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Overnight Desert Camp Experience: Dinner, Emirati Activities And Vintage Land Rover Transport From Dubai
Day 1: Dubai – Dubai Desert Conservation Range (D)
Start your overnight experience with a pickup from your Dubai hotel, and then travel into the desert aboard your open-roof vintage Land Rover, a mode of transport used extensively in 1950’s desert expeditions. As you travel, listen to your guide’s stories about Dubai’s past and present as well as the many customs and traditions that you’ll experience throughout the evening.
Head through Dubai Desert Conservation Range, looking out for wildlife such as Arabian gazelles and oryx, and then stop in a Bedouin-inspired camp in the grounds of a private royal residence. Make your way past the gently flickering flames from the lights that mark the entranceway, and then hop out of your Land Rover to take a seat at your shared table.
Before your meal starts, a range of cultural activities are demonstrated around the tables. Enjoy an Arabic coffee and sit back to watch flamboyant dancers performing to traditional Emirati music, or perhaps take a wander around the camp. Pose in the sand dunes for a photo as the sun goes down, watch a bread-making demonstration or gaze at UAE’s national bird – the falcon – during a falconry display. If you want to immerse yourself in the culture even more, why not get a henna tattoo, smoke a shisha (Arabic water pipe) or even try riding a camel?
Take a seat back at your table in time for a cookery demonstration, where you’ll learn how to make local bread. Then, all that’s left to do is to feast on your 4-course dinner under the stars. Like the activities at the camp, the dishes are mostly traditional Emirati specialties, combining flavors from the Middle East and Asia. See sample menu in the Itinerary below.
After your meal, sit around the bonfire and gaze up at the stars, and then make your way to your Arabic tent—complete with comfortable mattress, pillows and blanket— nestled inside the camp. Settle in and enjoy sleeping overnight in the heart of the desert!
Overnight: Arabic camp in the desert
Day 2: Dubai Desert Conservation Range – Dubai (B)
Wake up early to be driven to your hot air balloon, soar over the desert to absorb the beautiful sun rise and the desert animals (if option selected) then return to your camp to the scent of strong Arabic coffee brewing and to see your breakfast being cooked, and then feast on traditional breakfast bread with balaleet (sweet noodles) and chbaab (pancakes), washed down with Arabic coffee, of course. You will also hear fascinating tales first-hand from a local Bedouin who will be joining you for breakfast.
After relaxing over your breakfast, meet your driver and bid your friends in the desert camp a fond farewell as you hop back inside your Land Rover. Travel back to Dubai, and then finish your experience with a drop-off at your hotel mid morning.
