Appium (1.4.16) hangs when switching to native context and clicking on element on iPad 2 Air real device (iOS 9.2.1)

Hello,
Running a test on real device hangs. Code runs fine when in web context. However, I have to switch to native context as I need to click on a drop-down box. Switching seems to work fine, but when I try to click on a button using the native path, the call hangs till Appium times out.
Note that the same code runs on a simulator, albeit on Sauce Labs, Appium 8.4, iPad 2 emulator.

I use the following xpath (but any other does not work): //UIAElement[@value=‘0 Items’].
The refrence to the element you see in the Appium log below is correct: au.getElementsByIndexPaths(["/0/1/3/0/0/15"]), so all looks good there.
To iterate: All works well on emulator. All works well on real device when using webview. Problem occurs when switching to native and trying to click/tap on elements.
Appium is installed from source (1.4.16). I did try to install Appium UI and strangely, get the same issue (tapping hangs), but that UI version is 1.4.13.

From Appium log:

info: [debug] Got result from instruments:
{“status”:0,“value”:{“UIAApplication”:{"@":{“name”:“Safari”,“label”:“Safari”,“value”:null,“dom”:null,“enabled”:true,“valid”:true,“visible”:true,“hint”:null,“path”:"/0",“x”:0,“y”:0,“width”:768,“height”:1024},">":[{“UIAWindow”:{"@":{“name”:null,“label”:null,“value”:null,“dom”:null,“enabled”:true,“vali
info:
[debug] Pushing command to appium work queue:
“au.getElementsByIndexPaths([”/0/1/3/0/0/15”])"
info: [debug] Sending
command to instruments: au.getElementsByIndexPaths(["/0/1/3/0/0/15"])
info:
[debug] [INST] 2016-02-16 11:01:37 +0000 Debug: Got new command 5 from
instruments: au.getElementsByIndexPaths(["/0/1/3/0/0/15"])
info: [debug]
[INST] 2016-02-16 11:01:37 +0000 Debug: evaluating
au.getElementsByIndexPaths(["/0/1/3/0/0/15"])
info: [debug] [INST] 2016-02-16
11:01:37 +0000 Debug: evaluation finished
info: [debug] [INST] 2016-02-16
11:01:37 +0000 Debug: responding with:
info: [debug] [INST] 2016-02-16
11:01:37 +0000 Debug: Running system command #6: /usr/local/bin/node
/Users/mysatorimacbookair/appium/node_modules/appium-uiauto/bin/command-proxy-client.js
/tmp/instruments_sock 2,{“status”:0,“value”:[{“ELEMENT”:“1”}]}…
info:
[debug] Socket data received (40 bytes)
info: [debug] Socket data being
routed.
info: [debug] Got result from instruments:
{“status”:0,“value”:[{“ELEMENT”:“1”}]}
info: [debug] Responding to client
with success:
{“status”:0,“value”:[{“ELEMENT”:“1”}],“sessionId”:“e815092e-8513-4a00-ad14-9bb0df7583c3”}
info:
<-- POST /wd/hub/session/e815092e-8513-4a00-ad14-9bb0df7583c3/elements 200
1921.197 ms - 89
{“status”:0,“value”:[{“ELEMENT”:“1”}],“sessionId”:“e815092e-8513-4a00-ad14-9bb0df7583c3”}
info:
–> POST /wd/hub/session/e815092e-8513-4a00-ad14-9bb0df7583c3/element/1/click
{}
info: [debug] Pushing command to appium work queue:
“au.tapById(‘1’)”
info: [debug] Sending command to instruments:
au.tapById(‘1’)
info: [debug] [INST] 2016-02-16 11:01:38 +0000 Debug: Got new
command 6 from instruments: au.tapById(‘1’)
info: [debug] [INST] 2016-02-16
11:01:38 +0000 Debug: evaluating au.tapById(‘1’)
info: [debug] [INST]
2016-02-16 11:01:38 +0000 Debug:
target.frontMostApp().elements()[1].elements()[3].elements()[0].elements()[0].elements()[15].tap()
info:
[debug] Didn’t get a new command in 300 secs, shutting down…
info: Shutting
down appium session
info: [debug] Stopping safariLauncher

Thanks for your help!
Omer