Ever since Dubai appeared on the world map as a tourist and financial hub, the Dubai government has been making a lot of efforts to make visitors’ stay in this area a memorable one. One of the most popular tourist activities in Dubai is the famous Dubai Desert Safari. There was a time when Dubai had millions of tourists every year, but times have changed and now the tourist traffic has reduced due to the Wuhan virus, but the few who come can still enjoy the desert safari.
Desert safari is similar to any other safari like forest or wildlife park. The only difference is that it is a desert cruise. The desert is made of sand that rises in small mounds called dunes. These keep changing with the direction of the wind. Additionally, desert storms are also common when sand churns up everywhere and visibility drops to zero. Getting stuck in a desert storm can be a chilling experience.
Therefore, the desert safari must have a special type of vehicle that can move on the sand. Only a 4×4 wheel drive vehicle can serve this purpose. The most used vehicle is the Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 in these desert safaris. The vehicle is spacious and with the air conditioning on it does not get hot in the hot desert where the daytime temperature rises to 50°C. Safaris are suspended during the hot months of May and June. The best time is winter when the temperature is low and you can really enjoy the desert, belly dancing and food.
Booking a Safari is easy and there are many outlets at the hotels where you will be staying. There are two types of safaris. Firstly, there is the Day Safari which picks you up at your hotel and drops you back at midnight. There is also the Night Safari which takes you to a Bedouin village where you spend the night in air-conditioned tents and return the next night.
The Safari starts from the moment you are picked up from the hotel. After collection, all vehicles are assembled at a meeting point. Remember that no vehicle ventures alone into the desert. This is dangerous as there are high chances that you will get lost in the desert and even sometimes the drivers lose their orientation too.
The cavalcade of the vehicle will then drive towards the desert. This in itself is an exciting experience as the vehicle will go up and down the desert dune. Momentum is something that can only be experienced. Most likely, the safari group will converge on the desert camel farm. You can then go out and have a look at the camels and even take a short ride on the camel. Here you will also have the sand scooter and riding it in the desert is a great challenge and also fun.
The next stop on the safari is at a Bedouin desert camp. These camps are specially designed to serve tourists and have basic tourist services such as bathrooms, electricity and telephones. The stay in the Bedouin camp can be from 2 to 4 hours and dinner will be served. A sumptuous buffet is usually available and you can get vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. It is an international buffet and there are dishes from all over the world from Europe to Japan and India. However, keeping the susceptibilities of the large number of visitors from the subcontinent, it never serves beef. This is the time you can also order whiskey or beer but this will be charged extra and is not part of the package. However, the soft drinks are free and you can fill up on them. Many women like to hang around the camp and decorate their hands with henna. Foreign women find this exciting. You can also photograph yourself in a hijab as a souvenir.
Standard fare after dinner is belly dancing. This is the pièce de résistance for the night. Many of the girls are local, but a variety of girls from Lebanon and even India do belly dancing. By the way, during your vacation, if you want to learn belly dancing, there are small horses in Dubai and you can learn the basics of belly dancing in a few days.
Belly dancing is a melodious dance with plenty of sex appeal and is sure to please visitors. The girls are generally beautiful and fair. I have been on the desert safari a couple of times.
The end of the belly dance marks the end of the safari trip and the vehicles will take you back to where you were picked up. Desert safaris are now highly commercialized, but despite this, a visit to Dubai without a desert safari is something to be savored and not to be missed. The price of the Dubai sand or desert safari tour ranges from $100 to $200 per person. Rates increasing due to the Wuhan virus and extra precautions that need to be taken. The number of visitors taken on safari is also reduced by 50%.
The whole trip will be 7-10 hours.