Desert Safari

Friends told us that it was a MUST we do the Desert Safari excursion while in Dubai. We had heard good things and decided to go for it. We booked our trip and were anxiously awaiting the adventure ahead.

The company picked us up in a 4 x 4 rig along with a small group from Lebanon and off we went. We headed about 50 miles into the dessert…seemed crazy far away. Our only complaint was that the Lebanese crew spoke Arabic and were talking the to driver the entire trip so we had no clue what they were saying and felt we were missing out on not just conversation in general but interesting facts about what was whizzing by the back seat windows. Oh well. Miles and I had a blast. We stopped at one place to take some photos. The hot sun was just beginning to sink and made perfect colors in the sand and displayed the most gorgeous scenery. It was breathtaking. The sand was as far as the eye could see. We met up with a bunch of other tour rigs and caravaned through some intense sand dunes. Sitting in the far backseat turned out to be rather painful at times. We were flying all over the place but did not mind because it was crazy fun. I mean who gets to roll their Toyotas up and down and sideways through the Dubai sands?

We arrived at the camp where there were tents and mats and pillows set up everywhere. There were camels for riding, Arabic coffee, trinkets for sale, and sand boarding. We hiked up a steep sand hill and Miles “boarded” down. He did really well too. After dark a BBQ buffet was served. The food was incredible! We sat on mats and pillows on the dessert floor enjoying our food, coffee, and dessert under the bright dessert stars and watched a belly dancing show that was honestly quite good and we felt immersed in Arabic culture. With the camels on the horizon it felt like we were really being taken back into a different time.

The trip was fantastic and It truly lived up to all the recommendations and we recommend it to anyone traveling to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. It was the perfect way to end our trip to Dubai. We loved this city and everything in the surrounding areas. Goodbye Dubai – for now. We hope to return.