Desert Safari

Tim and I spent a couple of nights in Liwa ... that's in the southeast area of the UAE. Still in the Emirates of Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi is both a city and an Emirate), and sits on the northern part of the great desert called The Empty Quarter.

We stayed at the Liwa Hotel. It's a stark white hotel, sitting atop a hill, and it overlooks dunes. 


We had a deal on a suite ... far more room than we needed for the short time we were there, but fun to have a room with character. Would be a great room for entertaining or for an extended stay.

LOTS of dunes ... almost nothing but dunes ... in this area of the country. Beautiful red sands.

Good ol' Wikipedia has information on the tallest dune in the UAE, the Tal Moreeb:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreeb_Dune

I found some videos that show people "bashing" the dune. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrTfdxrEG50) The day we drove out to the Tal Moreeb, they were prepping the area for a big festival and dune buggy competition, so we couldn't get right next to it and climb up any part of it. It's size is impressive.

The day we arrived, we had a sunset 4x4 excursion and bbq dinner.  Karim was our guide and driver. He's from Egypt, and has lived in the UAE for 27 years. 

On our way to our dinner site, we stopped at a camel farm. This pair were not penned, and were quite happy to pose for photos.

The person who minds the camels lives in a bedouin tent ... and right outside the tent is a tv satellite dish. (We saw similar as we roamed by car ... I just didn't expect to see such a modern convenience next to a temporary abode!)

Our guide/driver, Karim, had a Santa hat with him. As I said, camels pose for photos.

While venturing via 4x4 on the dunes, we saw a modern version of camel herding. Note the man on the quad :-)

Once to the spot where we had our bbq, Tim and I had the time to hike up the dunes and watch the sunset.

There was a bit of a breeze, and the sands gently blew across the surface. While the red was the most visually obvious, sitting down and touching the sand -- which felt like a fine powder -- you could also see black and beige sands mixed in. And whether it was an effect of light, the sand that blew across the surface looked like a very light color.

Many thanks to Karim of Liwa Adventures (he's on Facebook) for a great afternoon and evening. And for so easily navigating the dunes in the dark after we finished dinner!