Days 13-14 (July 23-24, 2022): Dunes, Pearl and the Journey Home!

Vacations are funny things: you plan months —or as in the case of this trip — years in advance, you anticipate, and then they unfold faster than you can imagine. Before you know it, they are over, and you are returning to the reality of everyday life, feeding off the memories and photos of your experiences.

With one last day in Qatar, we decided that a “desert safari” would have to comprise part of it. It is something we wished we had done on earlier trips to the United Arab Emirates but didn’t. So as we sat in the coffee shop at the National Museum of Qatar yesterday, we called a tour company and set up such a tour. Our guide arrived promptly at 9AM in a large Land Cruiser and drove us 45 minutes south of Doha to the dunes of the Arabian Desert at Ash Shaq’ra. Before starting our safari, however, we stopped to ride a camel and hold a falcon. Both activities were so touristy they were almost kitschy. But still, we had fun doing both. Then it was right into the desert to start 90 minutes of what felt like a roller-coaster, whipping around the dunes and driving straight down over sand cliffs. The tires are actually partially deflated for these tours so that they can manoeuvre in the sand better.

The sand-dune tour took us quite a distance further south in the desert, with the Persian Gulf in view to the east, and Saudia Arabia not too distant in the south. A body of water off the Persian Gulf snakes its way inland at the Qatar-Saudi border not too far from where we did the safari. And there are several desert lakes in the middle of the desert. The height and expansiveness of the dunes really shocked us. It has a beauty all its own.

At exactly noon, we arrived back at the hotel (having stopped to inflate the tires after leaving the dunes). After a rest, we braved the 42C and headed to The Pearl Island - an over-the-top luxurious residential / retail / entertainment district northeast of Doha. The map of The Pearl below provides a sense of the development and its circular shape. It is completely built on reclaimed land. We took a water taxi from one part of The Pearl to Qanot Quartier, which is built to resemble Venice and its canals. It’s a bit contrived, but it does give the sense of being in Venice - without the crowds!

With The Pearl under our belts, we headed back to the hotel for a swim and some take-out dinner, packed, and headed to Hamid International Airport at 10:30PM for our 1:30AM flight to Paris. We arrived Paris 7:30AM and, after a long wait for our bags, started the Westjet check-in process. The Westjet flight, direct to Halifax, was very full. It left 45 minutes late and arrived in Halifax at 2PM. A one-stop connection from Qatar to Nova Scotia made for as quick a trip as is possible.

This has been a trip a long time in the making, and we are so pleased with the experiences that it provided. As our vacations go, it ranks up there as among our best. Thank you for tuning in to our blog! Your interest means a great deal. And thanks to the photographer - Pam - for her great eye and for capturing the scenes of the last two weeks so well!

Qatar is actually a very small peninsula, sticking off from Saudi Arabia. For our desert safari, we drove south of Doha (see the red place-marker on the map).

Enroute to our desert safari. The seatbelt icons on the highway signage show a male figure in Arabian headdress. Quite different than one would see in North America.

Two of the nine stadiums for the FIFA World Cup this fall.

Admittedly, our camel ride and are handling all of the falcon both smack of kitschy tourist moments. But honestly, both were quite fun. I mean, how often do you get to ride a camel or hold a falcon in Canada, as kitschy as these moments may seem?

Scenes of the incredible sand dunes:

Yes, there is some water in the desert!

The Land Cruiser in which we did the desert safari.

This refinery - and many more like it - are what keep the Qatari economic “machine” going.

The Pearl Island was our afternoon endeavour.

We took a water taxi, and for a brief 10 minutes, felt like the Rich and famous of The Pearl Island.

The Pearl Island even has a replica of the Rialto Bridge in Venice… just minus the massive crowds!

They have truly created a community that looks Venetian.

Doha West Bay at night from the air.

If a plane can be beautiful, then there is nothing more beautiful than a Qatar Airlines Boeing 777. Here, parked at Charles de Gaulle, is the one that took us from Doha to Paris - it felt like flying on a bed of silk.