Back to Basics // Dubai

Dune Bashing seems to be the type of tourist attraction that every country that has a desert features. Hundreds of similarly named companies (like Dubai Desert Tours or Dubai Sunset Desert Tours or Sunset Dubai Desert Tours etc.) offer once in a lifetime opportunities to drive Toyota SUV’s across the desert, ride camels, get henna tattoos, see belly dancers, and eat authentic Middle Eastern food.

Let’s begin with the Dune Bashing:

Dune Bashing is a fancy way of saying “driving recklessly through the desert”. It begins by letting half of the air out of your vehicle’s tires and then immediately moves to chaos.

There is no doubt that the drivers are very talented. Though the desert was littered with car parts (and a shockingly ridiculous amount of garbage), the drivers all seem to be extremely good at drifting the cars along the edge of the dunes without falling over the edge or flipping the vehicle.

Needless to say, I was made car sick almost immediately. This effectively lowered my abilities to take photos for the rest of the excursion, so I will share whatever I have.

After surviving the perils of the desert (which was also filled with other Dune Bashing vehicles from rival companies), You return to the highways of civilization at which point your driver pulls over and asks for your camera to take the above photo.

After that cultural gem, the driver takes you to a camel farmer, who he hands a bottle of juice, and then tells you to take pictures of him. Then you drive towards the camp while you slouch in your chair, point the A/C at your face, and pray nothing you ate that morning makes a guest appearance in the Toyota.

I really didn’t like Dune Bashing. Riding the camel was not as exciting as it looks. The “authentic Middle Eastern cuisine” was actually rather good. The belly dancer had very admirable… assets… 

Considering all of the above, the best part of the trip was seeing the sun set over the red sand dunes. 

Walking through that desert was a highlight of the Dubai trip for sure.

Hang in there folks. More Dubai posts to come.