Tuesday 22nd January 2008
Day 4: Dune-bashing on the Desert Safari
One of the must-dos for any Dubai visitor is the desert safari. No trip is complete without first experiencing the desert in all its glory. There are many tour operators that offer various deals. I’d done my research beforehand and had a rough idea what the itinerary would entail. Some people had mentioned they’d suffered from motion sickness on TripAdvisor. As a result, I took a tablet as a preventative measure before the trip. Fortunately, I was fine the whole time.
Our 4WD group heading down another steep dune.
The driver, who turned out to be the tour guide too, picked us up late in the afternoon in a 4WD vehicle. This same vehicle would be used in the desert later on for a spot of dune bashing. After another pick up, all seven of us made our way out of the city and into the desert.
It had been a fairly cool day (average temperature since being here has been 18 degrees Celsius) but as soon as we reached the desert, it suddenly felt very warm. The first main stop was at the periphery of the desert where we had ten minutes to take photos, stretch our legs and say prayers for what was about to follow!
Dune bashing – something that is both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. And for some strange reason, when both emotions are experienced, laughter often follows. Why, I do not know. Is it because you can't believe you've just let out a scream and feel slightly embarrassed as a result or is it because you don’t quite know how to react, so the best thing to do is just to laugh. Anyway, there was a lot of laughing going on. So what is dune bashing? It basically involves tearing up and down sand dunes in a 4x4, usually at compromising angles that would otherwise be unachievable in a normal family car – even though we did actually spot an abandoned family car out there, which caused a raised eyebrow from our driver.
Heading down a dune at a steep angle, sliding as we go!
80’s music was playing on the radio and it was funny hearing Toto’s ‘Africa’ and Cher’s ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ as we rolled up and down the dunes in the 4WD. I chuckled when I heard the two Indian ladies who were sitting at the back giggling and saying "Not sure about the dunes, but I'm getting a good bashing!" as they struggled to hold on to the overhead grab handles. And so the dune bashing continued for another 30 minutes, by which time we were so used to the angles we were thrown into that it almost became second nature.
Smoking a Camel, leaning against a camel!
The next part of the evening was centred around a camp in the middle of the desert. Here all the Arabian clichés one could possibly think of would come to fruition. Activities such as camel-riding, shisha-smoking, henna tattoo painting, dressing up in Arabic costume, Arabian BBQ sampling and belly dancing were all on offer. And like good sports we tried most of them. OK, we opted out of belly dancing.
Me and Ian on a 'ship of the desert'.
Preparing the evening's food - tasty BBQ.
During the evening we talked to the Indian girls mentioned earlier. Since they stayed at our hotel, and knowing how predominantly male our district is populated, Ian asked how they were getting on as two female tourists in Bur Dubai. The two ladies said that they were getting stared at a lot, which they felt was because they were Indian women wearing mostly western clothes, and one of them was a smoker – apparently this is something of a culture shock to the local men. On the flip side, they speak Hirdu and this surely is an advantage when haggling for goods.
With a round of applause, the belly dancer finished her act, and a few moments later began the impatient tooting of horns of the 4x4s – our signal that our desert safari experience was officially over.