‘Marhaba, keef halek?’ is the standard local greeting in Dubai, meaning ‘hello, how are you?’. If they were to ask me that after the bumpy 4×4 ride in the desert safari, I would have probably just smiled and laughed at how nerve-wracking, yet fun it was.
Onboard a land cruiser, we endured a 10 minute slope up and down the sand dunes. Up and down, everybody’s all smiles and laughs, not giving a bother about anything, just enjoying the bumpy ride.
Once we arrived at the camp, it was magical. I have never seen a place so yellow albeit not too warm, you’ll despise it. It’s pre-summer when we visited and it was just perfect. I saw a camel and rode one, to see how it feels like what they do in the books I’ve read.
We capped the night with a performance from the fire and belly dancers. We sat cross-legged around tables on the floor, right on the sand bed, with brightly coloured woven rugs underneath us, enjoying the heartily local delicacy and drinks that the locals prepared for us.
Just as the sun went down, the stars are to be seen from above us. What a perfect scene to end the day.