Pearl Trail Reefs

Bahrain's UNESCO-listed Pearling Trail connects historic pearl merchant buildings in Muharraq to the offshore oyster beds where divers have harvested for more than 7,000 years, and the submerged reef system at the outer beds is a remarkable combination of cultural heritage and living marine habitat. Pinctada radiata pearl oysters still cling to the reef substrate alongside sponges, sea fans, and hard corals, surrounded by the same schools of reef fish that fed the diving families of antiquity. This is the only UNESCO World Heritage dive in the Arabian Gulf.