Mohammed Alshoaiby The desert can be harsh — scorching hot in summer and blistering cold in winter, it is a place of extremes and contradictions. In the fastest developing city, the desert has no place but to be swallowed whole by urban development, or, in the hands of the Emiratis, made lucrative by virtue of its awe and mystery. This region does have its share of myths and legends, and at the backdrop of it all the desert stretches far, its dunes ripple away into the horizon and a mirage appears, painted by the rays of an unforgiving sun. It has been personified in song and poem, become a ritualistic grounds for celebration and its dunes a rite of passage for the youth and their gas-guzzling 4x4s. It is perhaps as old as the discovery of oil in the desert and during those long, bumpy drives through to dig sites and refineries that the sport of dune bashing was invented. Some Saudis were made famous by it. YouTube has made it even bigger, and large events hosted by MBC and Rotana have given the sport its legitimacy and audience. And as tourism opens up in the Kingdom, perhaps Dubai stands as the example of a city that used its desert to create a booming industry, and a heavy chunk of the government's tourism revenues. Ashfaq is one of thousands of professional tour guides that pick up tourists at one of Dubai's thousands of hotels right after noon in his brand new Toyota Land Cruiser. He is timid and quiet at first, not what is expected of a tour guide, but a caricature of a dune bashing subculture, slick with the right shave, a glaringly reflective pair of sunglasses, several mobile phones, and a temperament about driving that would upset a stomach or two a day. The tourists hail from all across the world, and like any tourist, they are looking for a taste of local culture. While Dubai's own culture is arguably buried under towering skyscrapers and millions of billboards touting multinational, corporate logos, the sands on the outskirts welcome locals in droves, daring the dunes and putting their skills to the test, as they would anywhere in the Arabian Gulf. Only in Dubai, though, does a Jeep Wrangler carrying four locals out dune bashing pass a Land Rover with Ashfaq behind the wheel and several nationalities along for the ride. The dunes, and the businesses around them renting out all-terrain vehicles and dune buggies, become a sort of 1001 Nights Disney Land, full of overpriced souvenirs – shemaghs and local clothing, mostly of cheap quality and double the price – authentic – or, at least close to authentic – local cuisine, camel rides, hawk petting zoos, and even a bellydancer! Ashfaq says he gets a local traveling with business partners every now and then, and according to him, they're just as thrilled to be a part of the tour. They know this doesn't represent their culture, and perhaps, the tourists know that as well, but the desert is fun for everyone, he said. His assumptions are in their right place, as of course, there is a version of Dubai's Desert Safari here in the Kingdom's capital – save for the bellydancer, of course. Al-Thumama area on the outskirts of Riyadh has been a family getaway and teenage haven for as long as this reporter can remember. In Thumama, there is perhaps not a single dune that hasn't been jump over by some kind of truck at some point in the last 20 or 30 years. Teenagers rent out dune buggies and take off, climbing hilltops and mangling dune after dune with tire-marks; kids go on camel rides; men hunt with hawks, and even cook traditionally by digging a fire into the ground — unless they prefer the nearby McDonald's or KFC; they'll even have their food delivered to them in a full-service shisha lounge, where many get away to escape Riyadh's public shisha laws. But what of the off-the-boat tourist who has no clue where to go or who to talk with to deliver these kind of experiences? Of course, being local traditions passed on generation after generation, and remaining within the local domain, the desert and its pastimes are undoubtedly more authentic here in the Kingdom than they are in Dubai (if you are from the GCC, try taking your picture in “authentic” Emirati attire at one of these safaris — there will be ridicule and laughter from your friends back home, guaranteed), but who is the real winner here? Dubai's economy has stabilized after the Global Financial Recession, and a lot of its recovery is due to a lucrative, perhaps even unrivaled, tourism industry. Dubai has cemented itself in the global spotlight as the land of the world's tallest tower, the world's largest aquarium, the world's largest manmade islands, and some of the most luxurious hotels in the world. It has become so widely popular that people will often mistakenly list it as a country, forgetting the UAE altogether in awe of its glory — though Abu Dhabi does seem to be picking up pace. Perhaps, like Disney Land, the Dubai Desert Safari experience is pure fantasy, a “real world” version of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, or Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and if Disney can turn Aladdin into a blockbuster motion picture, the Emiratis can definitely turn Dubai into the Kingdom of Agrabah.
