Skiing and Camel Riding in Dubai
Dubai is for sure a one-of-a-kind city, where the impossible becomes possible. When talking about the impossible in this case, I refer to skiing in the middle of the Arabian Desert. Yes, because this is only possible at the Mall of Emirates, one of the largest malls on Earth.
I mean, just thinking about the fact that within one place, you could go from doing some shopping to sipping some hot chocolate while walking in a place full of snow when outside there is more than 30°, sounds surreal. That’s when I thought, yeah, this is going to end up on my bucket list. I had to try this unique experience, and I was lucky enough to do so when I traveled with my sister to Dubai. A few years ago, I started to look at this city as the city of wonders, and I knew that if I ever had the chance to be there one day, a must thing to do was to experience both skiing in the Ski Dubai Resort and riding a camel in the desert.
I knew all along that Dubai is widely known to be a very hot and humid place, but nothing can compare to the actual heat you feel on your skin once you get there. Believe me when I say that it was hot! So, what better place to cool off than going to the Ski Dubai, where the temperature of -4°is constant all year long, and you can purchase a ticket and enter within this enormous indoor ski resort that just feels like being on the top of snowy mountains. We quickly paid for our tickets, including everything we needed, such as attire and shoes. There are different tickets we could choose from according to what type of activities we wanted to do. I found it quite funny that people in Dubai come here to learn skiing and snowboarding as the resort also offers different courses. Well, it looked like you were staying on the top of a real mountain, so why not learn there.
The incredible thing about this place is that you hear about this Ski resort, but until you do not reach and see it with your own eyes, you cannot believe that it is in the middle of one of the hottest places on Earth, someone had the idea of building a ski resort. But here it was, standing in front of our incredible eyes. I was impressed with the size of the entire structure, as other than having five slopes, all of the different levels of difficulty. It also had the Mountain Thriller ride, something that was not for the weak at heart. I had to try it, and it was the first thing that my sister and I decided on once we were there. There were many things to choose to do at Ski Dubai. It ranged from skiing and snowboarding, deciding to watch penguins or take a stroll while looking at all the people enjoying their time there. I found it fascinating that adults were enjoying it more than the kids as they were laughing, running, and making jokes. Maybe it is because when we look at the snow, we are reminded of our childhood, and our inner kid just like that comes out. And mine did as well. I was having the time of my life, passing from ride to ride, enjoying some skiing, and most importantly, throwing snowballs at my sister like we used to do when we were kids.
We had to take many selfies and pictures to spam our social media because this was indeed something that deserved to be shared. I enjoyed my time in this resort as the entire structure offered everything you could find within an outdoor resort on a real mountain. What makes it even more fantastic is that there will never be the risk of getting in a snowstorm, so the structure is open every day. Within a place 85 meters high, 80 meters wide, and a length of 400 meters and tons of snow, being bored definitely cannot happen, and I can confirm because I felt everything I could with the only exception of boredom.
If there was skiing from one side, we could not leave out the opportunity to go for the famous camel riding in the Arabian Desert. I mean, where could we have gotten the chance to do something so opposite within the same place, the same day?
So, we booked our camel ride from DestinationDubai in which the package was inclusive of the pickup service from our hotel. The car was on time and took us to where we were going to enjoy our late afternoon. The driver was so kind during the short ride because he kept talking to us and asking us if we enjoyed being in Dubai so far. He also suggested making this journey even more memorable: focus on the sunset and nothing else. I was going to make good use of it.The funny thing is that when in Dubai, you can go outside the city, and you will find different places offering camel rides, quad rides, or the experience of the 4X4 dune bashing without the need of booking on the websites. We drove past many of them till we reached our destination. The driver brought us to a waiting area where a local guide was waiting for another group of people to ride along with us.
The desert was incredible at that hour. It was a late afternoon which meant that we would have had the chance to admire the sunset. Our guide instructed us to ride on the camel and how we didn’t need to worry about anything else to hold very well. That indeed was a start! I still laugh at my sudden scream when the camel just stood up as I felt it was going to fall as it was getting on its toes. The entire ride took about half an hour, and as the sunset was nearing, our guide was eager that we could appreciate the most of it. So, we rode to one of the highest dunes to stop by and admire the beautiful surroundings. It was a bumpy and scary ride, but the views were something. At one point, I noticed that all of us just stopped talking and taking pictures to pause to look at what was happening in front of us. Words cannot describe what we were looking at or either what I was feeling at that moment. But I can certainly say that it was one of the best things I have ever seen in my life. The sky, the desert both had so many different shades of colors intertwining within each other that even the most skilled painter would have had difficulties recreating the same image. There is no better spectacle than what mother nature does, and what we were looking at just as the sky was getting darker deserved our full attention and quietness as that was the only way to absorb all the sensations that we could easily feel in the air.
Once the sunset was gone, we rode back to the camp, and while talking to the guide, he explained to me how often people would stop by to enjoy some local food and check a belly dance spectacle while sitting under the dark blue sky of the desert. He also offered packages for people who wanted to book more activities, such as staying overnight at different resorts scattered around the area. For those who might think that going to the desert is a sort of limited activity, I think they should experience it at least once. Being able to see these amazing landscapes and sceneries around us is enough to make a memorable journey.
Once we returned to the camp, our driver was ready to take us back to our hotel, which we found very convenient as we both were tired after our full day of activities. The day was ending, and we were amazed how two things opposite each other are within the same city. Maybe Dubai is indeed the city where the impossible becomes possible.
