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Doha, Qatar - 19 June 2018

Today we went out to the desert to get out of the concrete jungle, ride the sand dunes and enjoy a Bedouin dinner in a carpeted tent by the sea with Gulf Adventures.

https://gulf-adventures.com/SITE/Home/TMS_Site_Home/TMS_Home.aspx

It was great to get out of the city and enjoy the openness of the desert.

[Apologies for the side ways and upside down pics. I've not had this issue before with Steemit on other posts. Look forward to finding/hearing/being sent a solution :-) ]

All up there were 3 cars in our group with 8 tourists in 2 cars and support guy in the 3rd. So it wasn't crowded like the video on the Gulf Adventure website site. We had the desert to ourselves. When we got to the bedouin camp for dinner the group was reduced to the 4 kiwis. Perhaps June is a good time of year to go as the tourists crowds are less - which is far more pleasant.

Our driver picked us up from the hotel. We were first in, so I sat in the front (which I was grateful for as I get car sick. I did later offer the seat to others so they could enjoy the view as we slid down sand dunes, but all were happy with their spot).

Four Kiwis and two Italians later, we had a 4WD fill of tourists driven by the tallest guy in town. His seat was so far back the shortest person in the had to sit there. Dressed in sharp white thobe (long white lose shirt) with a white head scarf (ghurta) held in place with a black rope band (egal) with two tassels that hang down the back, he looked very smart. Our driver wasn't so chatty. No "hey folks welcome to Gulf Adventures, where you all from, our itinerary today is...". Being a chatty person myself and wanting to learn about the country I was visiting, after 30 minutes of driving to the desert (a 45 minute trip) I ask a few questions about where we were and I made a few jokes to which I got a shy smile. Perhaps language was the barrier, that totally was made up by his driving skills. More on that later.

CAMEL RIDES

Our first stop was a camp on the desert edge where a caravan of camels stood in the sun, chewing lazily and sniffing the sand. I've never been close up to a camel. I instantly fell in love! What amazing creatures! their two toed soft feet that spread to not sink into the sand. Their narrow long rectangular necks up to a very bony large skulled head in which sat the biggest brown eyes and beautiful lashes that would make a girl jealous. Their hair on the coat of their bodies was about 3 inches long and like dry stiff hair when you have used too much hair mousse! The rest was very short.

The camels were well looked after and pandered by their two owners. They fed them grass, raked up their (surprisingly tiny) poos - highly energy efficient transport! (might need one with 20c per litre Auckland Petrol tax) had them dressed in bright red sheets over their single humps on which sat a traditional wood saddle that fit over their hump and was wrapped in colourful cloth.

Each camel had a nose bag. I thought this was so they didn't get sunburnt... no it was so they didn't eat the sand! The owners' dress was slightly difference from the our driver. A simpler white 'dress' with a low neck and a head dress that was a very long scarf wrapped in a 'turbin' style. Most definitely the appropriate dress for this hot sandy windery environment at 40 degrees celsius (140 Fahrenheit).

A ride on a camel was about NZ$8 (20 Rial). I climbed onto the camel as it sat, not having a clue what to expected. The saddle was very comfortable. The owner egged the camel to get up few times as he/she was being rather stubborn (not unexpected for a camel - probably didn't want to be disturbed from it's slumber taking stupid tourists for a ride!). What an experience! The camel raised its rear first and I was hanging forward like a going down the side of a steep roller coaster. When the front end raised up I found myself very high off the ground. Higher than any horse I sat on at a horse ride for non-horse people. The owner held the leads of the 3 camels and we went for a walk. The camels meandered, so gently, almost lazily, their soft two toed feet spreading and taking their weight (plus 1). The rocking motion was so gentle it could send an adult to sleep. I could see how these ships of the deserts were rode for days and weeks. You could ride for hours be lulled into a stupor.

The 'ride' was a short walk there and back, which was more than enough - we didn't need to get carried away and go over deserts for days - But should they start day long camel trekking to a camp by the sea and stay over night, I would totally be into that.

There was a toilet here and we had hot sweet tea. No loo paper so BYO. No flush either, use the scoop and water bucket. Keeping it real!

SAND DUNING

The sand duning was great. We drove for some time bumping over sand, round giant hills of sand. With a lack of road signs and at time a trail, I wondered how one navigated their way through the mono coloured hills. Lots of local knowledge I assumed.

