In the desert among the dunes and ridges of the Sharqiya Sands

Bidiyah is the last outpost before penetrating the orange sands of the Sharqiya Sands, but above all a town devoted to dromedary racing: along the 11-kilometre loop, the Arabian Peninsula's most sought-after jockeys train continuously. For an immersive experience in the apparent silence and nothingness of the Sharqiya Sands desert, which stretches 180 kilometres long and 80 kilometres wide, the Magic Camp Wahiba is ideal. One arrives just before the sun goes down, in time to see the camels' coats turn red and the dunes change their attire, while drinking a cardamom and saffron coffee curled up on sofas covered in Berber fabric. One immediately realises how true is what William Atkins says in 'A World without Borders' published in Italy by Adelphi, that the desert is 'mobile, and the wind its engine. It is the wind that shapes the dunes of the uruq variety, (from the Arabic for veins), towering parallel ridges sometimes tens of kilometres long; and the crescent dunes or barkhan (crow) whose concavity indicates the direction of the prevailing wind....'. One stays inside tents set up at the foot of the first sand hills, and during the night, one admires the stars while sitting around the fire, only to wake up just before dawn to climb those ephemeral geometries of sand, witnessing the appearance of the new sun.