[3] The lush canyon in the area was named after the tall marsh plant known as ‘warrah’, that flourishes in its wetlands, while the word ‘wadi’ is the Arabic term for valley.

[4] On 16 March 2009, the Wadi Wurayah became the first protected mountain area in the United Arab Emirates, after a three-year campaign by the Emirates Wildlife Society in Association with World Wide Fund for Nature,[5] with the support of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited.

The wadi is also home to the Garra barreimiae, a type of freshwater fish that lives only in Al Hajar Mountains.

He was visiting the area to survey the diversity of flora and insects, after heavy rainfall in the country from October 2019 to January 2020, along with park ranger Sami Ullah Majeed, biologist Nuri Asmita, and the Chairman of the Dubai Natural History Group, Gary Feulner.

It was thought that the fritillaries, which were found flying with members of a physically similar species, the plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus), came here as opportunistic migrants because of the rainfall and would not stay during the summer.