Our tour guide and the nomad family were very nice which is the only reason it earned the extra star. Why I only gave 2 stars on this trip?… The tour guide picked us up on time from our hotel where we began our 7 hour drive. The SUV vehicle only had seatbelts for the driver, passengers had no usable seatbelts to use. The vehicle had no AC, but that’s ok, it was in the 70’s outside. We stopped at a rest stop restaurant on the way and ate some food, which had a long black hair inside, but not the fault of the tour.
We didn’t stop much during the long drive, it would have been nice if the tour guide offer some sight seeing on the way like other similar trips offer. Once we made it to our destination we went for the camel ride, but it was very short. They take you about 150m through the sand dune to take photos then ride back.
The primary reason for 2 stars:
The Nomad family was very dirty; let me explain. They have small stoves to cook homemade noodles with beef and carrots inside, however, it’s extremely unsanitary. They burn horse poop in the stoves, but that’s ok. The problem is they use their hands to put the horse poop in the stove, then they continue cooking your meal and going on their day without ever washing hands or using hand sanitizer. There is no soap, hand sanitizer, or hot water on the entire farm. If you want hot water they need to boil it for you on the stove. They offered fermented horse milk to drink as a nice gesture, but the bowl was littered with flies inside and they don’t mind. They share dishes among us and each other without washing them (even with covid), so if anyone gets sick there is a high chance of it spreading to many tourists. This can be a major inconvenience if you test positive for covid on your return trip home.
There is no toilet. There is an outhouse to poop in, but it’s the traditional kind you have to squat over. You’ll need to bring your own tp wipes.
No showers or sinks to clean up, so think of this trip like camping.
The beds were pretty hard, but comfortable considering they were covered in a layer wool and blankets. The wool blankets were warm at night when the fire went out which was nice.
The following morning we were not offered breakfast, but instead the leftover dinner from the day before that was left out all night for the bugs to get to…
On the drive home we never stopped at a horseman’s family or even seen horses other than passing by on the highway. We stopped at the same rest stop as the way there to use the bathroom then continued all the way back to the hotel.
Overall the trip was more like camping and it wouldn’t have been half bad if they explained that in the description so we could properly prepare. The trip was also significantly overpriced for what was offered compared to the other trips like this one, yet the other similar trips have shower rooms, sinks to clean up, and soap etc… I recommend look elsewhere for similar trips that offer better commendations considering they are roughly the same price. This tour is very, very traditional. So if this is what you’re looking for choose this trip and bring hand sanitizer.
