We had to wake up slightly earlier than usual as we had a 10am nature drive we needed to be ready for. We had breakfast at the buffet as per usual. We ended up walking to breakfast while the kids rode their bikes. My wife had given up trying to use her bike. The seat wouldn’t tighten. The handlebars were loose. The bike was inherently unstable and she was too worried she’d crash.
The kids on the other hand really wanted to use their bikes, so we let them go ahead. They were familiar enough with the resort to find their way around and by that time the staff would recognize them and redirect them to the right place if they got lost.
The resort only has about 100 villas and being an active family utilizing the facilities and amenities we naturally came into contact with a lot of the staff. Plus our family has a tendency to be memorable with two red heads and two active boys. They were as excited about their new found independence as we were. Plus they were sticking together and actually working as a team rather than fighting and working against each other as they have a tendency to do at home. Wins all around!
Nature Drive
We weren’t sure what a nature drive was going to entail when we arrived at the adventure center for our activity. We checked in and signed the required waiver. They then lead us to the open air dune buggy!
The kids were ecstatic and were even more excited when the guide said they could both sit in the front seat with him. We strapped on our seat belts and took off through the trails on the resort grounds.
There was a fair amount of dune bashing during the hour, but the guide stopped several times to let us get out for a closer look at the wildlife. The whole thing was a much different and more “authentic” experience than the desert safari we had done in Dubai, though both were fun and worthwhile in their own ways. Since the vehicle was open air, motion sickness didn’t come into play. we certainly went up and down on the dunes and even got airborne at least once.
We learned that this part of the UAE was where there was the most rainfall. It’s still a desert, but it has enough water to grow trees and bushes that wouldn’t survive in other parts of the country. The trees we saw were quite old and grew slowly due to the lack of water, but survived for over a hundred years.
The animals in the picture are Oryx and they were plentiful on the resort. We also saw some gazelles. The guide told us about how they protected themselves from the heat by digging into the sand and making shade. On top of the dunes he showed us some tracks for a snake and could identify what kind based on the tracks (we didn’t see any snakes the whole trip, though). We also saw some camel bones as the reserve used to be part of a camel farm. Fun AND educational!
After the drive we went back for a quick swim in our pool before heading to lunch.
More Bike Drama
My wife and I walked to lunch but the kids wanted to ride their bikes. They arrived long before we did and got bored waiting so they came back to meet us and make sure we were okay. It was cute.
As we got closer to the restaurant they went ahead of us again and unfortunately Tomatico took a spill on his bike. He had slowed down as a buggy headed the other way but ended up losing his balance after it passed. He got a good case of road rash on his knee and elbow but was enough of a trooper to make it to lunch.
We had lunch at the buffet which had lots of Arabian options but not much for western options other than pasta and some friend shrimp (which the kids loved). Tomatico was still in some pain from his scrapes so I took him to the lobby to see if we could get some bandages.
He drew quite a crowd of staff as there wasn’t anyone else in the lobby. Someone came with a toolbox full of first aid supplies and disinfected his wounds and put some band aids on them. He got some candies as a reward for enduring the pain.
As we exited the lobby we found that another guest had taken his bike from where he parked it!!! Not only was he wounded, but he no longer had a bike. Back in the lobby we asked if they could find it or bring another one to the room and we ended up taking a buggy back. Our youngest rode his bike back, unafraid!
The replacement bike we eventually got was too small for Tomatico. I called to see if there was a larger one available but we never got one. We gave up trying to get that sorted out. It’s a shame because at home they don’t have an opportunity to go exploring on their bikes and at the resort it as was safe and confined, yet still expansive place for them to be independent and explore while getting some exercise.
The lobby and people we talked to on the phone trying to get things sorted out seemed eager to help, but the follow through on this issue completely failed. We all looked with envy at the people that had the newer bikes (and not using them) while we were stuck with the old junkers, and calling them that is not an overstatement. None of the adult bikes we had were in good condition by any definition, especially not for an exclusive 5 star resort.
The Afternoon
We took a buggy back to the room due to the injury, though our youngest rode his bike and let himself in the room. While Tomatico rested my wife took his brother to the playground next to the kids club for a little bit where he played on the structures and then rode his bike around that area. He wasn’t going to let his brother’s injury slow down his enjoyment of his own bike, which was the only quality bike any of us had!
Once they got back the boys played in the pool on our patio (apparently Tomatico’s leg was feeling better) until it was dinner time. We planned to go back to the Farmhouse steakhouse and seafood restaurant but Tomatico wanted to go to the Arabic restaurant so we split up and my wife took him there.
Our youngest and I spent the time before our reservation riding around the various paths and even rode up the hill to the base of Wadi Tower, the biggest of the towers at the resort. It was a steep path but had worthwhile views of the deserts and some of the larger villas of the resort.
Dinner
We arrived at the restaurant about 10 minutes before our reservation and they seated us immediately. We were the only ones seated inside and only a couple groups were seated outside on the patio. The two of us had a great dinner and I tried their signature steak, a dry aged tenderloin. It was perfectly cooked and tastier than expected as that cut is usually tender, but not always very flavorful so that was a nice surprise.
My son had the salmon from the kids menu which he loved so much he had a second serving. We found the kids menu items were in many ways generic kids options, but they were prepared fresh and cooked very well. It wasn’t like they took something out of the freezer and dunked it in the fryer. It all seemed (mostly) prepared from scratch and the kids really enjoyed them.
After dinner we headed home and were exhausted from the long day and headed to bed. The next day we were planning to take the complementary shuttle to the sister beach resort which we were told was about 30 minutes away. We were looking forward to seeing how that resort compared to the desert resort.
Tomatico Travels 
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