Middle-aged flash packers

We met our host Hakhan from Nomadic Desert Camp at Al Wasil for our night in the desert. It wasn’t a good start as he had no record of our booking. He didn’t seem to believe we had booked which got my back up immediately – why on earth would we turn up at this god forsaken place on a whim? Two American guys had the same treatment which ended up bonding us for the rest of the time.

Eventually Hakhan accepted it was his company’s error (no apology of course) and we were on our way after our tyre pressures were reduced.

There were 6 4wd not including Hakhan and the back marker. It was quite exciting hurtling along the sand, Steve said it was like driving on snow.

On arrival we were shown our huts which were delightful, really cosy and cool inside.

No lazing about, we had time for a quick cup

Of tea then it was off to the dunes to watch the sunset.

The drive was quite hairy, lots of steep ascents and descents but all manageable. We parked up then hoofed it up into the dunes – hard work but a great view of the desert as far as the eye could see.

Unfortunately the wind whipped up and the sunset was obscured by sandy clouds. My inner ear was also obscured by sand, I can still feel it in there now.

We ate dinner with our new American friends Matt and Ben. They are proper pioneers. Both of them have worked all over the world. Ben is currently based in London and Matt is in Afghanistan. We also met Megan and Nate who were American too and had worked in Africa. Very interesting people.

After dinner we laid out on carpets and cushions and looked at the stars. No light pollution other than light from the fire. The moon was very bright which obscured the stars somewhat but a very special evening.

Unfortunately it went down hill once we went to bed. I woke up at 1am desperate for a wee. There was no way I was walking to the communal loos in the dark. I did have a torch but the toilets were a long way from our hut so I thought of England and tried to sleep. I must have woken up on the hour, every hour. Once the sun rose, I could bear it no longer, slung some clothes on and hobbled off to the loo.

So, in a nutshell, love the desert, hate camping. Not keen on Hakhan.