Dune bashing mega fun

Fear stalkers and over the top thrill seekers may find the Bedouin dinner and 4WD dune surfing not quite up to their level of high octane blood plumping action but for this mild mannered thrill seeking couple it provided plenty of laughter-filled screams. Collected from our hotel we zoomed off to the dessert hyped with anticipation of what the next five hours would bring. We visited a Bedouin camp and faced-off haughty camels, patted their bristly necks and glared bravely into their doe-like heavily-lashed eyes. We climbed to lofty heights and plunged into deep caverns of sand-filled nothingness while strapped in tightly in the comfort of our 4WD. The sunset was pretty spectacular...the dessert landscape gradually changed from bleached white to honey-coloured, the sun glowed and morphed from a golden brass ball in the sky to a blush pink dot as it sunk behind the horizon and out of view. By the time we set foot in the Bedouin camp our bellies were rumbling. Greeted with 'short black' coffee and fresh dates we lazed on cushions scattered on massive Persian rugs. Dinner was buffet style - chicken shazlicks, strips of lamb and beef, beef sausages, a selection of basic salads, flat bread...got the picture? The shisha pipes were kind of cool..sucking in the apple-spiced concoction  and blowing out white fluffy streams of smoke...the aromatic after taste lingered for hours. I was hoping there may have been the obligatory belly dancers or a few swirls of henna painted on my feet but these extras didn't materialise...all in all it was a sand-filled fun experience. A wrap up covering the full details - tour operator, costings, highs and lows - will be posted on this blog next month.