We don’t go out till the afternoon, so the morning is spent organizing and resting for our upcoming India tours. I’m catching up on financial stuff and blog stuff. I’m a little worried that the things we’ve bought are going to push our luggage weight limits to a point where it gets really expensive.
One of the Ferraris available to rent in front of our hotel. Tempting!
Atana Hotel entrance
The reception hostesses are dressed to celebrate and honor UAE Emirates National Day coming up this weekend (Dec. 2) The holiday begins today.
Our “Desert Safari” driver picked us up around 3:30pm. We’re in a Toyota Land Cruiser, with a roll bar. Traffic was heavy as we head out of town. We drove for about an hour. Dubai has grown so much it takes a long time to get to the “edge” of town for the desert.
New home construction units are even built with the “wind walls” or ancient desert air-conditioning Ialked about in one of my earlier posts.
Finally getting to the edge of town.
We meet up with the rest of our caravan, 10 matching vehicles, all full of eager tourists. This company is Desert Adventure Team. While we wait for everyone to arrive, the drivers let air out of the tires to improve traction in the sand. (they refilled the tires while we ate later at the camp)
We get started, driving single file, weaving out over the sand dunes, spinning tires and sliding across the desert. They seem to really like to drive along the crest of a dune, then turn sharply, right about the time you think we’re about to roll over, and then drive down the steep embankment. One of the cars get “high center”, and we had a blast watching all the other drivers rush over to help. They tied straps on the car, and pulled it around, trying different directions and techniques, including digging with a shovel, until it finally broke free.
We finished the “dunes” part of the Safari sitting up on a hill watching a beautiful sunset. As the sun settled, we started up again, driving toward our camp for the evening.
Our camp looks like some type of desert fort built with sand blocks. Inside are all the fun activities, the food, camel rides, pictures with a falcon, the food, Shisha (water pipes), the food, the belly dancer, the Egyptian Tanoura dancer (he spins for more than 10 minutes, check You Tube), the food, and finally the Fire Dancer.
The food was really good with several salads, Naan bread, and grilled chicken and lamb kebabs. After dinner, we made the long drive back to the hotel, where we finished preparations for our flight to India tomorro