Sands of time
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 4, 2010
Penny Watson pays dune diligence in the deserts of Doha. I'm in the passenger seat of a four-wheel-drive with Snoop Dogg on high volume and the desert whizzing past. Next to me is Mohammad, an Arabic man wearing a long white robe and red and white headscarf. His rotund chest, swarthy chin and wraparound dark sunglasses make him look made for movies but here in Qatar this sheikh-look (as opposed to chic-look) is get-up as common as a shirt and tie.It's all rather awkward, really. A carload of excitable 20-somethings has just driven alongside us raucously giving Mohammad the thumbs-up, no doubt for having "got lucky" with a Westerner. It occurs to me I should have sat in the back seat. Mohammad responds by smiling and nodding, then accelerating, and soon the beep beep indicating that we're breaking the speed limit joins Snoop for entertainment.Qatar, an Arab emirate in the Middle East, occupies a relatively small 11,437-square kilometre peninsula jutting north-east of Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf. We're driving 75 kilometres south-east from the capital of Doha on a half-day tour to the Inland Sea. Known as Khor Al Adaid, this huge inlet, accessed off-road via rolling desert scenery, is Qatar's most impressive natural feature. It is up for consideration as a UNESCO world heritage site on account of its unique tidal bay and mobile dune system.To get there, Mohammad and I hoon along the highway, through the fishing town of Al Wakra where traditional dhow boats are a reminder that, 30 years ago, Qatar's pearling industry barely supported the economy. And further on, past the smoking chimneys and industry of Qatar Petroleum, a nod to the new economy, the richest in the world with the highest GDP per capita.In between these landmarks is pure desert, drifting grey sands, ephemeral in their boundaries and arid enough to parch the throat. With little warning we swerve off the highway to let the tyres down for better grip. Then we're off-road, on a seemingly aimless path into the desert.Mohammad is in his element on the dunes, a vastly different landscape to Doha's architectural skyscrapers and lavish shopping malls. He speeds up the great walls of sand, slows down for effect as cliffs give way just beyond the car bonnet, then drops off the edge rollercoaster-style.The Inland Sea, joined to the Persian Gulf by a narrow 10 kilometre channel, appears before us like an oasis, the dunes meeting the sea in incongruous union. The tide is receding and a vast saltpan stretches to the water's distant edge.Creatures resembling flamingos stalk about in the shallows and birds hang in the air catching desert thermals. The warm sand slips through my fingers and toes, millions of tiny colourful granules. In the distance, a cluster of military tents guards the Saudi Arabian border.As the sun goes down we make our way back to a Bedouin camp to dine in the tradition of Qatar's original desert dwellers. Shadows hitch a ride on the back of the dunes, creating vivid lines in the sand. Mohammad asks me if I'd like to listen to Snoop. Not just now, I say. Silence, like the desert sands at sunset, is golden. Penny Watson was a guest of Qatar Airways.THE facts Qatar Airways (qatarairways.com) flies from Melbourne to Doha return from $2358. Grand Hyatt (doha.grand.hyatt.com) rooms start at QAR900 riyals ($AU275). A three-night B&B stay from April to end of September is QAR777 riyals ($AU237). Qatar Airways Holidays' (qatarairways.com) Inland Sea Safari departs Doha daily from 2.30pm-9pm. Cost is $US110 ($AU122). Tours can also be booked through a hotel concierge. Don't forget your bathers and a jumper - the desert can get cold at night.
© 2010 The Sunday Age
