Disaster in the Desert

Today was a long and painful day, but I must say we're all very lucky to still be alive after what happened.  The desert safari that was supposed to be a nice day of fun turned ugly very quickly, but we're luckily still alive to tell you the story.


We began our crazy day in the city of Abu Dhabi where we visited an apartment that our friends were interested in renting. The view from the 37th floor balcony was absolutely incredible and gave us breathtaking views of the city and lagoon (see on the right). I've never seen a view from any building that was quite as beautiful. Afterward, we had a small lunch at a nearby bakery to fill up before the safari..


Next, we visited the Central Market Souk. I originally thought this was going to be large open air food market, but it was in fact a very fancy indoor mall, exquisitely decorated with wood. I got a chance to taste some gourmet chocolate and smell some authentic Asian and Middle-Eastern spices. I've never seen a mall quite like it.


By the time we were done exploring the market, it was time to go to the pickup location for our safari, a mall in the city. After waiting a little while and looking around for the driver, we finally found him. Together with an Indian family of tourists, we got into the rugged Lexus SUV, driven by a young Arab who couldn't speak any Engiish.


The forty-five minute drive to the first meeting point was relatively smooth, and provided us with amazing views of the surrounding desert.. At the first site we were given the opportunity to see a real camel farm. While we were enjoying the camels and the views of the surrounding desert dunes, the driver of our car started to deflate the tires to make the dune bashing experience easier and more comfortable.


After waiting for about twenty minutes, we were finally ready to get going. The seatbelts weren't working on the drive to the first area, so we had to essentially force the driver to get them working. The thrill of the dune bashing once we started was absolutely incredible. Driving rapidly through the sand and making sharp turns on the dunes was a thrilling experience that I thoroughly enjoyed, but my mom seemed to be too frightened  to fully appreciate it. 


After one small stop to see other cars riding down the dunes, we thought the ride was over. There was still in fact a short drive to the campsite. I offered to not have a seatbelt for the second ride, as one seat was missing one and my mom was very nervous without one before. I thought it would be nice to calm her down, and I may have saved her life later on. Our driver wanted to do one last stunt to impress us and the others before going to the campsite for sunset and dinner.


As our car started to race up the last, incredibly tall dune, we noticed that the other cars had already parked by the camp . We were a bit nervous, especially at the top of the hill where it felt like we were simply falling.


Well, the friction of the wheels on the sand simply wasn't enough to prevent our car from slipping and rolling down the hill. The four times that we rolled over down the dune hill felt like the longest ten seconds of my life. I heard glass shattering and aluminum getting crushed as I held for dear life on the seats. Because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, my head got hit on the roof of the car a few times as we were rolling. When the car finally came to a stop, I stood up and yelled to ask if everyone was okay. I found my brother at my feet, but I had to get out of the car to be of any help. 


With the help of an insane adrenaline rush, I climbed out of one of the shattered side windows and stood up on top of the car. I was absolutely covered in sand and felt bleeding in some places, but I felt okay overall. After I jumped off of the car, I quickly ran around and saw that other people were helping my mother and brother out of the car. I saw that the Indian family that were with us had slightly more serious injuries. One man couldn't lift his arm all the way and the other had a large, bleeding lump on his head. We were all in shock and couldn't believe what had happened.


As one of the other drivers gave us water and drove us off safely to the camp, I saw the manager of the group scolding our driver for getting into the accident and destroying the car. We were extremely lucky that everyone made it out without any life threatening or serious injuries.


At the camp, we were able to wash off a little bit and lie down to relax. Supposedly, the police were called, but we waited almost ninety minutes and nothing happened. We finally decided to call the police ourselves, and the other employees and managers suddenly got concerned, with the police arriving nearby in about 15 minutes. Whether they actually called the police in the first place we may never know.


In the two hours before we were taken to the police on the main road, we got a glimpse of the belly dancing and a small taste of the barbecue, but we didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the other tourists with all the adrenaline rushing through our bodies . 


A short drive from the camp to the main road brought us to the police and ambulance. We knew we were mostly fine, but the other group with us needed to go to the hospital to treat some small injuries. We asked for the best and safest driver to take us home, so of course we got another young driver who couldn't speak any English. 


Our first problem on the drive home wasn't even a mile from the camp. It was pitch dark and at the intersection of the dirt road and the main paved road, the driver stopped and got out of the car to talk on the phone. We tried to talk to him, but he had to call his manager for him to have any chance to communicate with us. Apparently, even though the police told us we didn't have to be involved in any investigations or reports, the manager wanted us to sign some papers. We refused and pushed for the driver to keep driving us home. Next, on the roundabout intersection with the main highway to Abu Dhabi, we saw the sign going to Abu Dhabi, but he passed it and went towards some small Arabic village. We were immediately concerned about getting taken somewhere and called the manager again to see what he was doing.


It turns out that the driver had forgotten to reinflate the tires after the dune bashing. Driving through this authentic Arabian village, we had no idea where we were, and no one spoke any English at all. After about ten minutes at the local tire shop, we were back on the freeway to Abu Dhabi. The last problem we had was a simple misunderstanding of the drop-off location. We were picked up at a mall in Abu Dhabi, but wanted to be dropped off at our friend's home slightly outside the main city. One last phone call to the manager solved this problem and we were home within minutes.


We're now able to finally relax and and reflect on what happened. I'm incredibly lucky to have survived this kind of accident without a seatbelt, and I'm glad everyone else was okay. I hope the rest of our trip will go well, and that this will be the closest we come to real danger. I'm sorry I haven't been able to upload many pictures, but I will try at the soonest good opportunity. Tomorrow we'll tour the Grand Mosque and spend our last full day in Abu Dhabi before we go to Dubai for the rest of our trip.