first Masafi Car Rally, a popular annual event no longer held.[8]

Masafi Friday Market
The Masafi 'Friday Market' – actually open all week

Located some 5 km West of Masafi (on the Dhaid Road), the Masafi Friday Market (Souk Al Juma'a) is actually open week-round and has become a popular tourist destination, consisting of a number of permanent and semi-permanent stalls selling toys, souvenirs, plants, carpets and rugs, pots and fruit and vegetables.[9][10] The market grew around a number of farmers and other vendors using the presence of speed bumps on the road slowing traffic to sell vegetables and accessories from the backs of their trucks and expanded over time to form the present township.[11]

Much of one side of the market (on the Masafi/Dhaid carriageway) was destroyed by fire on 30 May 2015.[12]

Sports

References
  1. "French archaeological team discoveries in Fujairah". Fujairah in Focus. January 24, 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  2. Al Deberky, Salah (25 July 2012). "History Rediscovered in Fujairah". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  3. Lancaster, William, 1938- (2011). Honour is in contentment : life before oil in Ras al-Khaimah (UAE) and some neighbouring regions. Lancaster, Fidelity. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 191. ISBN 978-3-11-022340-8. OCLC 763160662.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Lorimer, John (1915). Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Vol II. British Government, Bombay. p. 619.
  5. "Old Airfield in Masafi". PPRuNe. August 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  6. "Masafi Production Facilities". Masafi. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  7. Khan, Imran Nawab. "Masafi | Consumer". www.masafi.com. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  8. "Inaugural Masafi Rally 1980". Dubai as it used to be. Dubaiasitusedtobe.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  9. "Friday Market UAE". ae.fridaymarket.com. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  10. "Masafi Friday Market". UAE Interact. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  11. "Browsing the Masafi roadside market". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  12. "Fire guts Friday Market in Masafi". Gulf News. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
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