Liwa is a small town on the edge of civilization. Just outside the town is the Moreeb Dune, the largest on the planet–a behemoth, more of a sand mountain than dune. Beyond the dune is hundreds of miles of desert, then the Saudi border, then hundreds more miles of desert. In many ways, it feels like the end of the Earth. The area beyond Liwa is called the Empty Quarter and is a favorite of Hollywood filmmakers. They like to capitalize on the other worldly nature of it. It has served as the planet Jakku in the (unfortunate) Star Wars: the Force Awakens and the planet Arrakis in the adaptation of Dune by Denis Villeneuve.
We planned a November escape to Liwa back in September, while the school year was still new. It is a favorite retreat of hours. We can make the 200-ish kilometer drive in two hours, under two, if we really mean it. It’s a drive that takes you through the heart of the city, through the villas in the burbs (where most Emirati families live), into a sprawling industrial area that goes on for miles, and eventually into the open desert.
Our hotel was on the edge of the built landscape, when you looked out beyond the pool (see image), there was nothing but dunes, just like Arrakis. Near it is the Al Dhafra camel racing track and the surrounding stables filled with camels of every size, color, and type. I never feel further from home when I am looking at a camel.
Camel tracks are a bit of an enigma to us. Camel racing is a past-time here, one that we have tried but repeatedly failed to take in. We have driven alongside the exterior of the track watching practice. We have visited tracks in Al Wathba and Al Ain but we never seem to be able to find the rhythm and see an actual race. We have been foiled by the early start times; they start as early as six in the morning to avoid the heat (ain’t nobody got time for that, after a full week of teaching). We were also stopped by Covid, the races and the Camel Beauty Pageant were suspended in 2020 and closed to the public for much of 2021. We’ve also been foiled by information posted online that is outdated, or only posted in Arabic, or both. This isn’t something you can just Google. It’s literally tribal knowledge. And it just hasn’t been meant to be.
On Saturday, I suggested a half-hearted effort to drive into the desert and find the set of Dune II. But we opted to get shawarma instead. It was on the way back from this failed (but also successful mission–the shawarma was delicious) that we came upon an ocean of camels on the roads near the track. Hundreds of camels, as far as the eye could see, crossing each way, but moving in orderly lines under the guidance of their handlers. I noted the handlers. Someone goofier than me might describe them as “rugged” or “worn by the sun.” But I couldn’t stop laughing that each of them–all in their 20s–had their eyes glued to their phones while they glided about on the backs of the camels. It was a mix of the timeless and the modern, so rich we had to pull over and take the whole thing in. We may have failed to catch a race (again) and to find Zendaya (we didn’t try that hard) but we made a memory for a lifetime.
I think we will make one more stab at catching a race, later this fall in Al Ain. Wish us luck.