As we were leaving Atlantis we noticed that the under part of the bridge near it was even decorated because.... well, Dubai...haha!
We had called and let the tour company know that we actually had a car with us and they were gracious enough to let us park at the site so we didn't have to worry about finding a place to park overnight! We drove about an hour or so outside the city and into the desert and found the Dubai Wildlife Reserve area where our tour was taking place. We got out and checked in and waited for our guide to get there.
There are a couple of different styles of tours you can take. You can do a camel tour and ride a camel into the desert and to the Bedoin camp for dinner, you can ride regular, newer, off roading vehicles, or you can take a 1950's Land Rover on safari! We booked an overnight camping experience and it came with the 1950's Land Rover, which was cool. After a little bit they brought the caravan of camels in and we got to go see them before our tour started. Stella was absolutely enamored!
She found this guy named Raja and he quickly became her favorite...
Everyone got in on the camel love! Seriously- this camel was so sweet!
He had eyelashes to rival Stella's!
This guy behind Raja just wanted a nap...
The guys in charge of the camels were SO unbelievably nice. They indulged Stella and just let her wander around petting and talking to all the camels. They were so sweet!
Our guide arrived to the site and began to get our head wraps on to protect us from the sand and wind on our trip! His name was Hossan and he's from Egypt and super funny! He loved Stella and played with her the whole time!
We got our scarves on and snapped a few pictures and then we were off!
We drove through the reserve and our guide found us some Oryx (antelope) to see! They were all over the reserve!
We stopped after a few minutes and he talked about the Bedouin people and their lives in the desert. The last Bedouin tribe moved off the reserve only a few years ago. They still lived their lives in the desert depending on each other and what the land gave them (though we did see some power lines...lol).
We made another stop and climbed some dunes to get a gorgeous view of the desert.
We climbed back down off the dunes, got back in our Land Rover and headed to watch a Falcon show! We arrived and they gave us this delicious sparkling date and apple juice and we settled in to watch the Falcon. The falconer explained why the birds were hooded (to keep them calm and keep them from flying off) and talked about how they exercise and train them. Then he took his hood off and did some flying exercises with the falcon! Its amazing how fast they are- he was flying high and diving down only to swoop up right before the ground. It was awesome!
These two fools got the camera and started taking silly pictures...
As we were getting ready to leave the falcon show we noticed the moon coming out between the clouds. It was gorgeous!
Our last stop for the night was the bedouin camp where we'd be having dinner and camping out. We arrived and they sprinkled rose water on our hands to clean them and then invited us in for dates and arabic coffee. We made our way around the camp watching them make arabic coffee and bread before we found at our table.
The rose water sprinklers
We still had a little bit of time before dinner so we found the camels and had a ride! Stella asked them if she could ride Raja so they made sure she was able to-- they were so sweet to her!
None of our pictures are great.. it was so dark out in the desert and the flash from the camera made for a lot of closed eyes. But it was interesting! Riding camels is an adventure, to say the least. They lay down on the ground and you climb up and then you have to hold on and lean back when they stand up. Its bumpy and jarring and I could have sworn I was going to fall off, but I didn't! I will say, my thighs were shaking by the time we got down I was squeezing that poor camel so tight! Stella absolutely LOVED it-- when we first got orders to Bahrain that was one of the first things she said- "I get to ride a camel!" and she finally did.
After our camel excursion we headed back into the tent to eat some dinner. We had a huge spread of veggies, salad, hummus, bread, and lentil soup. It was all really good! Before the main course was served they put on a show of traditional arabic dancing and singing and had everyone join in!
Once the entertainment was finished they served the main course-- lamb that they had buried in the ground and cooked in the traditional bedouin way. I'm not a huge meat eater, but it was delicious! It was tender and juicy and everyone enjoyed it. We also had rice and veggies and more delicious arabic bread.
We finished our meal and I took Stella to see the camels one last time before they headed back to their farm. I stood and talked to the handlers a few minutes and they were nice enough to let Stella was Raja around the enclosure. It was hilarious-- this tiny little girl taking this giant camel for a "walk".
While Stella walked him I talked to the guy and found out that camels can be pretty aggressive and to train them they feed them. He joked and said any beast would become docile if they had a full enough belly. I said Stella was the same way... haha! I also found out that the reason they have the little masks over their mouths isn't so they won't bite, its so they won't stop and eat. He said camels have an instinct to eat and if they see anything that's green, they'll immediately go to it and eat.
After that we grabbed Noni and the girls headed over to have some henna done!
While our henna dried we wandered around camp, Stella danced and sang and the grown ups smoked a little shisha (tobacco in the hookah).
The night wound down and we headed to our dwelling. It was camping the way Jessica likes to camp... in a building with a mattress! My only complaint was that it was still fairly warm outside so our room was warm and I need it to be frigid for a good nights sleep. Pack in five bodies into the space and it only got warmer. But besides that it was fairly comfortable.
After what felt like five minutes of sleep, we all got up to watch the sun rise over the desert. Only to find out that it was overcast and cloudy. It was still really pretty-- there in the middle of nowhere in the desert it was so quiet. The whole world felt muffled. There was no street or city noise and it sort of felt like we were the only people on earth.
The camp in the morning...
We had a really yummy breakfast and then climbed in our Land Rover and headed back out of the reserve. On our way we saw the caravan of camels so Stella got to see them once more!
We reached our car, climbed in and headed back into the city. We stopped for giant cups of coffee before we went on about our day! None of us really slept all that well with the heat and then we were up before the sun so caffeine was a necessity!
Even though there were no shower facilities so we smelled like camels and were covered in sand, it was an awesome experience and probably my favorite thing we did in the UAE!
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