A Sandstorm and a Desert Safari

Well, it was a mixed experience- both adventurous and frightening. On Friday I went to an event sponsored by Western Digital, the hard disk drive manufacturer. The event was supposed to be an adventurous day out - we were to meet at the Jebel Ali Shooting Club for a quick hands on experience of using a shotgun on clay pegions, before heading off to a "secret place" - a distant desert spot near the Sharjah border for Desert Safari.

I was accompanied by Shravan - the Technical Editor of PC Magazine and Bevill - the Marketing Personnel. On our way to Jebel Ali, we encountered intense sandstorm. This was my first sandstorm experience during my one year stay in Dubai and boy was it frightening! Strong winds blowing everywhere and sand surrounding Shravan's speeding Ford Mustang. Some images here.

Well we sure made it safely to the Shooting Club, and tried our hands at targeting clay pegions. The courteous instructors at the Shooting Club gave us all the instructions needed - right from handling the shotgun to loading it with cartridges and shooting the targets. It was a hell of an experience. I managed to shoot 7 targets out of the total 20. Shravan and Bevill meanwhile did 8 each. Bevill specially managed six targets in a row - not a bad number for a beginner!

We then headed off to IBN Batuta Mall to park our cars, where a caravan of four wheel drives were waiting to pick us up for a date with the desert. After an hour's drive, we finally reached a camp site, where the beasts (Toyota Land Cruisers) were ready for rock and roll in the desert, with us seated inside them. Nice experience altogether - it was my first trip to a Desert Safari and I was really amazed by the kind of skills these drivers had. They had total control over the 4WDs and the Desert. Some images here.

Nice car stunts, good camel rides, hot belly dancer and a sumptuous dinner, sums it all.

** UPDATE **: FRESH IMAGES ADDED. CLICK HERE