Abu Dhabi Fossil Dunes: A beautiful frozen landscape created by climate change

Editor's Note — This CNN Travel series is, or was, sponsored by the country it highlights. CNN retains full editorial control over subject matter, reporting and frequency of the articles and videos within the sponsorship, in compliance with ourDrive an hour or so southeast out of the city of Abu Dhabi toward the emirate's empty deserts and you'll hit a landscape full of unexpected man-made creations.

And stray off the main roads onto the back lanes, you'll encounter wide and dusty camel highways, where cooler evening temperatures see vast fleets of the humped beasts being exercised in readiness for the winter racing season. Whereas Instagrammers and other visitors once needed all-terrain vehicles to ride up to the fossil dunes in search of a dramatic selfie backdrop, they now get a choice of two large parking lots that bookend a trail which meanders past some of the more spectacular landmarks.

When the ice melted, leading to a more humid environment, the water table rose in what is now Abu Dhabi and the moisture reacted with the calcium carbonate in the sand to stabilize it and then form a kind of cement, which was later whipped into ethereal shapes by prevailing winds.Barry Neild/CNN "Some of them are quite massive, but in the end the wind will destroy them. They are essentially rocks, but you can sometimes break them with your hands. It's quite a weak material."Which is why, at Al Wathba, visitors are now being kept some distance from the dunes, although still close enough to appreciate their impassive beauty.

As dusk settles, some of the dunes are illuminated, offering a new way to view these geological marvels.Department of Culture and Tourism -- Abu Dhabi

This is just a desert area. If you get any illusionary inspiration for this landscape, you think you're overthinking. Amen

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