With its lovely, sun-kissed beaches, turquoise waters, craggy rust-coloured mountains, endless golden dunes, glitzy malls and skyscrapers, the UAE is the perfect destination for the discerning traveller seeking the perfect blend of adventure, relaxation and shopping in an exotic Middle Eastern ambience. When it comes to providing visitors with an enticing blend of high-octane adventure, relaxation in the majestic vast desert, a yummy encounter with tantalising Emirati cuisine and a night full of charm reminding one of the Arabian Nights, The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC is second to none in the Gulf country.
Owned by a family which is experienced in the same field and other businesses for the last 22 years in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), UAE, The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC provides tailor-made packages for visitors to unwind and enjoy in the desert sands and return with unforgettable memories. The entity, which enjoys the approval and guidance of the RAK Tourism Authority, is managed by a group of prominent professionals having two decades of unmatched experience in the hospitality industry and an enviable track record of ensuring that each guest goes home with a fulfilling experience.
No one can resist the whole range of attractions The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC offers and they range from desert camping, dune bashing, sandboarding, quad bike tours and romantic dinners under the starlit sky to shisha smoking, henna painting and the visual treat of belly dancing and fire dance show. The highly trained, knowledgeable and multi-lingual team of the firm ensures that each guest is well taken care of, making their stay as memorable as ever.
“Our principal objective is to provide authentic quality based real-time traditional desert life experience to our guests, ensuring, safety, luxury and comfort along with the best, thrilling, adventure-filled experiences of desert camping, safari and other activities in our camp,” says The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC founder Shabu Korah Vaniyapurackal.
“Here at The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC, tradition and luxury are interwoven meticulously to provide utmost comfort and hospitality, ensuring safe and hygienic standards at its best to all our customers. At this camp, we have tried to bring to life the authentic traditional concept of classic desert life in the UAE, so that our guests carry back the most memorable and unique desert experience ever,” he adds.
For those seeking an overnight stay in the desert with a view of the great dipper and other constellations and the wind playing a symphony on the dunes, there are overnight packages where guests can choose to stay in an Overnight Camping Igloo Tent that accommodates two. They check in at 15.00 pm and leave at 9 am the following day. While mattress and pillows are provided in the non-airconditioned tent, the bathroom and toilet are common. The package comes with welcome treats such as Arabian coffee and sinfully sweet dates; soft drinks and water; barbecue dinner, short camel safari; sandboarding and entertainment at night in the form of belly dancing, Tanoura and fire dance show, which is for groups of more than 20 guests. Visitors are also given a light breakfast before they leave at 9 am.
For those wanting a bit more space and ambience, there is an Overnight Camping Premium Dome Tent package, which facilitates accommodation in a dome-shaped tent with a floor area of 64 square metres, including the balcony. Each tent features a private entrance, 152 cm bed along with mattress, pillows and quilt apart from a separate bathroom and toilet.
With its spacious balcony, guests can soak in the mesmerising view of the sunset, which makes the dunes glow, setting a perfect teaser for the fun-filled night to come. For this facility too, the package has on offer all the treats that accompany those opting for the igloo tent. Guests can also opt for a similar package with accommodation in a dome tent with 45 minutes of 4×4 dune bashing or quad bike riding. The duration of stay remains the same.
Guests who prefer a less luxurious setting can select the Overnight Camping Deluxe Dome Tent package where one can stay in a 49-square metre deluxe dome tent, which comes with a private entrance, double cot, bedspread and pillows, A/c, outdoor sitting area and private bathroom and toilet. It comes with all the other additional attractions, except the dune bashing and the timing stays the same.
Wish to take in the surreal sights from up above and feel the wind caressing your face and hair? Welcome to the Overnight Camping Elevated Tree House. The 25 square metre structure, which includes the balcony as well, offers stunning vistas of the sandy knolls and the azure sky, taking visitors to the heights of fantasy. It comes with a private entrance, an air-conditioner, private half toilet, a queen-size bed with mattress, pillows and quilt and a balcony on both sides. The additional trappings of the package remain the same, except the quad bike facility, and so is the duration.
What makes The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC unique is the sheer variety of packages enabling customers to pick and choose what suits them the most. Those on a date or honeymoon can select their Romantic Private Safari Dine-in Desert package. Enjoying the golden rays of the setting sun, which work magic on the desert sands, and watching the night cast its star-studded blanket over the vast expanse, couples can enjoy a quiet, romantic dinner on the dune of their choice. It can be a pre-packed barbecue or a live one cooked in front of them.
What makes this special is the pick-up and drop facility as well as a choice of camel trekking, dune bashing or quad biking. While dune bashing, involving an adrenaline-racing bumpy ride through the dunes in 4×4 vehicles, stretches for 35 to 45 minutes, the camel ride lasts an hour and so does quad biking through the sands.
No visit to the expansive dunes is complete sans a rendezvous with the ship of the desert. The Camel Trekking in RAK Dunes is tailor-made for guests who seek the thrill of exploring the sands perched on a camel as it lazily plods through the dunes. This package includes the usual trappings as well.
For visitors who like to enjoy an evening safari in the sands, there is an Evening Desert Safari in RAK Dunes, which includes pickup and drop at the hotel and 45 minutes of dune bashing.
Fancy viewing the break of day in the desert as the golden rays of the rising sun lend an opulent glow to the sands that stretch into the horizon as far as the eyes can see? The Morning Desert Safari in RAK Dunes is the best bet and the trip is rounded off with a visit to a camel farm and a date palm plantation.
Guests seeking a good dining experience in the open are sure to enjoy The Dunes’ Bar & Bites – Dine in the Desert, which is of a duration of five hours.
For all the adrenaline junkies who wish to have a bash on the sands, there is a Guided Quad Bike Tour in RAK Dunes in which guests can go full throttle over the knolls for 30 minutes and enjoy the other regular fare.
Visitors to RAK are sure to fall in love with the rust-coloured Hajar mountain range that stands like a sentinel in the peninsula. No trip is complete without a visit to the highest peak in the range, Jebel Jais, which is 55 km away from RAK. A 20-km road snaking through the mountains leads to the 1,934m-high summit and there are viewing platforms all along the route to take in the untainted, majestic view of nature in all its rugged glory. The Dunes Camping and Safari LLC has an exclusive Mountain Tour to Jebel Jais RAK. The two-hour mountain visit comes with 45 minutes of dune bashing and there are pick up and drop provisions.
RAK International Marine Sports Club advisory board member Riyas Kattil, an Indian expatriate and a marketing professional, who is the key organiser of the UAE’s mini version of the famous Nehru Trophy regatta of the south Indian state of Kerala, said that the northern emirate of RAK has immense tourism potential. “With over 7,000 years of fascinating history and culture, RAK is the perfect getaway from everyday life. Offering magnificent landscapes, breath-taking coastlines and rich desert plains, the emirate has firmly established itself as one of the most authentic destinations in the Middle East. With year-long sunshine and 64 kilometres of white sandy beaches, and just 45 minutes from the busy metropolis of Dubai, RAK offers an entirely unique experience from its neighbouring emirates.”
According to the partners Jibin Joseph and Shabu Korah, RAK is the first safe city in the world to be certified by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and Bureau Veritas during these pandemic days. “Now, we have come back stronger, safer and re-energised as restrictions have been eased,” says the duo, adding that the emirate is witnessing a flow of tourists from other parts of the UAE. “We expect 2021 to bring in visitors from overseas like before.”
For more details log on to: https://thedunesuae.com