Dessert Camping

Two weekend ago we were able to do some more camping in the Saudi dessert. The weather is still nice so we wanted to get one more camping trip in before the weather becomes unbearable haha! Here are some pictures of our adventure!

So the first thing we saw was a herd of goats. We were excited to see some animals in the desert.

Next, we started setting up camp in a wadi which is a dry river bed. After setting up camp we decided to go for a hike up to these plateaus. The view was absolutely beautiful!

We had a good time climbing up to the top!

  

Soon after the guys returned we had some unexpected visitors to our campsite!

The camels were actually quite friendly and quite smelly haha!

The guys with there newest friends

The camels came through a couple different times with their herder who rode on a donkey.

Here is a video of one of times the camels came through 

Camels in our camp from Brendon Hunt on Vimeo.

After the camel invasion we sat down by the campfire and had some delicious Kabsa (chicken and rice). When we had finished the Kabsa we busted out the S’mores!!! 

After some amazing food and great conversations we headed for bed – our sleeping bag under the stars!!! Yep, no tents! I have to say, I did have one worry……. I kept thinking about the camels and I was hoping we weren’t going to get trampled haha! Luckily they waited until the morning to return and we were able to move our stuff out of the way for them. 

The camping trip was so much fun but it wouldn’t have been the same without the amazing people we spent it with! We love our new friends here and the old friends who have now joined us!

Finally some pictures!

Here are a few pictures we have taken along the way...

The bearded man + his hooded wife

View from the backyard. You can start to see the sandstorm moving in.

We stumbled upon some old forts in the desert.

They are mostly made of mud and straw but were still in amazing condition.

Here comes the sandstorm! Ugh!

Have not had a full one yet but this was a little taste of what's to come.

But not too much worst than Riverside on a bad day right?

Few things to look at: KSA was talking with one of the head government officials from India so they lined all the freeways in Riyadh with Saudi and Indian flags. Also you'll see the sign for Panda on the right. It's like a Walmart and they also have their version of a Super Walmart called what else:

Hyper Panda

In America we have cemeteries with with grave stones. Here they have burial mounds. The more important you are the bigger the mound. You can see how people just build around them through the years.

A favorite weekend getaway for most Saudi's is setting up these tents in the desert. Inside is usually super nice fabrics and woods and some even have air conditioning. Not sure if this is technically camping out.

In California you have cows on the side of the road. We have camels.

Such a different place but we love it! Great hearing from everyone. Please don't stop thinking about us!