ABU DHABI // Plans for a group of 50 women to walk across the dunes from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi may have been hampered by sandstorms and rain, but their spirits were not defeated.
The annual Women's Heritage Walk, which has been growing in popularity since it began three years ago, was called off after the third day when a sandstorm blew through the group's desert camp on Sunday evening.
"We had two tents fly off and we've had a couple of people in the hospital," says Sarah Shaw, 33, an Emirati programme manager for Abu Dhabi Education Council.
"One lady had a panic attack. It was a good decision by the organising team to send us home. It's amazing how Mother Nature forces her presence, she just walks in and waits for no man. You have to deal with her beauty and her beast."
The women had hoped to walk the final 35 kilometres of the 125km route on Tuesday, but the bad weather showed no signs of letting up.
Determined to clock up the final distance, a group of 10 decided to complete the last stretch from the relative safety of Khalifa City A to Abu Dhabi's Corniche.
"We held on to the spirit of the Women's Heritage Walk in the city," says Marianne Auffret, from France, a 32-year-old food and beverage manager for Etihad. "It was important for us to be able to feel that we had walked 125km."
Although the trek did not go according to plan, it was far from being a disappointment for Ms Shaw, who said the time spent among the dunes helped to give her a strong connection to the memory of her grandmother, whose tribe lived a nomadic desert life.
"It was such a profound epiphany for me to realise how her generation must have really had such strong spirits to endure that distance through the desert, not knowing what dangers lay ahead. When a sandstorm struck, they wouldn't have had a solid building to escape to, just a tent — they were waiting and praying. For us, we had safety measures left, right and centre."
The walkers had set off in perfect sunshine last Thursday from Al Ain National Museum, following an ancient path that was traversed by Emiratis on camel and on foot twice a year until recent times.
But unlike desert walkers of the past, the women got to experience a taste of luxury on their first evening.
"We were greeted by Etihad attendants with fresh wet towels, in the same manner we're greeted onto the plane," says the walk's founder, Jody Ballard. "They wanted to treat us to first-class service in the desert. I told the women not to get used to this, but each lunch and dinner was excellent."
Friendships quickly formed between the walkers, who were of 20 different nationalities, with singing a great source of collective positivity.
"A lady would start singing and others would start singing with her or repeating after her," said Ms Shaw. "We were all singing our favourite Disney songs like Hakuna Matata, Under the Sea and A Whole New World. These made us laugh every time and that laughter allowed us to press on in spite of any hardships."
American Ms Ballard said the line of walkers would often stretch out across the dunes, sometimes for as much as a kilometre.
"The chatter was deafening as the women got to know each other. Each walker kept a close eye on their buddy, but everyone quickly stepped up to help when needed."
Nadine Hensley, a 47 year-old South African duty operations supervisor for Etihad, said the walk proved to be a very different experience to the mountain hiking she'd undertaken as a young woman.
"It was something so unique, which opened up something inside me that I didn't know existed. When you're younger, you do things for yourself and then you have children and you do everything for them. Now my sons are now 23 and 18, and it's time for me again.
"After the first day I thought 'how am I going to do all this walking?' I knew I had to push through and it all came together. I've learnt — and I think this will always stay with me — that if your mind stays strong, your body will be strong, too."
Ms Shaw found the experience of walking for 10 hours a day before having to unpack her belongings and tent humbling.
"At home I'd be coming back to a perfectly made bed, food on my plate, I don't need to work for it," she said. "As a generation we've become so jaded — we've not actually gone through the grit of fending for ourselves. This journey made me realise what's important in life and what's not."
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