Desert Camping Trip

It came to pass that a few weeks after our picnic in the desert the same crew agreed to go camping in the desert in the direction of Liwa. And so began the sweet building glow of anticipation that surrounds a weekend away with friends and family. Rooting around in our storage closet for our camping gear only served to heighten our excitement and got us in the proper mood for adventure.

We set off in a convoy of three SUVs and covered ground at a rapid pace over a sandblown E11 heading out into the great emptiness. After a bit of searching down the wrong road we got on track and found the entry point to the patch of desert we were looking for. We pulled off the road and deflated our tires - this is essential as fully inflated tires readily dig deep into the sand and lead promptly to getting stuck.

Here we are at our campsite with snack preparation well under way.

Helen guarding our tent...and looking good doing it.

Campsite buzzing with activity...sort of. See the big red dune in the distance - remember for future reference.

Fashionable fellow campers.

Hannah and Mackenzie and friends having a boring time, can you tell?

Sunset. Later that night we made s'mores. Then we took a blanket away from the campfire and laid on our backs to watch the night sky. A beautiful carpet of stars, a couple of satellites and some shooting stars put on a good show.

The kids hiked over to the big red dune and the adults eventually followed in cars.

Ode to Pajero and big red dune. Those tiny black specks at the ridge of the dune are folks from our party. It was an exhausting climb but we all made it to the top!

Here we are! Again, black specks on the dune face are people...and Helen.

The specks in front are people climbing the dune. The speck in middle is the car. We camped in the dunes at the far end of the flat valley.

 Adrienne and Helen at the top.

View from the top.

Another view from the top.

We returned to our campsite and found camels wandering around nearby. Mom and baby.

 Go figure...camels in the desert.

 Turns out when we got back to camp we noticed the wind starting to pick up and a very dark bank of clouds moving in from the direction of big red. All of the sudden the wind increased and tents were pushed flat and camp detritus was blown with the wind. We all scrambled and shouted to each other to break camp as fast as possible. Just as we were packing the last of our gear the rain swept in and we all hopped in our cars and made the journey back to the road. Two other campsites were doing the same and we departed in a massive convoy. Adrienne took this picture about 15 minutes after we left the camp area. All the kids switched cars and we ended up with these troopers. Note the wet road out the back window, a rare sight in these parts. Helen was also beat after the climb up the dune and she was happy to hang with the exhausted boys. A few hours later we were back in Abu Dhabi, ready for another week.