Empty Quarter Dunes

North of Shisr the gravel plain runs out and the sand begins: the Rub al Khali, the largest continuous sand desert on earth, covering a great part of the Arabian peninsula, with dunes here rising to well over a hundred metres and running in long parallel ridges. Oman's share is the southeastern portion, reached most easily on this route from Dhofar. Trips out from Salalah go by four-wheel drive, usually in a pair of vehicles, with a guide, to camp among the dunes; the emptiness is the experience, along with the silence and the night sky. Wilfred Thesiger crossed this desert in the 1940s and his account is what most visitors have read.

What you actually see

• The dune ridges - long parallel sand ridges over a hundred metres high.
• The sand sea - unbroken dunes running to the horizon.
• Night sky - the stars with no light source anywhere.
• The desert edge - the transition from gravel plain to sand at Shisr.

When to go

November to February, when temperatures are survivable; from March to October the heat is extreme and dangerous. Nights in winter are cold. Trips run from Salalah and need arranging in advance.

Honest expectations

Going in without a guide, a second vehicle, recovery gear, water and satellite communication is genuinely life-threatening. There is no phone signal, water, fuel or shade. Getting a vehicle stuck in soft sand is routine. Costs for guided trips are high.

Nearby

Shisr and Ubar lie south; Salalah is beyond the mountains.