Santa Safari

Everything you do out in the desert can be termed a safari. We had a party with the American Women's Association this evening. It was dubbed the "Santa Safari" The group met this afternoon at around 2:30 at Safa Park. I didn't know what to expect when were are told that you will need four wheel drive to get to the party. I was expecting some extremely modified 4x4s like you see at the Moab Jeep Safari (yet another safari reference). I was glad to see that everyone was driving their high end luxury 4x4s; Land Rovers, Navigators etc. I didn't see anything with a winch or a roll cage in it. All the trucks had doors and roofs so I stopped worrying.

We convoyed out to a part of the desert near Dubai (Yeah that part of the desert) to a camp that the safari company had set up. It consisted of about seven huts made out of palm fronds with low tables and cusions in them. They all faced out onto a low platform where a belly dancer would perform a little later. We had the chance to ride on camels which is now something we can say we did. To get on the camel herder makes the camel lay down on the ground so you can "mount up" like you get on a bike. Then the guy smacks the camel in the chin and the standing up process starts. You need to realize that a camel is probably about four feet higher than a horse so getting up there is a process. First the front end stands up so you are rolling off backwards, then the back end stands up and pitches you back to an upright position. Then the camel slowly lumbers off into the desert. We sat on the camel western style with one leg on either side but the bedu sit on the front end of the hump with their legs tucked up under them on either side of the hump. They can ride like this all day without getting off the beast. I thought the five minutes we were on the camels was enough for me. A lot of people look forward to riding a camel in the desert, well I'll tell you, it's a pain in the be-hind.

After the camel ride we went "dune bashing". Dune bashing is simply driving your 4x4 out in the desert and trying to get as close to rolling it over as you possilby can without actually doing it. We had a driver from India who said it was his first day. He drove around the dunes lot a lot differently from how they drive on the roads, so it was a wild ride. Christopher had a blast. Every steep dune he saw he wanted to go straight down. The kid had no concept of fear or danger.

As the sun went down our sherpa's lit the fire and started our dinner of Arabic Mezzes and Indian Tikka. After dinner we were entertained by a belly dancer dancing to modern Arabic music. Afterwards Santa rode into camp on a camel with a present for all of the children. Christopher assumed that this was the real Santa Clause because he had a present for him that he actually wanted and it had his name on it. Some of the older kids at primary were saying that Santa wasn't real and this was his way of reasoning him back into existence.

This ended our Santa Safari. It was a really enjoyable night filled with contradiction. As we drove into the camp with the camels at one end, the reed huts at the other, a guy in a dishdasha and gutra walking around, Bing Crosby was singing "White Christmas" over the sound system. More than anything else I think this defines Dubai's multicultrualism.

Merry Christmas.