| What: Sandboarding in Qatar Where: From Doha in the Arabian Desert to the Persian Gulf Time: 4 hours |
Sandboarding in Qatar
Sandboarding is a hybrid board sport with elements taken from snowboarding, surfing, and skateboarding. Riders stand on boards and then drift down sand dunes. The sand is soft and powdery, so balancing is light yet challenging. Explore the desert by sandboarding in Qatar. You will be carving up swirling sprays of sand in no time!
Ancient Egyptian pharaohs invented this sport, as shown by hieroglyphics of people riding pieces of wood or pottery down dunes.
| Dune Bashing to the Sweet Spot | Finding Your Balance | Directions | Plan Your Visit |
Dune Bashing to the Sweet Spot
Many desert adventures bundle camel rides, dune bashing, sandboarding, and trips to the Inland Sea together. After a quick camel ride, a Land Cruiser goes off-roading on desert dunes to the edge of a tall hill. The guides grab the boards and we all line up to take turns riding the dunes.
Finding Your Balance
The sandboard has bindings, but no clips to hold your feet to the bindings. That is probably so you can fall off the board without breaking your ankles off. Because of this, you won’t really be carving too much. You just mount the board sideways and go straight down without wiping out for as long as possible. Once you wipe out, you will be completely covered in grains of sand.
The straighter you stand up, the faster the board goes. The more you crouch down, the slower it goes – probably. You can shift your weight to turn it a bit. You can also put a hand down on the sand to slow down. Or, just go full blast as some do, and get launched into the sand at the bottom.
The climb back up is really steep, which is why they have added a ladder in the sand. Every step you take, you slide down a bit as well. On the ladder, you don’t slide back at all. Climbing up the hill is where most of your energy is expended. In this sport, there is nothing better than being on the way down.
After sandboarding, it’s more dune bashing until we reach the Inland Sea.
Directions
| From Doha, take the red line on the Metro to Al Wakra station. A van will drive south for 30 minutes past Mesaieed’s oil refineries to the Desert Safari Camel Ride center. After an obligatory camel ride, a Land Cruiser will take you dune bashing until you reach the sandboarding site. |
Plan Your Visit
Go sandboarding in Qatar, dune bashing, camel riding, and explore the Inland Sea. Try this unique Qatari experience:
Dune Bashing in Qatar from the Arabian Desert to the Persian Gulf