Text & photos by Dr Sachin Singh -
The Empty Quarter, or Rub’ al-Khali, is the biggest sand desert in the world. The dunes spread across a huge area —1,100 km by 650 km — situated between four Arab countries. The largest part is in Saudi Arabia, with a significant section of it on the border between Saudi Arabia and Oman, mostly covered by long and high dunes, mostly untouched by human civilisation.
The sands of the Empty Quarter begin to curl around the road on the approach to Al Hashman, then very quickly coddle into small mounds and ergs (windblown dune) around the settlement. From here, a track leads north along a soft sand corridor with dunes rising dramatically either side and offering a superb desert view from their summits. This is the fringe of the largest sea of sand in the world, and the landscape is exquisite in its silence and enormity. There is very little vegetation here, but an occasional white geode (cauliflower-shaped rock formation, sometimes harbouring crystals) breaks the uniformity of the sands.
TIPS BEFORE VISIT
You need for sure a 4x4 SUV otherwise there is the risk to get stuck. Be sure that you have enough water, food, basic medicines and fuel, and bring light clothes, big hats, high-quality sunglasses and a jacket /sweater/ blankets with tents for the cold nights. Inform your friends and family where you are planning to go and check everything beforehand. Last but not least, reduce the pressure in the tyres before you set off on the sand. Overnight camping at no-man’s land with absolutely no mobile signal is a great experience.
I have visited the Empty Quarter two times and I have always prepared myself and my equipment with a lot of attention to the real dangers of this place. In the desert, if things go wrong, no-one can hear you scream.
Perhaps for this reason I had always gone with a group of friends, mostly experienced 4×4 drivers and photography enthusiasts who shared my endless curiosity to explore this region.
En route we passed a few medium-sized sand dunes and established a night camp between two big sand heaps.
BEST EXPERIENCE
When you finally reach the dunes proper, you feel yourself to be entering a different universe — the biggest sand desert in the world.
The best experience for me was actually “hearing” the silence, I truly loved the desert and racing around on the dunes in a 4x4 is great fun! Open barbeque with friends, lying in the open looking up at the starry sky with stunning milky way is a memory to treasure. Sunset and sunrise from the top of the dunes was spectacular.
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