I’d been living in the Middle East for over two months and I’d yet to see a camel. I’d long since abandoned any hopes of stumbling upon magic lamps, flying carpets, caves of wonder or any other Disney-inspired stereotypes of the Persian Gulf. But I point blank refused to leave my five day trip to Dubai without coming face to face with a camel. So I headed out on a Dubai desert safari adventure.
We booked our desert safari with Gateway Tours and, by booking through Groupon, we managed to get ourselves an excellent deal, paying just 6kwd (around £15 each). Essentially, for the price of two chicken fillet meals at our local takeaway back in Kuwait, we got a day out complete with food, drinks and a whole array of entertainment.
The bus picked us up near The Mall of the Emirates and it took around half an hour for us to arrive at our destination. It was fascinating to look out of the window and watch as the glitter and glamour of the city melted away into a vacant landscape. By the time we arrived at our destination, the sun had dipped down in the sky and the expanse of desert ahead of us had a soft, orange tinge. It really felt as though we’d jumped straight into a painting.
First on our agenda was dune bashing. We piled into an SUV as the tour guide warned us that we absolutely must wear our seatbelts at all times. Within the first 30 seconds of the journey it became obvious why.
We hurtled up and down the huge sand dunes, slipping one way, sliding another, jerking and bouncing and shrieking – partly out of joy and partly out of sheer terror – as we went. The driver manoeuvred us skilfully over the dunes (after all, not just anyone can get behind the wheel of a car and go careening through the sand), but it felt as though at any minute we were going to topple over or go skidding off the edge of one of the enormous dunes. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.
And then, before we had a chance to work out which way way up, we’d arrived at the desert safari.
It’s worth noting here that, although there are countless tour companies offering different desert safari trips, the majority of them seemed to take place in the exact same location, offering the exact same experiences. The only real difference I could make out was the transport to and from Dubai. Don’t get fooled into parting with more money than you need to because, odds are, you’ll find yourself having the exact same experience as someone who may have paid half as much as you did.
The main portion of the desert safari was made up of a little fenced-in area that contained gift shops, toilets and places to get food and drinks as well as the majority of the entertainment. Just outside of that area there were quad bikes (which you could ride at an additional charge) and, of course, the camels.
I’ll be entirely honest here. I think they oversold it when they advertised the desert safari experience as including a ‘camel ride’. Technically we did ride a camel, but the whole experience lasted less than a minute. The camels got up, walked six foot in one direction, six foot back in the other direction and then sat back down. In fact, watching those camels walk back and forth over and over made me question the ethics behind these camel rides. How happy can these camels really be doing that all evening? I’d skip the camel ride next time, just in case.
After our 60 second camel ride we headed into the fenced-in area that contained the bulk of the day’s entertainment. There were little gift shops selling the usual tourist memorabilia, a man selling embroidered carpets, a place to get falafels and drinks (free of charge), a bar (unfortunately not free of charge) and a little tent with a variety of traditional clothing you could dress up in to take a picture. There was also an opportunity to buy pictures that professional photographers were snapping throughout the day.
In the middle of this assortment of little shacks was a raised stage area where a variety of shows took place when it got dark. We watched the world’s most bizarre puppet show, a fire-breather, a belly-dancer and a man who, I kid you not, spun around on stage for fifteen minutes and made patterns with plates, holding onto them with his hands, mouth and face. By the end of it I was extremely dizzy, but thoroughly impressed.
The food was much better than we could have expected considering we were in the middle of the dessert and had paid so little. Midway through the shows we were called up to the buffet tent where there was a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options to choose from, including freshly grilled BBQ food.
All in all, our desert safari adventure was one of my highlights of our trip to Dubai. We got to experience some of the more traditional aspects of Middle Eastern culture while trying things we wouldn’t get a chance to in other parts of the world. After all, where else can you go quad-biking in the desert as three wild camels amble past?
If you ever find yourself in Dubai, a desert safari should be top of your to-do list. Just be prepared to come home covered in sand and potentially smelling like a camel.
