Life In The Desert

A short trip to Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa stimulates all the senses from the diverse flora and fauna to the breadth of five-star hospitality comforts

- Dominic Ellis

It’s 6.10am and as the sun slowly rises over Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, two gazelles hop past us as we start our nature walk – and they’re the fourth we’ve seen this morning as a pair escorted us from our suite to reception.

There may be a perception among city dwellers that the desert is an arid nothingness but the panoramic view from our private pool was dotted with trees and bushes, and you’re reminded of the enduring breadth of flora and fauna, beyond the plentiful gazelle and oryx. Abundant birdlife accompanied us on the breakfast terrace (over 136 species have been documented), beetles scurried by the pool and although thankfully we didn’t see them, the desert also hosts spiders, scorpions, snakes and lizards. The highlight on the walk was seeing a meandering tail track from an Arabian Monitor Lizard, which average a metre in length.

Your phone camera will be enough to appreciate most of these disparate sights but I did call on the zoom to catch a solitary white Oryx sheltered under a bush and to home in on a herd perched on top of a dune (below). These were special take-home memories, which most guests return home with; nature as nature intended.