The Rub al Khali — the Empty Quarter — is the largest continuous sand desert on earth, roughly 650,000 square kilometres spread across Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and the UAE. The Emirati corner of it begins near Liwa Oasis, about two hours south of Abu Dhabi.
What a safari actually involves
The standard afternoon trip starts with dune bashing: a 4×4 driven over the dunes after the tyres are deflated to roughly a third of road pressure, which lets the rubber float on sand instead of digging in. It is a rollercoaster, not a nature drive, and travellers prone to motion sickness should say so before setting off.
Then come sandboarding, camel rides, a falconry display and dinner at a camp. The camps vary enormously — some are quiet and genuinely pleasant, others are loud operations with several hundred guests. Ask how many people the camp takes before booking.
For something better, look for overnight desert stays in the conservation reserves, where the point is silence and the night sky rather than engine noise.
Liwa and the big dunes
Moreeb Dune near Liwa rises around 300 metres, among the tallest in the world, with a slope steep enough that it hosts an annual motorsport hill climb. The drive down through the oasis, past date plantations that have been worked for centuries, is worth as much as the dune itself.
The oryx
The Arabian oryx — a white antelope with straight horns, said to be the origin of the unicorn legend when seen in profile — was declared extinct in the wild in 1972, hunted out with rifles from vehicles.
It survived only in captivity. Decades of breeding and reintroduction, much of it funded from the UAE, returned it to the desert; in 2011 the IUCN moved it to vulnerable, the first species ever to recover from Extinct in the Wild to that category. The best place to see them is the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, 225 square kilometres set aside in 2003 — about five percent of the emirate's land.
Falcons and camels
- Falconry was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2010. In the UAE falcons hold their own passports for international travel, and Abu Dhabi has a dedicated falcon hospital that treats thousands of birds a year and welcomes visitors.
- Camel racing runs from October to April. Since 2004 the jockeys have been small robots, operated by remote control from cars driving alongside the track — a change made to end the use of child riders.
- The ghaf, a thorny tree that survives on almost no water, is the national tree and legally protected.
Practical notes
- Do not drive into the dunes alone. Soft sand strands vehicles within minutes, and phone coverage disappears quickly. Go with an operator or a convoy.
- Desert nights are cold — winter can fall to around 5 °C after dark. Bring a jacket even in a heatwave.
- The season for desert trips is October to April. In midsummer the camps largely close.
- Wear closed shoes and long sleeves; the sand is abrasive and reflects sun from below.