They pick you up from your hotel between 3:15pm – 3:45pm. Ali got to us 3:50pm which was alright – we headed east-wards towards the desert (passing Dubai Outlet Mall), stopping at Al Wista Supermarket for ten minutes for a toilet break. Lots of tourists bought the arabic headware (which I should know what it’s called but I’m a bit lazy to google it now hehe), for 20DHS. We passed.
We got to the open desert around 5pm or so. And boy, was it hot. Probably around 35-37degree Celsius. And the ‘breeze’ was really hot too. Felt like you were in a big, big, big, open oven, haha. A million photos later, we got back in and then the sand dune bashing journey started. Ali was absolutely superb. I don’t know how long it lasted, must be more than half an hour. It felt like was never going to end, haha.
We got to the campsite when it was starting to get dark. Very beautifully set-up I’ll say with arabic carpets laid out in the centre, and tables and pillows for us to sit on. Felt like you’re in Aladdin.
For the next 45mins or so it’s free-time. You can choose to go camel-riding (it’s a lot higher than you think :P), try Sheesha (somehow felt different to the ones they have along Bukit Bintang), pose in the local costumes (we spent ages in there, best fun lol), and try henna design (didn’t have time for that, next time!).
There’s unlimited water and soft drinks – sprite, coke, fanta orange. There’s beer and the likes, but you’ll have to pay for it. Then the belly-dancing starts and she was really, really good, and very beautiful. The crazy one was the spinning guy, I can’t remember what the dance is called but he puts on this 25kg skirt-like thing and starts spinning and starts playing with these props and then the lights on his skirt comes on and it’s just absolutely jaw-dropping awesome. After this the audience gets the chance to try on the skirt-like thing and spins, lol
Dinner was buffet-style and yum. Two lines, men and woman. You go through the covered area and it’s all rabbit food, and at first you think hmm where the heck is the meat? I piled my plate with the greens because after a whole afternoon of sun, you really feel like salad and fruits. Then you pass this other area and they put on 4 pieces of meat on your plate and you’ll be like, how am I going to finish this.
Ali dropped us home around 10pm or so. Let me know if you’re coming and I’ll help you organize this. Worth every dollar and more 🙂
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Hi. I am planning a trip to Dubai in June and I have read your reviews. The night desert tour seems like something we would love doing. Could you tell me how much it was and give me the contact details of the people you did it with? Thanks a million,Patricia
Good to hear you’re coming to Dubai 🙂 But…. June?! It was 42degrees yesterday and I think it’ll be around that or more by then. Just make sure you always bring a bottle of water when you leave the hotel because
a) water is expensive to buy outside (i.e, there is no “tap water” when you eat in a restaurant… we had to get use to that, haha)
b) even if you don’t drink water regularly you’ll definitely want some in Dubai
I’ll send you an email with more contact/price info 🙂
Please leave a message with contact email if you want me to book for you, Cheers.
Hi there! I just wanted to say that I love your blog. Every picture reminds me of my adventures in Dubai last year. it was such a great experience. A friend bough a voucher via CityCard Dubai and everything is history. Cant wait to go back there
nice
Hi, got here from one of Dubai mom Facebook group. Love your posts 🙂 I have parents visiting at the moment and would like to book Desert Safari for them. Could you help me? I’ll leave my email. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend
I’ll email you later 😊
This article helped a lot to know many things about the desert safari.. I had been visited Overnight Desert Safari by the help of a tour agency named Travel saga tourism. But first when i was searching online about the desert safari tour i was confused that desert safari is not only a singal tour its a name and there are many types of tour related to desert safari like.. overnight desert safari, morning desert safari, evening desert safari, and red dune desert safari etc. i got many details from this blog and also from the travel saga tourism. here is the tour Link: https://travelsaga.com/tour/overnight-desert-safari-dubai/
Thanks for the information… same to same exact information mentioned in your article as i experienced during the tour