UAE

The Big Red

Last weekend, we had a visitor from Lebanon who's here on business. He had 5 hours in the morning to spare, before his 5 PM afternoon flight back home. Since he's staying not very far from the airport, we -( my husband and I) think it's sad to spend the remaining hours within the confines of a hotel room. He was already done with his shopping and has already been to all the malls in the city, so we picked him up for a different scenery.

What to Do in 5 hours? Head off to the Big Red!

The Big Red is a 300ft high sand dune along Hatta Road. There are tourist stops on the right side opposite the gigantic dune. Drive: 40 Minutes - 1 hour from the Dubai Airport

Rent a quad bike. Mo (not his real name), our guest, rode the quad bike for the very first time. He jumped the slopes and was up in the air a few times. You can also hire a 4x4 vehicle driven by an expert driver for a 30 minute drive along the dunes. The Big Red is a popular site for desert off road driving organized by various tour operators. Unless you are traveling with a 4x4 convoy, led by experienced dune drivers, it's not advisable to drive off-road alone, in case one gets stuck (especially when one has a plane to catch). Ensure you have enough water with you at all times (and gas of course).

We took Mo for a short dune drive on the shallow sand dunes that we were comfortable with, around the area.We avoided the soft sand. The hubs maneuvered our vehicle on the compressed mounds with tire tracks. Judging by the big smile on our guest's face, we are happy and pleased to see that he had a great time. So did I.