He's called Snoopy but don't be fooled by the name. This mammoth beast has nothing in common with the cartoon character as far as I know. And I have to mount him. Snoopy, half Clydesdale and half goodness-knows-what - centaur? - is my unlikely partner for a five-day trek across the Australian Outback herding cattle and recreating the days when drovers would spend weeks in the saddle to get their stock to market.
The tradition inspired the newly-released film Australia, in which Nicole Kidman plays an English aristocrat who becomes a cowgirl to save her late husband's cattle station, with the help of a drover played by Hugh Jackman. When I joined the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive in South Australia in May last year, the film's director, Baz Luhrmann, had already spent time on horseback on the same expedition, a few days earlier, and had poached one of the drovers to work on set.
I've always wanted to be a cowgirl. Ever since watching one of my favourite films, City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal, in which three friends give up their urban lives to become cowboys, I've longed to get on a horse and shout "yee-hah". It doesn't seem to matter that my only experience of horseriding amounts to donkey rides as a child. The cattle drive caters to riders of all abilities and pairs those taking part with horses to match their experience.
In total, 150 horses, including 80 novice riders like myself, 20 drovers and 526 heads of cattle set out into the strange landscape of the Outback. The extraordinary silence was a reminder that I was away from civilisation. For more than 150 years, cattle were gathered, or mustered, in southern Australia in the same way. Drovers would ride for months to deliver their stock up to 2,500km away in Adelaide. In this uncompromising country, where temperatures soar above 50°C, and some areas have not seen rain for more than three years, the journey remains an arduous one. Since the late 1960s, most of the mustering here has been done by motorbike and on cattle lorries, shortening the journey to 12 hours.
In an effort to prevent an age-old tradition from dying out, a group of veteran cowboys came up with the idea of reviving the cattle drive six years ago, inviting tourists to see how things were done in those day. There is nothing touristy about this experience, however; we are expected to be up at the crack of dawn after a night camping with the drovers and spend up to eight hours per day on horseback helping with the herding.
Over six weeks, the prime beef cattle are herded some 500km along the Oodnadatta track. The drive starts in Oodnadatta itself, an outpost 1,000km north of Adelaide, and cuts a swathe through the Outback to Marree, north-west of the Flinders Ranges, bordering Lake Eyre, the world's largest salt pan. The drive is divided into six legs and I join halfway through on a section called dunes, springs and salt pans. Worryingly, the first three stages have been cancelled because of a severe drought and we are warned that conditions are going to be tough.
I need not have been concerned about being a city slicker as I'm in good company with a motley crew of jackaroos and jillaroos, Australian slang for cowboys and cowgirls. Audrey Simon, 42, a Singaporean socialite whose apartment includes a separate room for her shoes, was expecting the luxury ensuite tents with floating muslin curtains that she had seen in a Condé Nast magazine and whimpers through her first night. Wouter Scheepstra from Holland discovers that he hates horseriding after his first bout in the saddle and retreats to his tent for the rest of the trip.
These are no ordinary tents though. Authenticity ends at their carpeted entrances and they came complete with beds and duvets, while there are trailers with hot running showers and flushing toilets for those who are rather too fond of their creature comforts. Evenings are spent tucking into gourmet fare in a giant marquee complete with a bar and camp library, followed by toasting marshmallows and singsongs around the camp fire.
"There is a lot of nothing out here but it is quite beautiful," Daryl Bell, the boss drover running our trip, says. You can look as far as you want and see nothing." We travel slowly in an awed silence, broken only by the lowing of the cattle jostling for space. The cattle drive takes us through Anna Creek cattle station, which despite being the size of Belgium with 26,000 sq km, has a population of 15. We keep moving, negotiating a path through the desert plains, the horses never going above a walking pace.
Occasionally one of the herd breaks free and tries to make a run for it but the drovers quickly round them up. When we become a little bolder, we try our hand at it too, veering to the outer edges of the herd to pack them back in. I chase one errant member of the pack, then turn in horror as I realise I have made the mistake of getting ahead of the herd instead of staying behind it - a no-no as the horses can panic when 500-odd cattle are stampeding towards them. I freeze while the bellowing herd hurtles towards me, kicking up sand and dust, then spring into action by yanking on the reins and steering Snoopy out of their path. Danger averted, I pat Snoopy gratefully. I have become strangely fond of my mount.
"You did good, girl," Bell says. "Do you think I'd make a good cowgirl?" I ask cheekily. He casts a critical glance at me then harrumphs: "Not in that pink T-shirt you won't." Others don't have such a lucky escape: there are a dozen bumps and bruises and a broken ankle and collarbone. If horses can be unpredictable, so too can the weather when there is nothing but desert for miles around. I'm woken one night by roaring wind and noise outside. I emerge to discover five men trying to prevent my tent from collapsing. Battered by the wind, we retreat to the marquee, where we discover that we have been transformed into terracotta warriors, coated in dust. Next morning, despite the wrecked tents, the peace is restored once again.
Riding on, we come across a carload of female drovers. Bell's daughter Shannon, 22, Prue Fargher, 23, Jessica Kemp and Nicki Stuart, both 25, aren't afraid of getting their manicure-free hands dirty and have never seen the inside of a beauty salon. They make me ashamed of my personal maintenance routine. Their only concession to girlishness is the pink Jeep they drive. They, together with the revived cattle drive, are the only hope of keeping family traditions alive.
"There are a lot of us old ones who don't want to let go," says Daryl Bell. "The world is too fast with computers and everything happening in two minutes but you cannot do anything in seconds here. This is the slow-paced, unrushed life and we want to pass on what we know."
tyaqoob@thenational.ae
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
Martin Puchner
Granta
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
beabadoobee
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
ON%20TRACK
%3Cp%3EThe%20Dubai%20Metaverse%20Assembly%20will%20host%20three%20main%20tracks%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEducate%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Consists%20of%20more%20than%2010%20in-depth%20sessions%20on%20the%20metaverse%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInspire%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Will%20showcase%20use%20cases%20of%20the%20metaverse%20in%20tourism%2C%20logistics%2C%20retail%2C%20education%20and%20health%20care%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EContribute%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Workshops%20for%20metaverse%20foresight%20and%20use-case%20reviews%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
LUKA CHUPPI
Director: Laxman Utekar
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Cinema
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurana
Rating: 3/5
Prophets of Rage
(Fantasy Records)
Factfile on Garbine Muguruza:
Name: Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
World ranking: 15 (will rise to 5 on Monday)
Date of birth: October 8, 1993
Place of birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Place of residence: Geneva, Switzerland
Height: 6ft (1.82m)
Career singles titles: 4
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2016, Wimbledon 2017)
Career prize money: $13,928,719
The Cockroach
(Vintage)
Ian McEwan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nag%20Ashwin%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPrabhas%2C%20Saswata%20Chatterjee%2C%20Deepika%20Padukone%2C%20Amitabh%20Bachchan%2C%20Shobhana%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
