The Desert Safari desert camp experience (with videos)

In my last couple of posts I discussed the buggy rides and dune bashing experiences in Dubai. To conclude the journey in this post I will take you through the evening camp event.
After the sun down we settled into the evening camp for an evening filled with a short performance and dinner. The camp has a restroom area, and some stalls for food, henna, and hookah facilities for the visitor. As is the case all over Dubai, you are treated like a VIP if you have the money. The more the money you pay, the better the treatment. This is evident in everything – from the vehicles that get you to the camp, to the food offered, to the seating, to special photographs with eagles, etc. The food for VIPs is unlimited and is served at the place you are seated, and typically with a quanity much more than you need.

It is all about satisfying guests as per what they pay but I sincerely wish the people providing all these facilities do think of the needy as well. I am a strong believer that food must not be wasted and the situation at the desert camp is somewhat on the contrary.

Performances (fire and belly dance)

Coming to the performances, there were two performances one by a male and the other one by a female. The dance by the male was something involving colourful clothes and tricks with fire – the whole stage is lit up with the light and its a spectacle to watch and enjoy. There is a lot of spinning in the dance and also doing lots of tasks when that goes on which is in itself not so easy a task. You can take a look at the video below

The performance by the female is also one of the main reasons people sign up for the camp evening event – the famous belly dance. And for those of you who think it is very sexy and the likes – let me tell you one thing – it is simply not easy for a normal person to do this dance. Even for the talented in this field it is an enormous level of energy burn and the level of composure and fitness needed to finish off with this for a whole 15-20 minutes is nothing short of humongous. You can take a look at a part of the dance in the video below. One look at the hair spin the lady gives will give you a dizzy feeling.

Food options

As you would have guessed, the food options for vegetarians is pretty minimal. At best there is the sweet (like a jamun) dipped in date sauce. Add some salads made from veggies, and some really bad mixed rice (not the biryani types) and of course Pepsi/coke & some dessert in the desert that gets over even before it starts being served! You know what I’m talking about now.

Toilet facilities

In one word : SAD.
In many words the toilets aren’t maintained properly. There doesn’t seem to be proper drainage system making the whole place stink. It’s really bad and the management of the place can certainly look for better bio toilet options.

Other facilities

There are other things to do at the camp. Like a bit of camel ride, or smoking some hookah. Plenty of coke on the floor. If you are willing to pay more you get corn etc. There are obviously some mehndi stalls which help you to sport some good designs on your hands or feet. There are also photo opps with Arabic clothing which would cost you a bomb.

Conclusions

The entire desert safari experience is a one off experience that will let you enjoy the desert in its raw and full glory. It will give you a glimpse of some fantastic buggy riding, some scintillating dune bashing that’ll leave you mesmerised. Further the glorious sunsets and the evening performances will leave you dazzled at the end of the journey. Although you will be tired while returning home, rest assured these set of adventures will be etched in your memory forever.

A journey to Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi (plus tips on do’s and dont’s while visiting the place)

Introduction to the monument

We landed in Dubai via Oman Air pretty early into the morning. If you wish to read about that experience, you can click here. Most of the next morning was taking rest due to a lengthy and unnecessary air travel which I will explain in another blog post.

The Sheikh Zayed Mosque is about a 45 minutes drive from the Dubai International Airport, it is located at Abu Dhabi which is the capital city of United Arab Emirates.

We went on an afternoon drive with a private vehicle to the mosque. At the time of arrival there were not many people there and we could get parking pretty easily but the fact remains that too in the evening hours getting parking could be a bit troublesome.

There are a lot of people who visit the mosque in the evening and the place gets pretty crowded there. Still there is ample space around the mosque and it never feels very congested.

Features of the mosque

This Mosque can sometimes hold up to more than 41000 people for prayers at any given point of time. This Mosque is well known for its minarets and the architectural beauty it encompasses through its construction.

Built between 1996 and 2007 this mosque was designed by a Syrian architect, and employed about 3000 people and 38 companies to complete the construction.

World’s largest carpet

The carpet in the main prayer hall is supposedly over 60000 square feet in dimension. The carpet itself took around two years to complete and was done by more than 1000 workers.

The world’s third largest chandelier

This Mosque has seven imported chandeliers from Germany including the world’s largest that incorporates millions of Swarovski crystals.

