Qatar Lessons: Just deserts for heading beyond Doha city limits
Qatar Lessons is a weekly column written in the Cape Argus newspaper by Ridwaan Bawa. Qatar Lessons is a weekly column written in the Cape Argus newspaper by Ridwaan Bawa.
The Sealine resort and campsite is about an hour’s drive from Doha, and is a place where golden dunes meet the blue ocean, and locals and expats alike get to enjoy a taste of life in the desert.
From a Friday afternoon, after the midday prayer, until late on a Saturday night, the area pumps with the sound of Arabic music and the noise of 4x4s, dune buggies, and quad bikes criss-crossing and bashing their way across the sands. It is an exhilarating, and sometimes disorienting, experience - as I discover when my family and I join some fellow South Africans for a camp-out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
I find the idea of camping appealing. Getting in touch with nature, sleeping under the stars, escaping the concrete jungle for the great outdoors - you name the cliché, I’ve thought it.
But that’s just it - I love the idea more than the act itself. I’m a happy camper spending what little free time I have in the comfort of my own home. Not that this has stopped my wife from finding ways to get me out of the house, though.
Shihaam’s latest ploy goes something like this: “Seeing as you’re writing the column again, we need to start going out more often. No one wants to read about you sitting at home in your shorts watching Netflix.”
In my defence, I also surf Twitter, but point taken. If the sands of time are going to pass, it’ll be in the desert, and not on my couch. It helps that our trip is going to be less camping and more glamping - it’s been set up by a Doha hotel, which provides luxury tents, entertainment areas, and room service. There isn’t any wi-fi, but hey, we’re meant to be roughing it - 4G will have to do.
While the adults are happy to sip Arabic tea and coffee in the majlis (literally translated as “place of sitting”), it’s only a matter of time before the kids get wise to their surroundings. “Dad, I could drive a 4x4 out here and no one would say anything,” says Aqeel. He’s not wrong. It all seems very Mad Max-like, especially when we spot a guy spinning his car around on two wheels. There don't appear to be any rules in the desert, and definitely no traffic signals, which might explain the craziness one encounters on the Doha roads. Drivers probably forget they’re no longer in the desert.
None of the kids is getting behind the wheel of a 4x4 any time soon, but we treat them to a ride on the quad bikes - with parents following closely behind. After all, why should we miss out?
An hour of pure adrenaline-filled fun later, it’s time to head home. Despite my initial reluctance to travel outside city borders, we’ve had a great time. That said, I’m glad we’ve got the camping bug out of our systems - now we just need to get the sand out of our hair and ears. I’m looking forward to a long hot shower (sorry, Capetonians) and my own bed.
As we bundle the kids into the car, Saabirah, who turns 8 next month, smiles: “That was so much fun, I’d like to go camping for my birthday as well.”
Just deserts for me, I suppose.
* Ridwaan Bawa, a former newspaper executive editor and magazine editor, is writing a weekly column about the life and experiences of a proud South African living as an expat in Qatar. Follow him on Twitter @ridwaanbawa.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.