The Country
In December 2018 I visited three countries in the Persian Gulf, الكويت (Kuwait), البحرين (Bahrain), and قطر (Qatar). I had only scheduled a couple of days for each country. These countries are so small, you can see everything worthwhile in that time. I organized the whole trip myself through Expedia and booked excursions with local tour operators.
Getting into Qatar was fairly easy. I had a bit of a wait at immigration, but it was easy, no need for a visa.
I had booked a limo for transportation to and from the hotel through Gulf Adventures. As opposed to the limo in Bahrain and Kuwait, Gulf Adventures worked out very well. The driver was waiting for me at the airport. For the return to the airport the driver was right on time.
I had booked two private tours in Qatar through a tour organizer Arabian Adventures. This worked out well, I enjoyed the two tours. I saw basically all of Qatar. The first tour was to the northern parts of Qatar, a full day tour. I visited some old fishing villages, Al Zubarah, and some of the last mangroves in Qatar. Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The second tour was a Desert Safari. I was on a 4-WD Toyota Land Cruiser. When we got to sand dunes, the driver deflated the tires quite a bit to be able to handle the sand dunes. We then drove through the sand dunes, including going down the really steep sides of some of the dunes. It was a fun drive.
Qatar (like Bahrain and Kuwait) is fairly expensive. Traffic is very heavy around the city. Like Bahrain and Kuwait, the city is full of exotic looking skyscrapers. All of that has been built in the last 15 years or so. The city is safe to visit, it is like any metropolitan city.
Qatar is a rich country because of the oil. All the labor is done by foreigners, the Qataries don't do regular work. They live separate from the guest workers. I don't think I saw any real Qataries while I was there. There are no taxes in Qatar, construction, health care, schools, etc are covered from oil revenue.
Qataries are actually in the minority, most of the people in Qatar are foreign migrant workers. Qataries make up only about 12% of the population, the majority are migrant workers from countries like India, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc.
Following are links to various pages with pictures:
All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.
The total number of pictures online on my website from Qatar is 54
Page last updated on Tue May 25 21:06:26 2021 (Mountain Standard Time)
قطر (Qatar) - Oil Wealth on gei.geichhorn.com
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