ThePassportPrincess

Sunday 25th October 2015

I actually did something other than shopping today in Dubai!

Well that’s a lie, I went shopping around lunch time and bought some long skirts but I did go out in the afternoon haha.
I’d organised a Desert Safari Tour through desertsafaridubai.com
It cost me 205 AED which is $83 NZD so it wasn’t too bad in terms of price.

At 3.30pm I was picked up from my hotel by the tour leader in his 4WD.
I sat in the front seat (best views) and then we went to pick up 4 more people from the mall who was also on our tour.
The other people were 4 American guys who worked together on a boat that was currently in Dubai. They had some free time so booked the tour too!

We were driven about an hour out from central Dubai when we then stopped at a small convince store so our tour driver could deflate some air in the cars tyres.  They do this so the 4WD’s tyres footprints increase and the 4WD doesn’t sink in as deep into the sand. There’s a lesser chance of getting stuck this way.
The rest of us grabbed a drink and some of the guys got a photo taken with this random bird thing someone was charging people for.

We had another 15 minute drive along Al Awir Road where we then pulled off to do some Dune Bashing. My Dad always did 4 wheel driving as I was growing up so it wasn’t super new to me but it was still fun. I’d never driven through desert hills before!

One of the guys in the car was not loving the bumpiness of the ride and proceeded to throw up half way through. 😵😷
Thankfully he got it in a bag and so we pulled over to let him have some fresh air. It was good timing though anyways as the sun was setting we got some good photos done.
Of course I had my selfie stick anyways and proceeded to take a million selfies in the the hopes that at least one would be good.

Once we’d taken all our snaps, we drove to the campsite where they had camels to ride and smaller quad bikes to ride around the sand.
The campsite was all set up with tables with a stage in the middle and food was being prepared for our dinner.

While we waited for our dinner, we lined up for the camel rides. To be honest, I wouldn’t have really called it a ride. More of a, hop on the camel, walk 4 meters, get your picture taken and then come back and jump off.
I’d ridden a camel when I was younger in Australia but I forgot how bloody tall they are. As soon as i hopped onto my camel he stood straight up when he wasn’t meant to (he was attached to 2 other camels by a long rope) so I nearly fell off him haha.
Like I’ve previously mentioned before, my phone is terrible at taking picture in the dark so I didn’t really get any. Apart from one below where I’m not even looking haha.

Once our short little camel ride was  over, I got changed into something other than my Active Wear for dinner and sat down with a yummy plate of rice, curries and potatoes. It was a buffet style dinner and to be honest I don’t even know what I got given. I just accepted whatever the person at the buffet was offering onto my plate haha. It was quiet dark when we sat down to eat so I couldn’t even really see what I was eating 😦

We had a girl do some belly dancing while we ate and another guy do some dancing which was nice to watch.

I  was disappointed we didn’t get dessert after our dinner but I guess you can’t please everyone… 😥
I really wanted to get a henna tattoo so thank god I remembered before we left.
I quickly went and got one done before it was time to go and I’m writing this blog 4 days later and it’s still on my hand. Yay.

Henna used to be used for cosmetic purposes in Ancient India and to this day Bridal Henna nights remain an important custom through India, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa.
The henna refers to the dye prepared from the Henna Tree which ‘stains’ the skin and can end up making these really beautiful designs on our skin.

By around 9.30pm it was time to head home. We found our 4WD and drove home with a stop off to inflate the tyres again on the way.
I was feeling hot and sticky and sandy so it was ice cream, shower and bed for me when I got back to my hotel.

I’m glad I did the desert safari tour. It wasn’t too expensive, the only thing you had to pay for was alcoholic drinks if you wanted any and the quad bikes.
There are sooo many different companies that do this type of thing so I’d defintaly trip advise.com some if you were interested in doing it in Dubai.

Xx