10 of the greatest desert adventures on Earth

Deserts, like imaginations, are where the most bizarre things take shape. In deserts far from human habitation I have pressed my nose to the window of a high-end fashion store, stroked the flank of a wild snow leopard and met a little girl called Rebequita who died of cholera in 1912.

None of these experiences was a mirage or hallucination (explanations to follow). The point is that deserts are uplifting environments of light, space and possibility - all the things we crave in these crabby midwinter days. 

Desert tourism is blooming like deserts in spring, with ever more destinations, itineraries and activities available from tour operators (see the list below). They owe their popularity not merely to the promise of heat and light - and goodness knows, we suffer from a chronic lack of both at this time of year - but to their infinite variety.

Beyond the cliché of sand, rock and grit that has made deserts a byword for desolation there are mountains, valleys and oases, settlements both long abandoned and thoroughly modern, fascinating societies and much rare wildlife. 

You can rough it or do it in extreme style; not lift a finger (except to swat a fly) or push yourself till you drop, like John Mills in Ice Cold in Alex. In fact there is scarcely an interest or whim that a desert doesn’t cater for (and that includes shopping - there are plenty of local markets).

And because the experience of being there is so out of the ordinary - only polar wastes (which are technically deserts in any case), ocean floors and mountain peaks match deserts for sheer otherworldliness - deserts suit people who like to bank bright memories for greyer times. 

Driving through the Namib Desert in south-western Namibia in 2013 I stopped to watch the sun go down and have a sundowner (just the one) from the coolbox in the back. Huddling through English Februaries, I think of that moment. As the sun dropped and shadows lengthened, the yellow grasses, orange sand and pink mountains changed colour before my eyes to a palette of mauves and indigos. It was a spectacle both breathtaking and serene, and it keeps me going, even now.

Considering the desert environment is pretty hostile to human existence - searing sun, minimal shade, lack of water and icy nights - we have found many and ingenious ways to experience them. In the Gobi Desert in Mongolia in 2010 I was amazed to run into a team of madcap British balloonists who were there for no better reason than that nobody had thought to balloon there before. Now ballooning in the Gobi is a holiday option (admittedly niche but available nevertheless). 

In deserts we glamp, rough-camp, sandboard, stargaze, hike, ride quadbikes, ride camels, watch wildlife, toast the going down of the sun and stage festivals of cheerful abandon (see “Five desert festivals”, below). But for me the activity that most reliably embodies the spirit of the desert is meeting the people who live there, eking existence from very little. 

In the Gobi I have shared fermented mare’s milk (not great, admittedly) and freshly killed goat with amused nomadic herders in their portable, circular, felt huts known as gers. In the Arabian Desert in Jordan it was thick, sweet coffee with chain-smoking Bedouin, in the Atacama Desert in Chile, coca tea with an Atacameño Indian concerned for the altitude sickness I was feeling. In each case it was an opportunity for a rare meeting of cultures that left me thoughtful as well as thirst-quenched.   

For Wilfred Thesiger, desert adventurer and author of Arabian Sands, these arid expanses that between them cover nearly a third of the earth’s land surface delivered a spiritual uplift. They were, he wrote, “where differences of race and colour, of wealth and social standing, are almost meaningless; where coverings of pretence are stripped away and basic truths emerge.” 

He was known for his epic crossings of the so-called Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert but luckily we don’t have to go the full Thesiger to experience at least something of what he felt. A few days (with a wide-brimmed hat, high-factor sun block and plenty of drinking water) should do the trick.

So, finally, to explain those apparently outlandish claims for deserts I made at the beginning: the fashion store is a Prada and it’s located by the side of a road in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert in West Texas. It’s real - stocked with Prada shoes and handbags from the autumn 2005 collection - yet not real. You can’t actually enter it and buy anything as it’s a “site specific” artwork, intended to shock and amaze by its bizarre location.

The snow leopard was real. She had just been shot with an anaesthetic dart by a Swedish conservation biologist in the Tost Mountains of the Gobi Desert so he could fit her with a GPS collar. “Go on, you can stroke her,” he said. (Since my experience the tour operator Panoramic Journeys has started offering an itinerary that includes the snow leopard conservation project in the Tost Mountains - see below.)  

