Safari - Not!

Vania and I went on Safari. It was essentially a buffet dinner (on par with Old Country Buffet) in the desert. It was fun. We started with a sand dune ride in a SUV. Our driver was a teenager, definitely not more than twenty years old. The tour operator described the ride as similar to a rollercoaster. Not quite. But, it was thrilling in its own way. You definitely felt the low lunges into the sand.

The sand dune ride ended at the barbecue location where we (well, not me) immediately got in line for a camel ride. About a hundred people, four camels. I am not exaggerating when I say the climb aboard the camel's hump lasted longer than the actual ride. Don't laugh.

We entered the campsite to find a seat among rows of legless tables and pillows. The pillows were incredibly thick and remarkably comfortable. However, by the time dinner ended, Vania and I found our way to the one tent that had cushioned bench seating.

See the tent behind us. That is where we repaired to when the
low seating became too much for our knees. 

The food was essentially non-descript (Briyani chicken and rice, vegetables, labneh, salad, an orange and um ali for dessert) but sufficiently tasty. Labneh (a kind of cream cheese) and Um ali are the only Arabian foods I've had so far
(I'll tell you about the food in another post - suffice to say that there is a Pizza Hut, KFC and Krispy Kreme within view of my hotel/apartment window). Um ali is delicious. It is similar to bread-pudding. It tastes great as a hot dessert or a cold cereal for breakfast.

There was a floor show. Really, a floor, about 15ft x 15ft laid out in the center of the guest seating. It consisted of a lone belly dancer. She was quite good. But, there needed to be more dancers to make the performance truly entertaining. Tinesha and her fellow artists would have livened things up quite a bit.

Then, it was time to go home. The entire event was well-managed, efficient, and sufficient. There was nothing really safari-like about it. But, we had a good time.

The best part of the evening was the night sky. It was glorious. The clear dark night, the moon and stars were worth the cost and ride to the desert.