As soon as I heard you could take a night time tour of the desert I immediately knew it would be the highlight of my whole UAE trip. And I was right - it was.
I spent the morning lying around on the beach at JBR - baking in the sun, bathing in the crystal clear waters, and gazing at the camels walking up and down the shoreline.
I went back to my hotel for around 3pm and was collected from there at 4pm by a guide from a company called Arabian Adventures. I booked them because they had been highly recommended by a friend who went on a desert trip with them before. I jumped into my guide's 4x4 and met three fellow passengers - all from the lad of Oz. Together we sped to the desert.
Before you enter the desert you join up with other tour cars and stop to let air out of all the tyres. If you don't then the car will get stuck in the sand apparently.
We entered the desert and bumped our way along to a small camp where we saw a fantastic falcon show and some wild antelope and oryx. After the show, we got back in the car for an exhilarating dune ride. We sped up and over and down huge sand dunes without a care in the world.
More than once I was sure we were going to tip over onto the roof, but our guide was a great driver and kept us upright. We passed a number of other cars that had gotten stuck in the sand, and still others that had to stop to let passengers puke out the window or door! Thankfully we had no such incidents.
Before long we stopped to watch the sun set behind the sand dunes.
It went down crazy quick, it was an amazing sight.
In the dusk, we got back into the car and made our way to the bedoin camp in the middle of the desert. There we could get henna tattoos, drink fancy tea, see some sand art in progress, try out some sand boarding, and ride a camel.
Then we sat down on soft cushions on the ground and ate a three course meal - everything was included in the price already paid and you didn't have to pay extra for anything other than any souvenirs or gifts you wanted to buy.
After dinner there was a belly dancing show, followed by five minutes of stargazing. They turned off all the lights in the camp so you could look up and see all the stars. It was beautiful.
After that, and all too soon, it was time to go home.I could have stayed in that desert forever. It was genuinely one of the best days of my life.
#dubai #uae #unitedArabEmirates #Arabianadventures #desert #trip #holiday #excursion #sand #camels #falcons #show #bedoin #travel #tourism #tourist #guide #sanddunes #duneriding #sandboarding #bellydancing #stargazing
