Morning camel ride
Qsar al Sarab Resort
Given the extreme heat of the desert, most of the planned activities took place in the early morning or the late evening. Indeed, the temperatures in October rose to about 38 degrees Celsius every since day of our UAE stay. It wasn't so bad when you were poolside, but when you weren't - it was another melting matter entirely!!
Our morning camel ride experience started at 5:45 AM in the lobby. We were the only ones on the camel ride with our guide, Jaleel who was from Morocco. Jaleel drove us about 15 minutes into the desert where we loaded out into 3 awaiting camels. We trekked out into the desert to an isolated dune area where breakfast was waiting for us. Jaleel explained the tracks in the sand, including the animals that were able to survive in the environment.
It was a pretty scenic and surreal experience to see the sun rise across the sand dunes in the middle of nowhere. Being interested in photography, I was able to get lots of photos of ever changing light across the dunes as the sun broke the morning sky.
An amazing experience to be in the middle of nowhere without a sound around.
Dune bashing.
Qsar al Sarab Resort
Later that evening, we went for our dune dashing adventure. Dune Bashing appears to be the thing to do in the UAE and there was no where better than to do it than here, where the dunes were huge!
At 5 PM, we hopped into a Toyota Land Cruiser that was discreetly fitted with an interior roll cage. We traveled a short distance on the main access road where we stopped briefly to lower the tire pressure to 18 PSI from 35 PSI.
We followed another Land Cruiser as we zipped across the dunes. Azmat was our guide, who was an older man from Pakistan who had been working in the UAE since 1995 and had his family back in Pakistan. He explained to us to that there was a structured process to learn how to drive, which included a complex license certification by the UAE government. I’ve had a lot of experience driving in snow, but I certainly wouldn’t feel that I’d be able to do this on my own, without getting stuck.
Our tour included 4 stops at different view points. It included zipping diagonally up and down sand dunes, similar to a snowboarder crossing up and down the sides of a half pipe. You can see the tracks left by the trucks in this photograph.
We crossed these dunes, end to end, on our journey.
It also included zipping down a 45 degree slope. It was another very strange vertigo experience looking straight out of a windshield and seeing the other vehicle directly in front of you. The more I look at these photos, the more bizarre the whole experienced seemed.
Our last stop had juice, water, croissants and snacks available. We arrived to the same spot as the morning camel stop but thanks to the lighting, it looked totally different than it was at 7 AM.
All in all - an excellent resort experience. Definitely a gem yet to be discovered.
Advantages:
It’s only 2 – 3 hours drive from Abu Dhabi.
Super luxury setting, in the middle of nowhere.
Excursions that are super cool and unique.
Scenery that is to die for.
Disadvantages:
The drive out to Liwa is pretty monotonous. 2 hours of straight in line driving at a posted 80 km/h. Speed cameras are frequently along the route, making it hard to gain any time.