By Umer Nangiana

So what if the sun has started to scorch and steam you these days. This summer, if you are in town and plan to enjoy your vacation, there are abundant and fun ways available right here in Qatar to defy the heat wave. How about going for kayaking, or even better, skiing? How about having a splash in some of the most amazing and thrilling water rides? Or, are you in the mood to break some sweat? Brace yourself for some ultimate adventures then.

Yes, you can do all that right here in Qatar. The summer fun has already begun. The Summer Festival organised by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has gone more inclusive and attractive this year. Already a hit, the festival this year offers fun activities for not just children but adults as well.

While children indulge themselves in safe yet exciting sports and recreation activities at the festival’s various locations, their elder siblings no longer need to just stand by and watch them. There is plenty on offer for them as well to challenge their adventurous side. Unlike previous occasions, the summer festival this year promises to be fun for the whole family.

 “In the previous years, the focus was more on children, which was good but then there was this one important segment missing. This year we are looking at 16+ and you can see there that are a lot of activities for this segment and we can see that everyone is participating,” an official at one of the festival sites, the Qatar Exhibition Centre (QEC), told Community. He did not give his name as he was not officially authorised to talk to media.

On entering the QEC festival site, one forgets that the summer is at its peak in Qatar. The breezy and icy venue is themed to provide the green of springs and the white of winters. Stepping in, the first thing you notice is a skiing track.

In the chilled atmosphere, there are multiple ways to get involved in sports while children get themselves up in fun games. Most of the activities are interactive — the visitors are not supposed to just stand and watch but are instead urged to practically experience the different fun activities.

If you ever wished to do stunts like circus performers for instance, you have the opportunity to do so in the safe hands of professionals. The Circus School at the QEC not only demonstrates some of the most thrilling stunts, it lets you and your children try your hand at some of their amazing tricks.

You can go up in air, through the ring or you can try the trapeze. For even greater fun, put on roller-skates and reel along the extreme games’ experts in the venue right next to the circus. These boys are here to teach you some of the most exhilarating adventures. It is one activity that is already attracting youth in large numbers.

The official from the organising team said they regular introduce something new to every activity at the festival to make it more attractive and diverse for the visitors. He said it is all in line with QTA’s vision and goal to bring diversity and new surprises every now and then.

“The idea is that if someone is coming with a family, both the children and the adults should be able to enjoy,” said the official.

However, the changes and new varieties are not introduced drastically, but bit by bit. New developments, for instance, are introduced in the form of one segment one day and the other segment the other day. The organisers have 55 days to keep the visitors having fun.

“If someone came here in the first week and then return in the third week, they should be able to say they are seeing something new. The aim is to keep people coming back,” the official added.

For the adults in particular, there are many challenging sport and fun activities to keep themselves busy. They can try their strength and skills at scaling a mighty wall at the QEC. It is one sport that has traditionally not had much following in Qatar, but has become the hot favourite among adults at the exhibition centre.

One of the organisers said people above 30 including women were attempting the sport in good numbers almost every day. The QEC also offers children to participate in their favourite Baream TV show and interact with the characters brought to the venue exclusively for them.

There is also a traditional souq (market) food and other attractions for the visitors. If you are looking for some outdoor activity, you can head to Al Wakrah and Al Khor festival sites where you might encounter some action being offered for the first time ever in Doha.

In Aqua Fun, you can go Kayaking out in the sea besides many other opportunities to touch the surface of the water with pace and get wet. The organisers had bigger plans for the Aqua Fun but they had to be put on halt due to harsh weather.

The plans were in place to erect the biggest slide in the world at the site but due to its beachside location, the stiff wind interfered. The organizers, however, were still mulling options and waiting for the weather to get better to put up the unique sliding adventure. “It was more of a safety issue. But we have added more games that are more interactive,” said the official.

In Al Khor, there is a flying club. Again, it’s a unique opportunity for many people as some of them did not even know that such a club even existed in Doha, the official added. In the next two to three weeks, the organisers are also planning to bring Mountain Biking to the Al-Khor, site but for that they are waiting for the weather to get better as it has to be a day-time activity.

Starting from evening onwards till midnight, the outdoor fun is all about Corniche and its Dancing Fountain fun. The 200m long strip of colourful dancing and singing fountains, brought in to Qatar from Germany, attracts big crowds of spectators on Corniche every night.  The fountains can go to the maximum height of 60m from 1,856 floating cubes that were used to build the fountain on the sea. A total of 99 pumps with 3kw, 8 pumps with 15kw and another 8 with 7.5kw have been fixed with 90 LEDs to create the exhilarating show, said one of the organisers.

“We know that the Corniche is a key location. Everyone heads out to it after work so dancing fountains has been a hit there,” the official added. It was a welcome change from previous years’ fireworks over and over again, he added.

During the fountain show, the songs are always changing to give the visitors something different every time. People should be able to say, “Hey! Look we have a lot of stuff going on here in the town,” said one of the organisers about the overall summer festival attractions and what it aims to achieve in the longer run.

 

 

 

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