We signed ourselves up for a group trip which meant a ride in an absolute beast of a buggy. We're talking about a ten-seater equipped with a roll cage and a powerful V8 engine. Tasty stuff! The engine roared as we climbed the first of the many dunes and as we approached the top, the driver slowed and then stopped just as we were about to head down what looked like an almost vertical drop - all very theme park. But the pause turned out to be a little longer as his phone started ringing and he took a call, with the rest of us staring down into the sand-covered oblivion. I'm not sure if that was coincidence or a deliberate maneuver to increase the suspense, but it worked!
Thankful for the roll cage and the fact that we didn't die after the first drop, I settled into the experience more and racing through the desert was an amazing experience. From time to time we would stop to take pictures of the amazing landscape before zooming off once more to find a steep dune to climb and then slide down.
After half an hour or so, we stopped again and out came the sand boards. I didn't even know that sand boarding was part of the tour, no one had mentioned it when we signed up. It was a welcome bonus and I was glad to learn that our driver didn't expect us to stand up on the boards, unless we really wanted to. I was happy to take the first slope lying down and wasn't disappointed! You can use your legs to brake or you can see how much speed you can pick up, taking care to keep your elbows on the board and avoid a nasty sand burn.
On the next slope we tried I watch a guy who'd done a bit of snow boarding before, try to replicate it on sand by standing up on the board. It wasn't easy and he tumbled over a good few times, luckily sand is a bit more forgiving than ice, but, having only skied on snow before, I was more than happy to continue with my sledging approach. Even he admitted that lying down on the board was much more fun.
With the light fading unfortunately the experience had to come to an end. We stopped for one last look at the desert with the sun setting in the background, and then set off for one last burn back home. We all climbed back in the buggy and the driver turned the key which produced a very sorry sounding groan. The battery was dead. We got out to give it a bump-start but as soon as the driver dropped the clutch the tyres just locked in the sand. So, he went off to find signal on his mobile while we sat and waited in the fading light. Although it felt very isolated sitting there in the desert in the dark, we in fact weren't all that far from civilisation and another buggy soon can to rescue us before any sand monsters came to eat us!
If you ever get the chance to experience a ride like this, I would really recommend you take it. It's not to be missed!
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