Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXV

6 8 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I The Workout Room offered extensive fitness equipment (24 hours), personal coaching sessions with expert trainers, weight training, aerobics and step classes, desert or indoor yoga, outdoor tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts. However, we chose to take it easy and instead took a dip in the free-form swimming pool and its swim-up bar – the best way to beat the desert heat. The Empty Quarter is locally known as the Rub’al Khali. Its endless rolling dunes and nothing between us and the horizon made for a truly meditative experience. But a stay at the Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort can equally be thrilling and filled with adventures. You can explore the rugged beauty of the empty, undulating sands atop a camel, a creature which has for millennia carried men and women across the unforgiving desert landscape. Though Qasr Al Sarab is as civilised as any city, in the Rub’al Khali there is always a sense that you are defying the mighty dunes and their untameable nature. If a camel is not to your liking, then you can follow in the footsteps of the nomadic Bedouin and hike amongst the dunes as their ancestors once did and they still do today. Or, climb aboard something with a roaring engine and tear your way through the sand with a thrilling dune bashing session, where guests in a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers treat the dunes of the Rub’al Khali as a rollercoaster track in a theme park, reaching speeds of 60mph, racing up and down colossal dunes up to 250 metres tall amidst billowing clouds. We learned about the region’s fascinating heritage during falcon and saluki dog shows, and discovered the unique beauty of the desert at night. As luck would have it, our stay coincided with a full moon, bathing the rolling dunes in a soft,