At the beginning of the month, I returned from another trip to Dubai and still remember it fondly. This time, it was so eventful – EXPO, three different light and music fountains and, of course, the Jeep Safari ))
Our trip starts at the hotel. We get into very comfortable jeeps, five people each. They are very spacious, as there are three rows of seats and, in theory, can accommodate seven people besides the driver (one in the front seat and three in each of the other rows). The first stage of the tour is the journey into the desert. In the middle of the road, we stop for a 20-minute ‘restroom break.’ In reality, not everyone goes to the restroom — the stop is designed so that tourists can visit the shops and buy souvenirs.
The camel is the ‘main animal’ of the Emirates, like our bear )) This is my fifth time in the UAE, but I am sure that even those who are here for the first time will have enough sense not to buy this Chinese consumer goods. However, since the shops exist, it means that someone buys from them…
Let’s move on! Here’s the desert. And here the driver starts to show off his ‘aerial acrobatics’. No photos can convey this, so watch the video )) It’s cool – in the literal sense of the word. I never thought that the sand dunes, which look so gentle, could make the trip so exciting. The passengers are screaming, the driver is smiling, the music is playing – everything is as it should be! ))
After the ‘race’, we are dropped off in the middle of the sand dunes and offered abayas, headdresses worn by Arab women, to take photos. But it’s much more interesting to photograph the desert itself… and the sunset in it. Those who didn’t make it in time were late, as the sun sets very quickly, as always in the East. The sight is breathtaking!
After walking barefoot in the sand, we sit down and drive on. A ‘Bedouin village’ awaits us. Of course, it’s a completely touristy place, with nothing left of the Bedouins… well, nothing left at all. The palm trees in the Emirates are planted artificially, camels have been brought in, shops have been built, goods have been delivered – admire, buy, sit down!
We sat down. We sat near the open stage, chatted, and shooed away the very annoying ‘peddlers’ offering jewellery, falcons, and souvenirs. Everyone was invited to a buffet dinner. People stand in queues that move continuously. Polite Arabs put everything on our plates: vegetables, spaghetti, meat, chicken. You definitely won’t go hungry ))
After the meal, the shows began: ‘Tanur’, i.e. a man in a ‘skirt’ (a garment similar to a skirt-cowl, which flutters in all directions during the dance), belly dancing, beautifully performed by our compatriot, or more likely a Ukrainian. And a fire show, which looks impressive in the dark, no doubt about it.
All this takes about an hour and a half. It wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t breathtaking either. We spent half the time just chatting with our fellow travellers, as it turned out that we were travelling with a group of Israelis. Of course, it was interesting to talk to former compatriots who have been living in the Promised Land for a long time and hear about their lives there.
As for the tour itself, I was most impressed by the desert. The sand is incredibly beautiful — I’ve seen black sand in the Canary Islands, white sand in Miami and golden sand on the beaches of Los Angeles, but I’ve never seen such beautiful brown sand anywhere else. The sand dunes create a play of colours, it’s absolutely magnificent. I don’t know about other countries, but the desert here is worth visiting at least once.
