An Evening in the Desert

The city gives up quickly. One moment there is six-lane road and a row of towers behind you, and then the buildings thin, the last petrol station goes past, and the driver pulls over to let the air out of the tyres. That is the border. Everything after it is sand.

The dunes come first, if you have asked for them. A 4x4 goes up a face, hangs, and slides down the far side sideways, and the whole thing is either the best twenty minutes of the trip or the worst, depending entirely on the person. Say which you are before you get in. The same vehicles will take the same route slowly, along the ridges rather than over them, and the desert looks better that way anyway.

Then the light starts to go and the reason for the timing becomes obvious. The sand turns the colour everyone photographs, the ridges throw long shadows, and the wind smooths out the tyre marks behind you while you watch. There is usually a stop on a high dune for exactly this, and nobody needs telling to get out.

Camp is a low ring of rugs and cushions with a fire in the middle. A camel walks a slow circuit for anyone who wants to sit on one. There is a falcon on a glove, and its handler will tell you more about it than you expected to want to know. Henna, Arabic coffee poured from a long-spouted pot, bread from a metal dome, and then dinner of grills, salads and dates, eaten sitting on the floor. Somebody dances, the lights go down for it, and afterwards the camp turns most of them off so you can see what the sky is doing.

It pairs naturally with a slow morning: the desert takes the whole back half of a day, so put the creek and the souks in front of it, or leave the day either side empty and use the pool.

Good to know

• Do not eat a large lunch before a dune drive. Everyone learns this once.
• Sunglasses, and something to tie your hair back with. The wind on a high dune is not gentle.
• The temperature drops after dark and the sand holds none of the heat. Take a layer.
• Operators set their own minimum ages for dune driving and quad bikes, and they differ. We confirm yours in writing.
• Ask us for a conservation-reserve camp if you want the desert without the sliding. It is a different evening and often the better one.
• Cash for the odd extra at camp is worth having, though most of the evening is arranged in advance.