Happiness in the sand dunes at Qasr Al Sarab

Mohammad Ashfaq, an adventure guide at the Qasr Al Sarab resort in the Liwa Desert, describes his typical day.

Mohammad Ashfaq's secret spot in the desert. He comes here when he wants to be with nature and think. Mona Al-Marzooqi / The National

Mohammad Ashfaq is an adventure guide at the Qasr Al Sarab resort in the Liwa Desert. Originally from Pakistan, the 38-year-old moved to the UAE in 2004 and quickly trained to get his qualification as a desert guide. He has been at the resort since 2010, where his days include dune drives, camel spiders and target practice.

5am

I get up between 5am and 5.20am every day. It’s 10 minutes on foot from our accommodation to the resort. The canteen opens at around 5.30am for breakfast. If we are going on a desert drive, we try to avoid breakfast. When I arrived in Dubai I was working in an office, but then I changed my career to safari guide because I love adventure. When you get a regular tourist guide license it’s valid for 10 to 15 years. But a desert license is valid for just one year. After one year you have to go through the same procedures again to make sure you are safe.

6am

These days our activities – drives, camel rides, walks – start at 6am because the sun rises at about 6.30am. I am a convoy leader, so whenever we have a drive I have to go. We are always two cars even if we have a small number of guests. We prepare ourselves and our equipment, including water, backpacks and medical kits. We get a guest list, so we check that and all the details. When we set off into the desert the first thing we do is deflate the tyres because if they are full it’s not possible to drive. We have two drives – one easy, one hard. The dunes here are an amazing ochre and the sand is so fine and soft. At 200, 250 or even 300 metres high they are also bigger than those outside Dubai, which are 140 or 150 metres. If there is a strong wind or a sandstorm, the dune can shift. Not the whole dune – that’s too heavy – but the top surface can shift; like a half to one metre. We stop in the middle of the drive so the guests can take pictures and enjoy the view. I was very excited when I got my desert license. I have been doing this from 2005 until today, and I still enjoy it every day.

8am

In the busy season – from October to the end of March or April – we have back-to-back activities. We come back at 8am and at 8.30am we have another drive or a camel ride or a falcon show. So we come back, clean the car – which is sometimes full of sand – fill up with water and prepare for the next drive.

12.30pm

At 12.30 we go for lunch – an international buffet with two or three types of rice, lamb and chicken. If there are afternoon activities we have to be there at 2pm. These might include archery – the Bedouin used bows and arrows for hunting, but hunting is now illegal so we use targets.

5pm

Sunset activities start at 5pm. In the summer we don’t have afternoon activities because it’s too hot. We look after the equipment, such as the saddles for the camels and the bikes, and concentrate on anything we cannot do in the busy season. So we repair the equipment, buy more equipment and clean the store. Our cars are the most important thing. After almost every drive we clean the cars, especially the air filter and the front AC filter. In the summer we can send them to Abu Dhabi to get repairs. We are about 415 staff in the hotel and there are nine adventure guides.

7pm

Some of us finish just after sunset, but then we have a night walk as well. That starts at 8pm and finishes at 10pm. Because we are not as busy with the night walk, we keep it to one or two guides. We take turns. The night walk is so interesting. You cannot express in words when you are in the middle of the desert and there is a nice breeze, full moon and stars. And of course animals come out at night – for example, snakes, scorpions, camel spiders and some lizards.

10pm

We are finished. I change out of my uniform, take a shower, sit with friends and have a little chat with them and a cup of tea. By 11pm or 11.30pm I go to sleep. We have a day off every week, but if you want to go to the city you can ask for two days or four days off together. There is a city bus every day at 8am and at 5pm from Abu Dhabi. Personally, I love this place. This is why after four years I am still here. The landscape you will never see anywhere else.

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