Luxury in Style

The Dubai dialectic

Located on the southern shore of the Arabian Gulf, Dubai is in the UAE and has always been a meeting place, bringing together the tribes of the desert interior with the pearl-diver, the market trader with the fisherman.

In the 1950s, Dubai was a still a small Bedouin settlement (first settled in the 1830s, with traces of fishing communities in the area going back 7,500 years); 1970s oil wealth in the region then set the ball rolling with ever-growing urbanisation.

But, outside the wilderness-encroaching, commerce-celebrating  city, where a new skyscraper hotel seems to shoot up every fortnight, the emirate is sparsely inhabited with liberating expanses of desert; definition provided by wind-swept sand dunes which resembles how the undulating precision of the seabed appears if one swims up close.

Although many choose to stay by the beach in Dubai’s centre, popping out to the desert on day excursions, I thoroughly recommend a longer stay in the sandy outreaches of the emirate, before culminating the trip with a beach stay –especially if dune driving, falconry, Arabian horse riding, or a jaunt on a camel hits the spots where a day in a shopping mall doesn’t quite reach.

The Desert
Desert exploration is especially appealing if one’s budget extends to staying in a top-end African safari lodge-cum-Bedouin encampment. Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa is a  tented resort, an hour from Dubai and halfway to the emirate of Al Ain. A 15-minute drive from the main road, non-guests are not allowed here at all, and the 43 pool villa suites are always well-occupied despite the exclusive prices.

In the canvas-roofed, permanent-walled lodges, expect a masculine opulence bursting with small, luxey touches – the free, unlimited supply of sherry found in a decanter in the pantry; the great wooden chests at the end of the bed; the elegant writing desk and Arabian art pieces; the free wireless broadband and pressing service; the Bvlgari toiletries; the thick, Bond-girl, high-on-the-thigh gowns; the easel and paints near the seamless floor-to-ceiling windows, which in turn look out over a plunge pool and never-ending desert. Sit on one of two huge chaise-lounges to best appreciate the view. It is easy to forget that you’re staying in a tent here!

The resort’s spa is not an added afterthought, but a well-stocked facility in the same building as the resort’s relaxation and swimming pool areas. Noticing that a Rhassoul treatment was on the menu, I spent an indulgent couple of hours with a cheerful Filipino lady, getting caked in various types of skin-purifying creams, which at one stage involved being thrown in a hi-tech steam chamber in which the cream melted in a hyper-pleasant steamy way, before activating a ceiling shower to remove the gunk.

But, Al Maha is more than a luxury accommodation; it’s a nature reserve. Combining tourism with conservation, a five-year animal-reintroduction programme will – it is anticipated – see this reserve full of a mammal that hunting and civilisation all but wiped out; the Arabian Oryx, which already cavorts amongst the dunes in droves with its more abundant desert-fellows, the gazelle, ostrich, Arabian fox and caracal.

Outside, camels are led from nearby enclosures to ferry guests to and fro across desert paths. Hunky South African guides are on-hand to four-wheel-drive you across the sun-baked desert, taking the soft-sanded dunes at impressive, sackable offence speeds on demand; slowing when approaching any fauna. We spotted shy gazelle (both endemic to the region, and Thompson’s Gazelle, bought over from Kenya) darting around with tails furiously wagging to put off potential predators;and the occasional Oryx, with their long, vertical horns.

By Peter Myers

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Courtesy of lifestyleandtravel.com