Wadi Esfai

{{Infobox settlement

| official_name = Wadi Esfai

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| pushpin_map = United Arab Emirates

| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = United Arab Emirates

| subdivision_type1 = Emirate

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| subdivision_name1 = Ras Al Khaimah

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| coordinates = {{coord|25|06|19|N|56|07|52|E|region:AE|display=inline,title}}

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| elevation_ft = 1318

| elevation_m = 401

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Wadi Esfai is a seasonal watercourse in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It runs from the village of Sifuni on the Mleiha to Fujairah highway (E84) to join Wadi Shawkah south of the village of Esfai.

Wadi Esfai receives high levels of winter rainfall, sufficient to trigger flash floods powerful enough to wash away the road traversing the wadi{{Cite web|title=Videos: Heavy rain, hail lash parts of UAE|url=https://gulfnews.com/uae/weather/videos-heavy-rain-hail-lash-parts-of-uae-1.67041485|access-date=2020-10-21|website=gulfnews.com|language=en}} and will also receive rainfall in the summer months.{{Cite web|title=This area in UAE records 51°C on Sunday|url=https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/07/05/uae-temperature-soars-to-51|access-date=2020-10-21|website=www.gulftoday.ae}}

Traditionally home to members of the Mazari tribe,{{Cite book|last=Lancaster, William, 1938-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/763160662|title=Honour is in contentment : life before oil in Ras al-Khaimah (UAE) and some neighbouring regions|date=2011|publisher=De Gruyter|others=Lancaster, Fidelity.|isbn=978-3-11-022340-8|location=Berlin|pages=191|oclc=763160662}} the wadi Esfai is notable particularly for the discovery of a new species of moth from the genus Meharia: Meharia breithaupti.{{Cite journal|last=Yakovlev|first=Roman V.|date=2014-12-16|title=A new species of Meharia Chrétien, 1915 (Lepidoptera, Cossidae) from the United Arab Emirates, with a world catalogue of the genus|url=https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3895.3.4|journal=Zootaxa|language=en|volume=3895|issue=3|pages=401–410|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3895.3.4|pmid=25543576 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription}} The Meharia moth was known to inhabit arid regions, and the related Meharia philbyi has been found in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.{{Cite journal|last1=Borth|first1=Robert|last2=Ivinskis|first2=Povilas|last3=Saldaitis|first3=Aidas|last4=Yakovlev|first4=Roman|date=2011-11-08|title=Cossidae of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)|url=https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/2686/|journal=ZooKeys|language=en|issue=122 |pages=45–69|doi=10.3897/zookeys.122.1213|pmid=21998527 |pmc=3187673 |issn=1313-2970|doi-access=free}} Meharia philbyi was named for the Arabist and explorer Harry St John Philby in 1952. The new moth was named for its discoverer, German entomologist Roland Breithaupt.

A 1937 survey of wadis in Southeastern Arabia undertaken by the British Air Ministry found Wadi Esfai to be a 'valley of small villages of Mazari, acknowledging the Sheikh of Sharjah'.A Collection of Valleys in the Persian Gulf Coast of Arabia, 1937 - AIR 5/1283, Catalogue II/J3/39/0 https://www.agda.ae/en/catalogue/tna/air/5/1283/n/1

File:Wadi Esfai Water Damage.jpg|The road to the village of Esfai – washed away by the seasonal flooding of the Wadi Esfai.

File:Wadi Esfai Donkeys.jpg|Wild donkeys roaming the Wadi Esfai

File:Confluence of the Wadi Esfai and Wadi Shawka.jpg|The confluence of the Wadi Esfai with the Wadi Shawka