Dubai, Fossil Rock

Fossil Rock, Dubai

'What would the world be, once bereft

Of wild and wilderness? Let them be left,

O Let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet'.....Gerard Manley Hopkins

Fossil Rock, Dubai, UAE

Fossil Rock, UAE

Before leaving for the United Arab Emirates the one thing I wanted to do was four wheel in the red desert just outside of Dubai . My friend Alex, who lives in Dubai, did a bit of research and suggested Fossil Rock as a good location. . After searching the internet I was all in......

On Monday, Alex and his hired guide, Mez, picked me up and off we went in search of Fossil Rock. After about 45 minutes the color of the sand started changing from a pale red to the red you see in the image above. Just after the color change we started to see Fossil Rock off in the distance - I , for one, was very excited.

Fossil Rock, UAE

Next stop was to deflate the tires to grip the sand and off we went into the dunes. The dunes are similar to riding a roller coaster with a touch less stability...A cross between a coaster and being on ship in rough sea....at times we would come to a crest on top of a dune without being able to see the other side, usually a steep vertical drop that left one feeling a bit nauseous....they tell you not to eat before dune riding...

At any rate. long story short, we made to Fossil Rock. We did get stuck on the top of one dune but Mez was able to get us out....

Whoops.....

.

Fossil Rock, Dubai

Camel Walking

Finished up my business in Dubai on Sunday night. A local friend had a plan take me to the red desert on Monday - four wheeling over the sand to Fossil Rock. As we were driving a group of camels suddenly appeared simply walking down to road.

Our guide told us they are let out in the morning, walk around most of the day, and then return to their farm late in the day for water. I would estimate about 15-20 camels just WALKED ON BY....what an added surprise...

Grabbed a few images of the camels and headed out to the rock. Of course we got stuck on the edge of a dune for about 20 minutes but eventually the guide figured it out and off we went to Fossil.....Stay tuned for images of the rock....

 

All in all quite a fun experience. Going back out today to photograph the city of Dubai...