The chandeliers are awe inspiring and people usually slow down to spend some time staring at the beauty of the architecture. At one point in the hall all the three chandeliers can be seen one behind the other.

Highlights about the mosque

The minarets of the mask and the central courtyard make the mask and astounding beauty to look from far away. No matter whichever angle you are looking at it from, you can never seem to get enough of seeing the mosque.

There are wide walkways with small lights on both sides which illuminate the pathway during the night. There is also an area where there are small fountains which make it very nice to see and spend some time around, specifically for kids.

As you enter the main hall there are cupboards and shelves where you can leave your footwear before going inside (socks are permitted). In general most people maintain silence and are busy with photography since photos are allowed within the mosque as an exception.

There are toilets around the mosque and specifically facilities for women are better.

Photographic opportunities

This monument presents a lot of photographic opportunities for the photo enthusiast. The gardens & the fountains lighting the monument with the sky behind, the afternoon and night views of this mosque and a view of the mosque from the highway are some excellent photographic opportunities.

You don’t really need an SLR for enjoying all of this even a mobile camera would suffice. All photos of this mosque in this blog post are taken with the Samsung Galaxy S7, the best in the camera department (until the Google Pixel trumped it)

One can easily spend up to two hours in this environment enjoying the beauty of the place.

Do’s and don’ts while visiting this mosque

It is important to bear in mind some of the regulations before entering his mask so that you are not surprised when you arrive there. This part of the blog post will try to explain as much as possible how to be prepared while going to see this place.

[ ] security: since this is a monument of national importance there is a layer of security around the mosque and at the mosque entrance which you need to clear before entering inside. The security will do a baggage scan and also offer the traditional burqahs so that people can cover themselves completely.
[ ] it is essential that women are covered from head to toe and as long as you are wearing a dress which is like that it should be okay. Even for Men shorts are NOT permitted and it is preferable that you wear full pants and shirts. It’s not really clear when the people at the security might ask you questions about your dressing but generally if you are fully covered it should be fine.
[ ] Women do get all sizes of burqah at security entry point so it is not a big deal to be worried about.
[ ] as far as I understood food is not allowed into the mosque so it’s OK to just carry a water bottle or so with yourself and keep the rest of the food in your car for later.
[ ] Since the whole visit is going to take less than two hours you are not going to be so tired that you need food very often.
[ ] there are no entry fees for getting into this mosque it’s free for everybody.
[ ] try to follow the queue system as much as possible where applicable and try to remain silent while going about taking photographs. This whole place is very elegant when it is silent and you should enjoy the beauty in such a situation rather than making noise.
[ ] stop by the lawns or the fountains and take some rest by sitting down whereever you feel like nearby.
[ ] don’t forget to see the carpet and the Chandeliers, these are most important parts of the inside of the Mosque.
[ ] you can leave between 2 and 3 p.m from Dubai so that it’s a good one hour drive to reach the mosque
[ ] sometimes the mosque may be crowded so be patient
[ ] you will not be allowed to go into the central area of the Courtyard so stay away from there and just follow the pathways. There are plenty of photo Ops even there among the pathways
[ ] as far as possible do not touch any part of the monument but just enjoy the beauty while walking past.
[ ] inside the main prayer hall it is extremely important for women to keep their head covered and hence they should ensure that the clothing does not fall of the head to avoid reminders from the staff. It is against the religion for women to show the head within the prayer hall so please take care of this and stay clear of this controversy.
[ ] it is essential that you keep moving forward from the entrances as there are enough places to stand and take photos from rather than crowd the entrance itself.
[ ] finally when you exit the mosque it is likely that lot of people have come in so you need to remember where you put your car in order to find it more easily.
[ ] when you exit you are supposed to give back the clothing given by the staff upon entry.
[ ] in general when questioned by the staff be courteous and be specific with your answers.
[ ] the big bus abu dhabi has a stop here in case you are opting to come by bus so they have you covered for this destination.

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The Jog Falls travel experience

Travelling to Jog Falls

As part of my previous post I have already written what it takes to go from Bangalore to Jog Falls. We stayed at Sagar in a hotel called Green Embassy, whose review I have given in another blog post. If you wish to know more about the hotel please click here.

