The day starts on an impressive note as a sleek black Hummer pulls up outside our house. The driver, all smiles and handshakes, ushers us inside and offers us orange juice and chilled water, allowing us to sit in plush, airconditioned comfort as we head out of Dubai’s busy streets and onto the highway.
After an hour, a sharp bump signifies our departure from the tarmac, and we begin to slip and slide up and down the dunes. For several minutes we roar up the sides of sheer slopes, only to crest the top in a spray of sand before we ‘ski’ back down the other side. For a second we worry that we have booked the wrong trip and are going dune bashing. We cast a worried look at the driver, who gives a beaming grin, laughing as he explains that this is the only way to reach the quad biking area. As our excited squeals fade to a far more reserved clutching of seatbelts, we plummet down one more slope and pull up to a circle of tents.
Piling out of the car on unsteady legs, we get a first glimpse of our transportation for the morning. Lined up in the sun are some impressively meanlooking quad bikes. After signing our consent forms and listening to a short explanation of the vehicles and the surrounding area, we are left to our own devices. Tentatively at first, we try out the bikes, getting a feel for the power and acceleration. The bikes are rigged to only use one gear, and have had their twist throttles replaced with a thumb accelerator. While this is a little offputting at first, it’s far more userfriendly, and if you have never ridden a motorbike or quad before, it allows you to pick it up right away.
Initially we are a tad cautious, but soon enough we’re roaring and spraying great plumes of sand and giggling like infants. A few hair-raising moments ensue when we barrel up the side of a dune, only to find a stomach-churning drop over the ridge, but the bikes are both powerful and sturdy enough to get us safely down the other side, the sweat on our palms the only side effect of the descent. One member of our party takes a tumble at the top of a pretty steep slope, but with the soft landing offered everywhere, it’s only a matter of minutes before they’re back on and steaming back up the slopes. That same soft sand inevitably leads to a few cases of getting stuck, but our guides are on-hand to lever the deceptively heavy quads out of the sand and back into action. Left to explore the area, we howl around like monkeys, racing up and down and following each other across the bumpy landscape.
All too soon the hour is up, and we clamber off our bikes and pile back into the Hummer, and are dropped back home. Exhilarating and outrageously fun, quad biking is as good as playground games were all those years ago, racing around as fast as you possibly can. Out in the desert, though, there are no adults to tell you to slow down.
Quad biking safari can be booked through Arabian Desert Tours at a cost of Dhs300 per person for one hour, including pick-up and drop-off. Contact them on 04 268 2880 or visit www.arabiandesert-dubai.com.
