Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Dune Bashing in Qatar

Life is full of interesting adventures. When I was doing Geography in High School many (very many) years ago learning about 'ergs and regs' I had no idea then I would be living in the Middle East and having the opportunity to experience natural formations. Our trip this week around parts of Qatar was both exhilarating and calming.

In two, V8 4-wheel drive vehicles driven by experienced Qatari's we took off to 'dune bash', find the Saudi Arabia border and BBQ by the Qatari inland sea.

The desert contains a varied scenery with dunes, rubbly areas, low-lying flood planes, and occasional clumps of vegetation. The inland sea is immense with extremely salty water. Our guides spoke very little English but were excellent hosts. Driving up, over, around and down the dunes caused some anxiety on my part (I do not do roller-coasters any more!) however we all decided the tipping point for a vehicle was probably a long way off from the angles we managed to create. Paddling at the inland sea and eating BBQ'd chicken and beef with Homous and tabbouleh was heaven.

To see the full slide show from our trip....yes, it is worth it.

Here is an Animoto video:



Some favourite pics:
Qatar_Dune_Bashing_07066
"Oh no, here we go again!"

Qatar_Dune_Bashing_07004
"Hold on, my daughter is in that car!"

Qatar_Dune_Bashing_07045
"The dunes and us"


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