My Very Special Trip – Abu Dhabi Desert Guide

I am often blessed with the opportunity to lead so many wonderful people through the deserts of Abu Dhabi. Early in the season, in fact, during the rather warm first weekend of October 2017, I was tasked with taking high-profile German journalist Lutz Jakel on a desert journey through the dunes between Al Ain and the Qasr Al Sarab Resort.

If you’re looking for luxury and superb service, here’s the TripAdvisor link Anantara Qasr Al Sarab Resort.

I know very little German, so I can’t help you with the text, but the pictures tell something of our journey. Here’s what he wrote!  (Photos by © Lutz Jäkel, abenteuer und reisen.)

Look at that lovely campsite on the top left photo!  In the bottom right photo I was aware of his camera lens on me so churned up the sand a little – I wasn’t stuck there tho!

Lutz just loved camels!  He bought a tiny toy camel, named it “Cam” and it has accompanied him on all his travels since!  (See below)

We were accommodated at the beautiful Qasr Al Sarab Resort – it was a tough job but somebody had to do it!

Now this WAS a stuck.  Quite early on our drive Lutz had said to me “so, it will be ok if I just tell my guests to hire a car and head into the desert on their own?”  I persuaded him otherwise, by both words and as you can see,actions.  On the second day after I got us both unstuck he said “ok, ok, you’ve convinced me, my readers should take a guide!”  I guess the photo above is to illustrate this point!

I am so glad that the little lizard has got his moment of fame!  I diverted to a gravelly area at the base of a dune in the hope of finding a dhaub; this wasn’t to be but this little lizard danced about and “worked” the camera!  We found the gazelle at a farm, eating the camels’ hay as the workers had their afternoon nap – the minute they saw us, the gazelle legged it!

Now for a few of my photos – pretty poor efforts compared to the pro!

We saw a lot of sand during our 30 hour expedition

Lutz loved my Rhinorack – standing on top meant he could get some good pics over the top of a fence

You’re Never Far away from Camels!

The desert is not a totally inhospitable environment, but it’s hard to survive out there. However, closer to the road, there are tracks that lead to camel farms dotted about the dunes. The female camels are let loose in the morning to graze on wild plants and are herded home for water and alfalfa grass in the evening. Caution must be taken when traveling these tracks as you never know what’s over the next rise.

Abu Dhabi Wildlife

We stopped to follow some tracks in the sand, but the resident had already vanished, perhaps buried in the sand somewhere. There’s not much that can survive in the desert and it’s always a treat to find any desert species.

Abu Dhabi Dunes

I don’t know if you can see a tiny person on top of the huge dune to the right of the photo. This was Lutz making the most of the afternoon light.