Dubai: Desert Safari

Dubai, March 2012

I had been curious about desert safari for quite sometime. It looked really fun that I had to put it on my bucket list. So before I went to Dubai in March, I spent my days browsing about desert safari. There were so many operators to choose from. Honestly I was kinda worry after reading all the reviews.  Because some people had quite unpleasant experiences dealing with tour operators in Dubai. While browsing I came across to Grace's blog, Sandier Pastures. Grace has been living in Dubai for couple years, so I thought I would ask her suggestion about which tour operator is liable. She was very kind and friendly to reply my email with a list of some trusted operators in Dubai. After comparing the list and the reviews, I decided to choose Orient Tour. The staff, Vaseem was very helpful during the booking process which was easily done after some emails. I requested a soft dune drive to avoid getting motion sickness (Yup, "Motion Sickness" is my middle name :p). And he offered an exclusive 4WD for a good price, so I could have the whole car for my family. Such a great deal !

our 4WD and the best desert driver, Hasef

On that day, Hasef, the driver picked us up in our apartment at 3 pm sharp. Then he took us to the desert area which was around 1 hour from Dubai city centre. We stopped at a gas station for about 15 minutes for a toilet break while waiting other groups to gather. It's the tradition to drive in a convoy to the desert.
Before the dune bashing, Hasef deflated some air out from the tires to improve a vehicle's performance and handling in the desert. And then........Buckle up and let's enjoy the bumpy ride !Woohoo !

4WD convoy 

my favourite Oakley sunnies

looks like a cactus in the desert, tee hee :p

The ride was so much fun and scary at the same time, felt like riding a roller coaster ! Our car went through sand dunes, climbing dune mountains, driving across sand dunes in a 45 degree angle. I lost count how many times I screamed from the top of my lung when the car sliding down the sand dunes. Please remember not to eat or drink too much before the ride. Otherwise it's gonna be a messy ride :p

thrilling ride !!!

Dubai desert safari

We made a photo stop at a camel farm before headed to the camp where we could enjoy some activities such as camel riding, sand boarding, henna painting, shisha (Arabic water pipe) and had delicious BBQ dinner while watching belly dance and Tanoura dance under the starlight.
They served plenty of food for everyone, some salads, chicken tandoori, BBQ meats, potato, rice, dessert, drinks, coffee and etc.
In my opinion the belly dance was just OK but the Tanoura dance was amazingly great.

Camel farm

the camp

shisha booth

can you smell the mouthwatering aroma? :p

sand boarding (sand surfing)

camel riding

 sunset in the desert

Tanoura dance is usually performed by Sufi men from Egypt wear long colourful skirts, where each colour on the skirt represents one Sufi order. The dancer kept spinning and spinning non stop for more than 20 minutes while doing some moves with his hands and removing each layer of his costume.
Nope, not doing a striptease. Please don't get the wrong idea, OK ? :p
It was simply so beautiful, I couldn't take my eyes of the dancer. Such a great highlight to end the wonderful adventure in the desert.

Tanoura dance

keep spinning

Look! the light bulbs in his costume

I would  recommend everyone who visit Dubai to do the desert safari. It's really a unique experience. I'd love to do that again next time. Would you ???