Island Mouse has been on a dusty desert adventure in Abu Dhabi!

For the second year running, I spent a couple of weeks in Abu Dhabi with the Edinburgh International Science Festival.  EISF runs the Abu Dhabi Science Festival and ships out lots of very talented science communicators from all over the world.  Our job is to train up local university students to run various interactive workshops with school groups and members of the public.  There were HUNNERS of us.

This year got off to a great start when I was bumped up to a 4 star hotel, thank you very much.  Here’s the view…

Here’s some camel racing. The Sheik banned human jockeys because so many children (used for their light weight) were killed.  Now’s it’s all robotic boxes with whips, controlled by a man in a 4×4, racing alongside the track.

Kid’s entertainment in the Mall…

And work.  The main part of the festival was in this massive tent – there was a touring group, busking and a drop-in down-town.  Science was everywhere. Apparently this is the T in the Park Slam tent?  Anyway, I was working on the Egyptian Mummy exhibit again, taking kids through an Ancient Tomb (ooooooh!!) and explaining the process of mummification with them.

And then, uh-0h…FREAK WEATHER – RAIN!

Cue furious re-carpetting DURING the workshop.  As the kids came into each room, it had just been re-assembled in a Challenge-Anneka style.

To finish, here’s my favourite visitor to the Egyptian Mummy.  He was only 4 and came along with his Mum, who was the teacher of a school group.  I saluted him and then was informed that he’s actually dressed as a policeman.