During August in Abu Dhabi, you need to be careful about how long you stay outside. By mid-afternoon the temperature is in the mid-40s. If you’ve parked your car outside, you’ll need gloves to get into it and you grow so accustomed to wearing sunglasses that one evening I forgot to take them off before getting into the shower. Yet you can only spend so long sitting in air-conditioned offices and hotels, or walking around shopping malls with no windows. Somewhere beyond the last line of apartment blocks, there is open road and the desert. So one morning we went out to explore.
At 5am in Abu Dhabi it’s still dark. It is also cooler, quieter and, beyond the edges of the city, there might even be the chance of seeing some wildlife. Arriving in city the previous day the desert had been absolutely still apart from the shimmering heat and the illusion there was a lake on the horizon, a mirage that speeding vehicles destroy every few seconds.
During the day, the desert deserves its name – it is utterly deserted. But not at night. Once things cool down and the sun has disappeared over the last sand dune, the place comes to life. And the evidence is there to see in the morning: scurrying, slithering tracks in the sand, even the occasional set of hoof prints. Our aim was to catch some of this, as well as a sunrise. So at 5am we set off.
There were five in our group. Our driver, Mahmoud, two fellow adventurers and our guide and host Anwar Abu Monassar. An hour out of Abu Dhabi city the landscape changed dramatically. The sand dunes emerged and colours varied from dull yellow to deeper oranges and reds. We headed off-road at high speed in our 4×4 Landcruiser, stopping less to marvel at the landscape than at the incredible driving skills of Mahmoud.
Arriving at the top of a particularly vertiginous sand dune, we crested and found a Bedouin camp set up in a hollow. Four quad bikes – or desert buggies, as they’re called – were waiting for us. Having a well-justified fear of killing myself on these things, I was glad to learn that the tyres had been half-deflated for better traction. This also served to reduce their speed – perfect. I did wonder how we were going to see any wildlife though, since the engine noise was akin to a demolition derby. Surely anything within five miles would hear us coming and run off? In part, this is what happened, but in the end it worked in our favour. The spiny-tailed lizards – or dhabs, as they’re known locally – were so confused they didn’t know which way to run and were still there when we arrived.
The Arabian oryx (a horse-like antelope), as Anwar was quick to point out, would have been easy to spot in the desert if it hadn’t become extinct as a wild species decades ago. Now they’re only encountered in protected areas and large open-air parks. We were more likely to see a hare, though they were probably a bit quick for our dune buggies, and dhabs. We found a huge specimen, half a metre long, just as we were returning to camp. There were also many signs of snakes (vipers, most likely). Most impressive, however, was the quiet (when we turned off the engines of our dune buggies). All the wildlife might have been bedding down for a good day’s sleep, but above ground, with the heat still absent, it was possible to make out the beauty of the landscape, the clarity of the sky and the absolute peace of the place, only an hour’s drive from the bustle of Abu Dhabi city. With zoos so easily accessible, we take dramatic wildlife for granted, but really it’s the landscape that is the wonder. Or so it seemed, standing on the top of a dune with a ghutra wrapped round my head – looking less Tom of Arabia, and more Tom fool.
But by then stomachs were rumbling, so it was back to the camp and a delicious light Bedouin breakfast with “khobz” flat bread, cheese, the distinctive Arabic coffee with its cardamon flavour and, of course, everyone smoking furiously as they do all over the Middle East. Not just before and after the meal, but during it. Sometimes not even lowering the cigarette before taking a mouthful.
Factbox
Desert Symphony Experience: Net Tours – Abu Dhabi Call +971 2 679 4656, or visit nettoursdubai.com. The desert tour costs AED1000 (£146) per car (six seats maximum). Renting a quad bike/dune buggy costs AED300 (£44) per hour.