Jog Falls tourist attraction

Bus journey from Sagar to Jog Falls is roughly around 25 km plus or minus and it is a treacherous route down the Mountain and up the Mountain again. Since it’s a waterfall you will need to go down the Mountain to some extent to see the falls from the top. There are lot of private buses that operate from areas like Sagar up to Jog Falls in a regular frequency.

The cost of the bus is roughly around 1 Rupee per kilometre so we ended up paying around 20 or 30 rupees for a ticket one way per person. What is more important to note is the time it takes to cover this distance and it is slightly on the higher side due to the terrain. It is quite common that you might feel a bit giddy and may even feel like puking.

Jog Falls pathway

The Jog Falls is a Majestic tourist attraction and has roughly around 1300-1400 steps all the way down. The steps themselves neatly laid out and it gets steeper by the flight as you reach down. It takes roughly about an hour to go down and between an hour and a half or two hours to come back up. We carried only a couple of bottles of water along with our bags down. It is highly recommended that you keep some food like biscuits or the likes while going down. The time when we went was in November and hence the water was pretty less in the falls itself. Like I said earlier in one of my posts this was more of a backpack trip and we had to do it in haste without rhyme or reason.

The best time to go would be between June to August during which time the thunderous falls are a sight to behold.

Safety along the stairs

There would always be a question what happens to you if you go alone all the way down or even with another person all the way down. Would there be somebody who would pickpocket you? Or rob you? Or mug you or even much worse. What is worse is that there are just two security guards at the bottom of the falls. These guys cannot help much and they are just there to control the crowds. Sometimes there could be a set of unruly people who just want to have fun. So far I have not heard of any mishap but there is a genuine risk of something happening. Going down is essentially at your own risk although it is not a very difficult thing and you do not hear incidents happening every other day.

Some things to take care of while going down

take a few bottles of water and something to eat like biscuits
preferably go between 9AM to 11AM or even earlier
as the sun rises it gets pretty difficult to come back up again
safety is at your own risk so be aware of your surroundings
the mobile signals are not available as you go down so be aware of that
preferably go with someone else or as a group of people
time your descent and ascent accordingly
while coming back up again take as much rest as you want wherever you want
do not stress yourself to climb up the stairs fast
ample time to come up give time for others to take rest but at the same time keep looking at your watch in order to come back in a reasonable time
the staircase USA open between 9AM in the morning and 6AM in the evening
if you are going during the monsoon, take an umbrella and use proper clothing like shoes/raincoats etc.
It could also be cold during monsoons, so cover your ears and chest if you can

Food options at Jog Falls

The Options for eating food at Jog Falls are extremely Limited. So you need to be aware of this and plan accordingly. There are a few stores selling frozen paratha or chapati along with some ill made curry.

The shops also stock a lot of ice creams & beverages cold and hot. So you should be able to get your Coke or Fanta or Pepsi easily. Please avoid the rice items here as the rice is not well cooked. Additionally there is also a KSTDC hotel which is only slightly better than the shops around.

Still this restaurant has its own flaws. Not all of the items listed are available at all the times. And if you go somewhere in the afternoon most other items are not available.

The best solution is to pack your own food and take it along with you so that you have something tasty and something made by you that is more edible than the ones available there.

Options to stay near Jog Falls

The couple of hotels that I did notice which is very near to Jog Falls. One of them is the Gerusoppa Maurya by KSTDC. I also noticed Jungle Lodges and resorts nearby. Barring this your nearest best option would be to stay at Sagar or Shimoga.

The total time it took for us to visit Jog Falls and be back is a little more than half a day so you need to plan accordingly if you are going there. This was of course from Sagar so if you are staying at Shimoga it could take much more than that.

Even though it was November it was pretty humid and sweating all the time. The climb down and back up only makes it worse. If you are going between July and August and plan to go down the staircase, don’t forget to take a raincoat or an umbrella and still continue to take water and some food. This should help you to be hydrated as well as mitigate the sweating problem during rainy season.

Conclusion

The Jog Falls is a must visit for everybody at least once in their life. Be careful to choose a place nearby to Jog Falls for your stay. Take care to pack food and water while going down Jog Falls pathway. Try to avoid the food which is available there. Time your visit properly. It would also serve if you can read about Jog Falls and its history before going there to appreciate the place.

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