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Dubai Is for Flamingos

By Negar Azimi

The flamingos at Dubai International Airport had been in quarantine for five days and nobody knew what to do with them. Their handlers had gone missing, I heard, and there was great bewilderment about how to tend to their needs: what exactly they ate, the temperature to which they were accustomed. People said the birds were unhappy, fluffing their feathers and gravitating toward the edges of the enclosure like sulking children, or erupting into great fits of squawking that sent the airport personnel scurrying away. Natives of the Great Rift Valley, they were destined for The Lagoons, a 70-million-square-foot development of residences, shopping centers, and offices set on seven interconnected islands of finely cultivated marsh ecology in the middle of the city. But the construction of The Lagoons, along with many other extravagant projects in Dubai, had been put “on hold,” maybe for good. The story I heard—and Dubai is full of stories these days—was that the primary developer on the project was in jail, held on multiple charges of corruption and bribery. The long-legged waterfowl, dyed a deep mauve color for dramatic effect, waited in awkward limbo.

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SEE ALSO: Dubai (Emirate); Dubai (United Arab Emirates : Emirate); Financial crises; Flamingos; Horse racing; International trade; Real estate development; United Arab Emirates

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