Shrinking desert poses threat to safaris

Dubai: A desert safari is a 'must do' experience for tourists who visit Dubai, but tour operators say the desert is slowly 'shrinking' with the massive construction projects underway.

The operators say that it takes an hour's drive out of Dubai nowadays, away from the creeping civilisation, to give tourists a true feeling of the desert. "We try to take the tourists to a spot away from the vehicles and light pollution," says Mark Miller, general manager of Desert Rangers Tours and Activities.

He also said that with the growing number of operators, the number of vehicles in the desert is growing. "There should be some control," he adds. Desert Rangers takes visitors to Fossil Rock (Jebel Malaiha), near the village of Nazwa.

Other operators take tourists to Lehbab, another village, 50 kilometres south of Dubai which has a population of 4,000. It is located on the highway between Dubai and the Hatta border with Oman, where camps have been set up.

The number of tourists are expected to rise as Dubai becomes increasingly visible worldwide. According to the Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing, the number of tourists are expected to shoot up to 10 million in the next two years. The emirate's target for 2015 is even more impressive as it plans to attract 15 million tourists to its shores within the next seven years.

Ayman Khalil, who owns Desert Road Tours, says operators earlier took tourists to Al Khawaneej, a 20-minute drive after the airport. "But we had remove our camp as a road is being built there," he said. Developers have also moved into this area and plots are being sold for building labour accommodation. Developers have also warned that Dubai's 'land bank' is shrinking as the emirate plans massive entertainment projects for visitors in the desert.

A typical desert safari includes 'dune bashing" with a dune buggy, followed by camel rides at the camp, henna painting, smoking a shisha, open-air barbecue and a belly dance show. It costs about Dh255 per person. Khalil says his company alone takes about 200 tourists to the desert daily. There are 62 tour operators listed in the Dubai Official Pocket Guide. "We are trying to adapt to the diminishing desert," says Zaki Badawi of Gulf Dunes Tours. He said tourists love 'dune bashing', sand boarding and driving around quad bikes.

The operators say that 'dune bashing' does not harm the environment. "The wind continuously changes the landscape," says Khalil of Desert Road. He said the culprits are the weekend visitors who leave their garbage after their barbecues.

Miller agreed. "People will definitely talk about it [garbage] when they return home," he said and advised weekend visitors to the desert to take back their garbage. "We leave the desert as we find it. We respect the environment."