Asia

[Visited: September 2008]

It was an easy drive from Doha taking us to the end of the road in the south. Here, our tires were deflated, 4WD was engaged, and our driver got all excited at the prospect of showing us the beauty of Khor al Adaid desert. Immediately, he attacked the first dune in sight, driving up almost in a straight line and quickly reaching the top. He would continue to drive up and down the dunes like a madman, trying to impress us of his driving skills. It clearly was not the first time he was doing this. As we got further south, away from the world where people live and towards the Saudi border, the views got always better and more impressive.
The dunes got higher, the panoramas stretched our farther, and the landscape emptier. Again, I realized what simple and, at the same time, melancholic beauty the desert holds. Elegant curves of the sand dunes, giving the landscape a soft look, where in reality of course this is one of the harshest environments imaginable. The sun was mercilessly shining on the landscape of Khor al Adaid, the wind was constantly reshaping the dunes in a most subtle way, displacing specks of sand, and invisibly redefining the contours of the dunes. Fortunately, the driver stopped at times, allowing to soak in the panorama of the sea of sand stretching all the way to the horizon.
We saw some of the inland lakes, and finally reached the mouth of the inland sea of Khor al Adaid at the far south of the country and at the border with Saudi Arabia. This is where the creek starts: an inlet of the Persian Gulf into the sandy shores of the desert. As the sun was on its way down, we did not stay long here, and left the coast to the birds flying over our heads. We headed back north, saw the fiery sun going down into a hazy grey horizon, and reached a small camp just in time to have a swim in the warm balmy waters of the Persian Gulf. After a barbecue on the beach, our driver showed us that he could also negotiate the desert in the dark of the night.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Khor al Adaid Desert (Qatar). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Khor al Adaid Desert.
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Khor al Adaid Desert > Qatar > Asia

[Visited: September 2008]

Around the World in 80 Clicks