When a swanky G-Wagon rolled in to pick me up for a desert safari, I knew I was in for a luxurious experience. The door-to-door service via the four-wheel Mercedes-Benz car is standard with the recently launched Veuve Clicquot Desert Experience by tour operator Arabian Adventures.
The ride sets the tone for a high-class dining experience in the heart of the Dubai desert. From my home in Silicon Oasis, it takes about 40 minutes to reach the newly built visitors' centre in the 225-square-kilometre Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve.
After a brief stop, which involves deflating tires for the desert terrain, we journey deeper into the reserve, which is a great opportunity to take in the lay of the land. Kevin, our driver-cum-tour guide, is a font of desert knowledge. He occasionally springs into a trivia whenever we chance upon anything along the way, from thorny shrubs to graceful gazelles. Tour guides can often sound robotic and over-rehearsed, but Kevin is a natural, making us feel comfortable along the bumpy ride.
“Do you know where the name Abu Dhabi comes from?” he asks at one point, as we spot a herd of sand gazelles in one corner. “Abu Dhabi translates to Father of Gazelle,” he offers.
About 20 minutes after our brief stop, we reach a spot where two camels are waiting for us. At that point, guests of the experience, which only accommodates a maximum of eight, can opt for a 10-minute camel trek to the private dining area or continue in the 4x4. Riding camels is something of a rite of passage for UAE tourists and, with the sun setting, it is a perfect opportunity for photos and videos.
We arrive at a charming dining spot dressed in LVMH-owned brand Veuve Clicquot's colours, with deep yellow hues complementing the terracotta palette of the furniture as well as the natural setting. A makeshift open-kitchen is set up just a few steps away from the eight-seater dining table. Immediately, a calming energy embraces me.
There was a time when I would camp in Al Qudra every week with friends, precisely because of the serenity afforded by the environment. But our camping sessions were nothing compared to the luxurious setting of the Arabian Adventures experience. There are no paper cups and plates to be found here, just heavy-duty silverware.
Before dinner, we are ushered to an elevated reception area, which provides a clearer view of the sunset. It's wise for Arabian Adventures to only offer this experience during the winter season because the breeze is perfect when we are there. We are then served purple potato chips with two kinds of dips – a promising introduction to the food that awaits.
Guests are asked about any dietary requirements when booking, so the kitchen can prepare ahead. This is important, because there isn't room for flexibility on site due to the obvious constraints of dining in the desert. The sharing-style menu is fixed, but is curated to ensure the food is both fresh and delicious, the team says.
Our paired meal starts with a refreshing marinated watermelon with goat's cheese mousse. It is a good palate cleanser, with just the right amount of sweetness from the fruit and kick from the cheese. Sharing starters come one by one, headlined for me by the Yakitori-style chicken skewers. The barbecue-baked Camembert served with kumquat preserve also deserves a shout out, while the flame-seared octopus steals the show.
Desert safari food is usually an afterthought, after a barrage of typical activities such as belly dancing and dune bashing. But here, food is at the heart of the experience, with the charm of the desert playing only a supporting role.
Mains start include a 24-hour cooked Australian black Angus brisket; tender duck breast with orange gastrique sauce; and chargrilled cauliflower steak. Still it's the side of potato mille-feuille that stands out for me. It is lush and creamy, making me almost forget I'm in the middle of a desert and not in a fine dining restaurant in Downtown Dubai. Darkness falls by the time we dig into our mains, with fire torches providing a rustic ambience.
We end the meal with a trio of desserts: a salted caramel pot with dates in a crispy pastry shell; fresh strawberries served with white Valhorna chocolate fondue; and a cloud of citrus-infused ricotta cream.
As the evening draws to a close, the quiet of the desert settles in. We sit again at the sundowner lounge with the peaceful serenity interspersed with soft chatter and the gentle hiss of the fire pit. Out in the desert, with the vastness of the night sky strewn with stars, is where I feel beautifully small and profoundly connected. It's the kind of peace that sticks, lingering even as I return to the city lights a little before midnight.
The review was conducted at the invitation of Arabian Adventures, part of the Emirates Group. Bookings can be made via arabian-adventures.com and cost Dh3,360 per person
UAE v IRELAND
All matches start at 10am, and will be played in Abu Dhabi
1st ODI, Friday, January 8
2nd ODI, Sunday, January 10
3rd ODI, Tuesday, January 12
4th ODI, Thursday, January 14
The 24-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Bromwich Albion), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea/Dortmund), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Standby player: Laurent Ciman (Los Angeles FC).
MATCH INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
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Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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