Leah and Jennifer managed to snag a deal on a desert camp stay so we decided to head out to a less rustic camp called Sama Al Wisal.
On the way to the camp, we had extra time and needed to find a spot to have lunch so we turned off the highway and followed a wadi road until we found water to wade in. The kids loved the spot with tons of frogs and tadpoles to chase and catch. The pond was actually formed by a leak in a underground falaj which came up out of the ground near the pool. After lunch while we were exploring the area it started raining which making being in a wadi dangerous because of flash floods so we quickly got back in the vehicles and drove away. The rain was nice and cool and came down really hard for about 10 minutes.
The camps at Al Wisal are in a valley between two dunes and you must climb a hill of sand to get to the valley. As we crested the sand we were amazed to see it looking green and lush! We found out later that it rained nearly everyday for about a month and the desert had sprung to life taking advantage of the water.
We had coffee and dates and then climbed the dune to watch the sunset which was punctuated by some jerk riding a quad up and down the dune right beside us. While we waited for the sunset we played in the sand until the wind came up, blowing sand everywhere. Dinner at the camp was very mainly traditional food with a few western items thrown in; the highlight was the BBQ camel which tastes somewhat like beef and was good eating!
Our cabin was excellent and included proper washrooms and best of all a shower to get the sand off before bed. Our cabin had two separate rooms, one for kids and one for the adults which was nice too.
After breakfast we hung out for a few hours and then headed home. On the way out of the desert we did a little dune bashing which was pretty fun until I nose dived the Kia into a dune. No damage but it was really loud. One the way home we stopped in a wadi for lunch. It was 45C but we found a tree big enough for all of us though it did snag my shirt a few times with 1 inch thorns.
Stopping for a break at the top of a mountain.
Tadpole with both legs and a tail.
Breakfast
Lunch under a thorn tree.
