Night at the Desert

You have never been to Duabi/ Abu Dhabi if you haven't done dune bashing. Seriously. This is the ultimate adventure when you are visiting Middle East.

I have been living in UAE for almost 2 years now, and I just recently bashed the dunes. And I must say it was totally awesome! Is this too much? I actually don't care. I was really fun. Ok, to the business - let me tell you about Desert Safari.

Unlike Africa, the safari here in UAE is not about observing and taking photagraphs of animals in the wild, but instead, you take a ride on a 4 x 4 wheel drive SUV's and drive along the sand dunes.



Once inside, you'll probably end up being tossed around during the whole trip. But it was a shake worth taking. After 15-20 minutes of dipping and climbing sand, we are dropped off in the middle of the desert where an enclosed area is set up. Outside the enclosed area is a long queue for tourists to take a ride with the camel. Another queue for those who want to do sand boarding and another for those who would like to try the ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). The ATV is not for free, it will cost you AED 100 for an hour of bashing the sand.



I took a short ride on the camel. I must say it was weird and exciting at the same time. Weird because I was expecting it would feel hard and solid and it won't be that high. When I sat on its rump, I could actually feel it breathing and when it stood up I realized I am 4 meters above the ground. Skittish me, had my eyes shut the entire time.

After the camel ride, we went inside and tables on carpet everywhere. A barbecue was going on the left side of the enclosed area. A queue for the henna was at the right side. Another side of the enclosed area, was a queue for the welcome drinks and welcome snack. We roam for a bit to look for a perfect spot. There were so many people too difficult to grab a table with a good strategic location.



The welcome drinks were all soda and water. You can drink all you want. Beers are sold for AED 30.00 if you want to get wasted before the belly dancing performance.



The snack consisted of a vegetable samosa and some fried eggplant. It was good. The main dinner will start after the belly dancing show, which was around 8:00 pm. The belly dancer was not that interesting. I've seen better dancers and sexier. But it was ok.





The dinner was good. There plenty of briyani rice and some grilled chicken and lamb. It was filling. enough for everybody. During the dinner another dancer performed. A guy wearing this huge skirt. He was twirling and doing a lot of pretty nifty tricks. I loved that show.



After that, we were already summoned by our driver. It was already late, around 10:30 pm when we reached the drop-off point. We even had trouble finding the bus that will take us back to Dubai downtown area.

The trip back to the city proper took almost half an hour. Despite the long trip and sand everywhere. It was fun. I would definitely do it again and again.