Are desert buggy trips possible during the summer?
Summer buggy trips that take place between 10am and 4pm will leave you as red as a tomato and extremely dehydrated. Even the best sun block money can buy will make very little difference because of the intense heat at this time of year. And, you won’t see any wildlife, just the odd crazy human or two, because animals are sensible enough to stay under cover during the day’s most intense heat, which can be as high as 50C, which, you don’t need me to tell you, is unbearable.
It is worth remembering that we have the heat to thank for the beautiful wilderness that we know as the “desert”. If the rain was more frequent and stable, the desert would actually be a beautiful forest, as, all the red sand needs is a little fertiliser and water to allow it to produce foliage. It is for this reason that red sand is used for gardens and agriculture in the UAE.
To come back to our topic, the best time for a buggy trip in the summer is either early in the morning, from sunrise to 9am, or from 5pm until sunset. At these times, there is normally a breeze due to the difference of temperature between night and day, making the desert more pleasant place to be. With the sun lower in the sky, there is less glare meaning you will be able to enjoy more of the landscape’s beauty, including the different colours of sand and the pink tones of fossil rocks.