Rebequita was - and is - real too. Wearing a blue dress she lies in a cemetery that served a now abandoned nitrate mining town in the Atacama. My guide (who was behaving, incidentally, with respect) removed the wooden top of her grave to reveal a body so perfectly preserved by the dry desert climate that she looked as if she were simply asleep. Deserts are miraculous like that.

1. Gobi

Asia’s biggest desert, covering northern China and southern Mongolia (where most visitors go), may have plenty of sand and gravel but there are also mountains and evergreen forest and a dune system, Khongoryn Els, as long and high as a range of hills. A place known as the Flaming Cliffs is an important site of dinosaur fossils (though it’s illegal to remove them).

The select (4 people) 16-day Snow Leopard tour (visiting the snow leopard research camp in the the Mongolian Gobi) with Panoramic Journeys (01608 676 821; panoramicjourneys.com) costs from £5,980 with internal flights. International flights extra. Departs April 7, 2019.

2. Sahara

This is the world’s biggest desert (not counting the Arctic and Antarctica), occupying much of North Africa including Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria. Awesomely empty and hot as it is, humans have left their mark here over millennia - typical itineraries take in petroglyphs, Classical ruins, ancient villages and gloriously atmospheric oasis towns as well as the endless sandscapes.  

The 15-day Algeria: Crossroads of the Maghreb tour from Wild Frontiers (020 3918 4631; wildfrontierstravel.com) ventures down into the ocean of dunes known as the Grand Erg Occidental. It costs from £3,595 and is fully inclusive bar international flights. Departures in Oct 2018 and April and Oct 2019.

3. Kalahari

Spreading across parts of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, the Kalahari enjoys an annual rainfall that sustains a great variety of plants and animals. After the rains the vast Makgadikgadi Salt Pan is a superb place to see wildebeest and zebra, the predators that follow them, and migratory birds.

The 13-night Wildlife and Wilderness of Botswana tour from Exodus (020 3131 0704; exodus.co.uk) visits the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan. It costs from £3,129 including flights, tented accommodation, most meals and transport. Regular departures this year till Nov 10. 

4. Namib

This is the desert that provides the visual shorthand for all deserts - the windsculpted, apricot-coloured dunes of Sossusvlei that you can hike on as if they were downs. Spreading inland from the Atlantic coast across Namibia, this ocean of grit and sand is a popular driving destination, with the gravel roads flying like arrows to far horizons. Half way round the circuit from Windhoek, the coastal resort of Swakopmund is a slice of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany.

The 14-night Namibian Explorer tour from Kuoni (0800 540  4263; kuoni.co.uk) costs from £3,382 with a/c transport, lodge and hotel accommodation and some meals. Flights extra. Departures April-Dec.

5. Atacama

No that wasn’t a mirage - pink flamingoes really did just fly overhead. They live on the salt flats and lakes of this desert in northern Chile renowned as the driest place on earth. The chi-chi frontier town of San Pedro de Atacama makes a fabulous base for exploring natural phenomena that also include the El Tatio geysers and the geological freakshow that is the Valley of the Moon.

The 14-night Peru, Bolivia & Chile tour from Tucan Travel (0800 804 8435; tucantravel.com) visits San Pedro and the Atacama. It costs from £2,015 including domestic flights, travel on public transport and some meals. International flights extra. Weekly departures.

6. Thar

Lying mostly within the Indian state of Rajasthan, the Thar is a patchwork of sand dunes, hills and gravel plains that sustains not just wildlife but a sizeable human population. There are camel and 4X4 safaris, sunset dinners and longer excursions from the main desert towns of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur, which are among the most enchanting places on the Subcontinent.

The 15-night private Deserts & Forts tour from Cox and Kings (020 3811 0516; coxandkings.co.uk) costs from £4,915 with all flights, private transfers, guides, breakfast, and lunch and dinner on 2 days. Flexible departures.

7. Arabian

This vast wilderness, where (to quote Lawrence of Arabia) the heat comes out “like a drawn sword”, blankets the Arabian Peninsula from Syria in the north to Yemen in the south. In the centre is the ocean of dunes known as the Empty Quarter, one of the most forbidding tracts of wilderness in the world, where camping under the stars provides the ultimate desert experience.

The 10-night Oman Desert Adventure from Wild Frontiers (020 3930 4622; wildfrontierstravel.com) ventures into the Empty Quarter. It costs from £2,590, fully inclusive bar flights. Departures from Oct 2018 to Dec 2019.

