It’s a Bedouin proverb that ‘only in complete silence, will you hear the desert’. The adage seemed to be the basis for this year’s Camel Trek, an extraordinary adventure in the desert to revive the social and cultural heritage of the UAE, which is organised annually by Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC).
This year’s trek started from Rub’ Al Khali or the ‘Empty Quarter’, the largest continuous sand desert in the world, in Abu Dhabi, on January 17, and ended at Global Village in Dubai on Saturday.
The fourth edition of this trek was the longest journey across the UAE desert that lasted for 11 days with a culturally diverse convoy that also included the ambassador of Argentina to the UAE, Fernando De Martini, who joined the caravan during the last four days.
The ambassador did not have any experience riding camels, but traversed across the unusual landscape of the desert on his own camel for the rest of the journey and arrived at Global Village fash- ionably clad in the traditional Emirati garb.
“It was very tough, but I am very glad that I made the decision of joining the trek,” said the ambassador. “There were some challeng- es when I was training to ride my camel and getting used to the desert, but I am happy I joined and learned so much about the Emirati culture.”
Along with the ambassador, the convoy also included some seasoned trekkers, who experienced more challenges this year because of the length of it, the weather, and the terrain.
Charlotte Sarrazin and Anne- Laure Laine, who were returning for the third time, and Muhamad Al Fansouri, from Malaysia, who was joining the trek for the second time.
Abdullah Hamdan Bin Dalmook, CEO of HHC (L) with Argentine Ambassador Fernando De Martini (R)
“I am returning for the third time and this year was some- thing completely different. It was very hard and exhausting, but as always it was an exhilarating experience,” said Sarrazin.
Even Laine found the trek harder than the last two years and Al Fansouri ended up falling off his camel twice, but both of them were in absolute awe of the beauty of the landscape. The caravan covered a daily distance of nearly 63km and ended up covering a total 500km on camelback.
His Excellency Abdullah Hamdan Bin Dalmook, CEO of HHC, said: “This is the longest version of our annual Camel Trek. There were many challenges, but we were able to follow the map of the trek that was prepared after embarking on pre-exploratory excursions to chart our route.
“We must face difficulties to revive a culture that benefits the participants who wanted to experience life in the past. For the first time, we travelled more than 63 kilometers on the camel’s back in one day. This distance is a record because today it is not easy to achieve.”
The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center serves as a plat- form for all cultural and heritage initiatives, tournaments and activities as conceptualised by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.
