In early May, we headed into the Rub' al Khali also known as the The Empty Quarter, the vast sand sea that stretches across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen.
In the 1940s, Wilfred Thesiger wrote:
“For a time I believed that mankind had been hypnotised by a landscape so different from anything they knew that they had been led into a state of euphoria by the beauty of this desert.”
The Golden Hour
We waited until just before sunset to head into the dunes, when the heat finally began to ease. In May, the desert changes quickly at that hour. The low sun turns the sand into a deep, burnished bronze and brings the landscape back to life.
Tracks covered the dunes everywhere we looked. Beetles and lizards had emerged with the cooler air, along with the Sand Fish (Scincus scincus), a skink that stays cool by swimming through loose sand. Their trails crisscrossed the surface in every direction.
Morning and Midday
By the next morning, the dunes had changed again. The sharp bronze tones from sunset were gone, replaced by softer colors and long shadows stretching across the sand.
But by late morning, the light had turned harsh. As the sun climbed overhead, the dunes flattened into a washed-out beige and the contrast disappeared.
You do not spend much time thinking about composition when it is 42°C. You get out of the car, take the shot, and get back into the shade before the heat and glare wear you down. At that hour, the desert feels indifferent to whether you are there or not.
Liwa in May
By May, Liwa itself had almost emptied out. Around Moreeb, the temporary infrastructure from the winter festival season was still standing, but only just. Food stalls were shuttered, caravan parks sat empty, and rows of portable toilets had been closed off and left in place for the next season.
In the midday heat, the whole area felt abandoned. The only movement came from the wind pushing sand across the access roads and against the barriers around the camps.
We finally had reached Moreeb Dune, a 300-meter wall of sand with a 50-degree face and one of the largest dunes in the world. Standing there in the glare, it was easier to understand what Thesiger meant by hypnosis. There is not much to do except watch the shifting light, the wind moving across the ridges, and the scale of it all slowly take over your attention.