8. Wadi Rum

This valley complex in southern Jordan is a mere fragment of the Arabian Desert - but what a fragment: multicoloured sands, rampart-like rock formations, narrow canyons and vistas that seem to shape-shift with the arc of the sun. The Bedouin who live here run some outstanding tented camps and offer Jeep tours, camel and horse riding and trekking.

The 7-night Totally Jordan tour with On the Go Tours (020 7371 1113; onthegotours.com) includes camping under the stars and a 4X4 safari at Wadi Rum. It costs from £1,130 with a/c transport, airport transfers, breakfast and 2 dinners. Flights extra.

9. Sonoran 

There are any number of desertscapes in the US but the Sonoran, with its characteristic, cartoon-like Saguaro cacti and late summer hummingbird influx, is particularly captivating. The desert takes its name from the Mexican state of Sonora and stretches up into Arizona and California. It is at its most accessible around Tucson, site of the Saguaro National Park and the excellent Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (desertmuseum.org), which has a hummingbird aviary.

The 11-night self-drive Southwestern Desert Adventure from Bon Voyage (0800 316 3012; bon-voyage.co.uk) takes in Tucson and Saguaro National Park. It costs from  £1,625 with flights, car hire and accommodation. 

10. Australia’s Red Centre

Uluru, the red plateau that rises from the fiery plain of the central Outback, is the physical and spiritual heart of Australia. It is part of an ancient desert landscape that is sacred as well as physical. Tours with local guides enable visitors to experience it through the people who have always lived here.

The Wallaby Dreaming Red Centre Safari with Discover the World (01737 888208; discover-the-world.co.uk) costs from £632 for 3 nights (starting and finishing in Alice Springs), with all meals, and accommodation in permanent tents. Flights excluded. Departs year-round.

Unless stated otherwise the tours mentioned are escorted.

Five of the best desert festivals 

1. The Nowhere Festival, Spain

Held annually in the Monegros Desert in Aragon, this attracts a large Brit contingent. Based on the principles of the Burning Man in Nevada (see below), it is organised by the participants and encourages self-reliance (you’re responsible for your own food, water and shelter) and self-expression. Expect workshops, performance art, installations, lightshows, basic amenities and behaviour that would shock your grandmother.

 3-8 July, goingnowhere.org

2. Henley-on-Todd Regatta, Australia 

This cheerful Aussie spoof of pukkah English sporting events features an annual “boat race” held in the dry bed of the Todd River in the Outback town of Alice Springs. The first race was in 1962 and it has been cancelled only once - in 1993 when the Todd River had water in it. The race is preceded by a parade of teams with their boats - anything from bathtubs to homemade “racing yachts” - which are then carried along the course of the regatta. The point is to raise money for charity but a ripper time is had along the way.

August 18, henleyontodd.com.au

3. Pushkar Camel Fair, India

This vast and colourful gathering near the holy town of Pushkar, some 100 miles south-west of Jaipur in Rajasthan, is one of India’s most riveting festivals. Hindu pilgrims come to immerse themselves at the ghats on Pushkar Lake, livestock owners to trade their camels (principally), horses and cattle, and everyone else, including increasing number of tourists both domestic and foreign, to observe and enjoy the ensuing mêlée. Amid the religious rituals, rural sports, dancing and music, it’s the camels who steal the show as their owners prettify and parade them to attract the best prices.

Nov 15-23

4. Burning Man, USA 

Long a fixture on the calendar of alternative happenings, the Burning Man is held on a site in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. For the week-long festival an entire arc-shaped “city” springs up in the desert and is dismantled afterwards, with organisers pledging to leave no trace behind. The event culminates in the ritual burning of a giant human effigy and is run on a non-profit basis with no advertising, commercial activities or cash transactions permitted. Instead people are encouraged to live and express themselves communally and artistically. The result is a cheerful insanity that attracts high-achieving hipsters as much as unreconstructed hippies.

Aug 26-Sept 3, burningman.org

5. International Festival of the Sahara, Tunisia

Douz, an oasis town on the edge of the Sahara, is the setting for another desert festival that owes its existence to camel trading. These days the camels still feature - in races and even bouts of wrestling - but the four-day event has evolved into a general celebration of Bedouin culture and desert life, with music and dance, poetry workshops and traditional food. Up to 50,000 people attend including Western tourists.

December (dates to be confirmed)