Desert Safari Fun

We went on a desert safari trip today and man was it a blast! We went with Arabian Adventures, which is actually owned by Emirates Air! Our driver picked us up at a local hotel and after grabbing two more guests, we were off to the desert!

Our driver was named Malik and he was from Africa. He'd been living in Dubai for 18yrs and driving in the desert for his job for 10 years. We nicknamed him the "celebrity" driver as he had driven Arnie Swartzaneger, Sylvester Stallone, Naomi Campbell, Rod Stewart/Rachel Hunter, and Michael Schumacher (race car driver). We figured he must be good to have been given those people so we settled in for a good trip!

The first part of the safari was driving through the dunes. I have never been on a roller coaster but I can imagine what it's like! They let the air out of the tires to about 18psi and this allows the trucks to literally "slide" sideways in the sand. All the trucks on the tour were GMC Suv's of some type, equipped with enough seats for 7 people plus the driver! Malik started us out gently but holy crap did that not last for very long! We were ripping up dunes, then reaching the peak, the truck would tip forward, or forward and sideways, and he'd hit the gas again and we'd roar forward. Keep in mind that all this time there are about 30 other trucks doing the same thing! A couple of times Malik had to do some very creative driving as the truck in front of us got stuck! One truck was stuck with all four wheels off the ground and Malik said "Look, that is not the fault of the driver. Fat people in the car" and low and behold, yes some larger people piled out of the car while the driver tried to get free. It seems that he truly was the all knowing, celebrity driver!

After dune bashing for about 30mins we stopped at a particularly idyllic place for some shots of the setting sun. I didn't think that one sand dune might be particularly prettier than the others but they really did choose a nice place to stop for the sunset. Like on a postcard. After the sunset we visited a local camel farm. This apparently was where they bred and raised racing camels which is HUGE money in Dubai. Gambling is illegal but the shieks tend to wager against themselves or wagers are made within families. Anyway, we petted a few camels and Andreas took a photo of me with a baby one, looking away from the camera. What you cannot see is that the guy who is controlling the camel has some money in his hand and is asking me for money! They are paid to show us the camel but I really couldn't blame them for trying to get more. Malik told us that the people that work out in the desert for these outfits often do not receive a holiday for up to 2 years!

After the camel farm, we were driven to a "Bedouin inspired" camp for dinner and entertainment. They even had two of the larger dunes lit up with large lights. There were plenty of places to sit on large ground pillows at low tables around a square stage. There were many languages spoken around us; high German, English, Punjabi, Arabic, French and Russian. Faces from all over the place! Dinner was traditional Arabic food, BBQ meat, tabouli, humus (no garlic), Arabic flat bread, and a kind of greek salad. It was really yummy.

After dinner a lady came out and danced for us for about 40 minutes. She did some belly dancing (I've seen MUCH better though) as well as some traditional Arabic dances I didn't really understand. It was okay but I think that the ladies in Vancouver I've seen belly dance (Sonja and Sepand) are much better!

Finally, we smoked some sheesha and they turned all the lights out and we looked at the stars. Andreas and I also had the opportunity to ride a camel which was pretty neat! They are much higher than horses and pretty unbelievable that they can fold their legs down to almost nothing!

The drive home was much less rough and a time to reflect on the day and some of the stories Malik shared with us. No matter what kind of touristy thing we have done here, it's been impossible to shake the reality of the racism of this place. Along with it comes a very large helpless feeling with two choices; 1) continue to be a tourist or 2) go home. Neither one makes me feel any better!