Sliding down a giant sand dune side ways in a car full of 7 people was definitely fun! The driver was changing gears to control the speed, quickly turning the steering wheel left and right so the car would slide down the sand, but not too fast and not flip! I would have loved a lot more of the thrilling scary driving. I would have loved to have driven! The amount of crazy driving was probably enough to suit the average person. I'm not average!

It all got rather thirsty this sand dune driving was very hot, so we were pleased when we asked for water than the driver produced them from a centre console mini fridge! How cool was that?

The car stopped a few times and we could get out and enjoy the views to Saudi Arabia and breeze whilst standing at the top of a giant sand dune which were were encouraged to run down.... so I did! (tip: take your shoes off and run in zig-zags otherwise you fall over!)

BEDOUIN CAMP

The camp was very well set up. With showers and toilets. All very clean and organised. There were tents for sleeping in as you can do over night trips.

At the front of the camp were seats in the sun. The hot tourists decided to sit in the tent - which wasn't much cooler but at least out of the sun. Hubby reminded us politely it is traditional to take your shoes off. We rested on the cushions with bottles of water and enjoyed the view of the Saudi Arabian ocean to local music. The Italian girl lay on her cushions posing with a pouty face for selfies! At our hotel I watched a local muslim women taking a photo of herself in the reflection of the lift door - no culture is immune!

Dinner was a few hours away.

As the temperature seemed to get hotter we thought a paddle in the ocean would cool us down. The sandy beach was beautiful. The water was so warm it wasn't so cooling! An area of the beach was fenced off by a rope for the use of Gulf Adventures.

ECO TOURIST

What marred the experience of nature's beauty was the rubbish washed up on the beach and all throughout the desert were blown car tyres, the odd car part and too many plastic bottles. I could not bear to stand by the lapping waves pretending is was all enjoyable, stepping over plastic bags, polystyrene plates and bottles and do nothing. So I picked up a plastic bag half buried in the sand and cleaned up that small fenced portion of the beach. My action spurred the others to join in and soon the staff joined us.

We were told the rubbish comes in every day from Saudi Arabia. But ya know, that's not an excuse to not pick it up. You may have not dropped the rubbish but you have an ethical and environmental responsibility to pick it up, especially when you are commercially profiting from the environment. I pick up rubbish often where every I am and put it in the bin. Simple action and makes the world 1 bottle a better place.

We told the staff at the camp they should at least clean their part of the beach so this place looks lovely. I would like to see the tourist operators taking steps to clean up the desert and look after their corner of the planet.

DINNER

After our wee clean up the eco tourists were ready for dinner! and what a fabulous dinner it was. There was food for 20. Smooth creamy hummus, tasty spiced chicken and minced beef, curry sauce, salad, rice, naan bread. All the traditional food. We ate so much we couldn't eat the fruit and cake for dessert. There was no alcohol. That wasn't an issue and there would have been some reason like licencing or religious. The ice cold water and soft drinks were very welcome. We finished with a cuppa tea, oddly a hot drink was refreshing. We chatted and swapped travel stories.

At one point the local music changed to Lady Gaga. It really wasn't doing it for my Bedouin dinner experience so I asked them to play local music. Which they kindly did. The hosts were amazing. The four men waved tissues over the food to keep the flies at bay whilst we served ourselves. They were keen to ensure we were feed and watered and didn't pack up the food until we told them we couldn't eat any more.

Over dinner the sun had set and and the camp was lit up with lanterns and flame torches. The lights of a local city could be seen in the distance. It was a beautiful setting. We were ready to leave before the allotted hour. Happy to get to bed a bit earlier. The driver somehow made his way through the dark desert. We could only see the sand lit by the headlights...no street lights out there!

SUMMARY

Would I do it again? Yes! It makes a welcome change from the new Doha of malls and high rises to see the real Doha. It's nice to get out of the city into the desert wind. The camel riding was a brilliant start to a desert adventure. Sliding sideways down dunes was thrilling.

Two recommendations are I would strongly encourage the tour operators to look after their commercial environment and clean up the rubbish. Plus play local music for a Bedouin atmosphere.

Our safety and enjoyment were paramount. The dune bashing was a lot of fun. The staff were extremely hospitable and we were delivered home safely and happy.

Cheers
Kiwicrypto Abroad