Our hotel offered several options, which I reviewed beforehand. I decided that I might be up to the challenge of a morning desert adventure. There was a camel trekking tour that ran from 7:30-11:00 in the morning.
When we stopped to book this tour, the concierge tried to talk us into the longer tour that runs from 3:00-9:00 p.m. - this includes a camel ride, belly dancing, and dinner in the desert. This is their "most popular" tour, we were told. But we held firm to our morning only limitation and booked the camel trek.
I was relieved to wake up on Tuesday morning without a migraine and without terrible lingering side effects. I wore a long-sleeved, SPF shirt and a hat to protect myself from the sun. I also wore a lightweight pair of athletic pants that I typically wear when riding our tandem bicycle at home. I knew these would be cooler than jeans but more comfortable and more sun protection than my slacks.
We were picked up by an SUV at the hotel. We were the only people riding in the SUV, which was nice. I was a bit surprised to see that the vehicle had rollbars inside:
We drove about 45 minutes out of Abu Dhabi into the desert. When we left the highway, our driver asked if we wanted a "desert safari". We agreed and found ourselves slipping and sliding across the sand. It wasn't exactly "dune bashing" - a very common tour activity in the region - but it was probably as close as I want to come. I don't mind driving off-road myself, but being driven wildly that way isn't my idea of fun.
We arrived at the camp to see two camels saddled up and ready to go. We made a trek to the restrooms on foot. And that was quite a trek, despite the short distance. Open desert sand makes difficult walking. We could see the set-up for belly-dancing, dinner, and picture spots that made up the "more popular" afternoon/evening adventure. Our guide gave us bottles of water and walked us back to the camels.
There, another guide was waiting with the camels. Each saddle has a spot for two riders, but he directed each of us to the back seat of each camel. The camels were sitting on the sand for easier mounting. (Honestly, I'm not sure how you would mount if they weren't on the ground - the saddles have no stirrups and camels are tall!)
I made two mistakes in my preparation for this trip. First, I brought my insulated metal water bottle. Now, I love this bottle. I love having cold water to drink. And I'd filled it with ice and water before we left, and refilled it with water from the proffered bottles. But I did not have a way to attach this bottle to my bag. So I had to use one hand to hold the bottle the entire ride. And it's a black, metal bottle, which quickly got hot in the sun.
Second, my athletic pants proved to be very slippery. I was reminded of a time when Court and I, both wearing leggings, rode Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters at California Adventure - we spent the entire ride slipping and sliding across the seat, crashing into one another, and laughing like mad. Let me just say that riding a camel with slippery pants and only one hand to hold on is not a laughing matter.
As a result, I spent the 35 minute ride clinging to the saddle handle and hoping that I would not slip off the side of the saddle. By contrast, my friend - with her water bottle clipped to her side and wearing cotton capris - found the ride very peaceful and relaxing.
I was glad to climb back into the air conditioned SUV (our driver had started the vehicle in time to cool it before our return) and ride back to Abu Dhabi. Back at the hotel, we had a little bit of a hassle because the tour guide did not take cards as we had been told, but we were able to run to the ATM to sort that out.
After showering and changing our clothes, we walked over to Al Wahda Mall for lunch. Then we returned to the apartment and spent the afternoon reading and recovering. When Craig returned from work, we went out for a lovely dinner at the Bentley Kitchen at The Galleria Mall.
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