Words + Photos By: Marina Bruce
As Karen stood by the side of the road she gave a huge sigh of relief when a locally owned pickup stopped to offer assistance.
“My friends are in the desert, they need help to get out; I can’t go back in as I have no fuel.”
“No, no, desert dangerous, don’t go desert.”
“But my three habibi, inside desert now.”
The drover, an older Bedouin farmer must have been convinced he had met the mad woman of Liwa, clearly hadn’t understood the problem and replied, “Desert dangerous, Khalas,” and drove off.
Thankfully, the next vehicle to stop was a young local man who spoke excellent English and was able to drive her to the nearest gas station. In the meantime, her friends were able to drive off the desert under their own steam, but it would have been useful to have an off-road specific phrasebook to hand! (You can read full details of an eventful trip on The Desert Diva’s blog – Epic Liwa: Blood, Sweat and Tears)
We are lucky in the UAE that in most towns and cities, almost everyone can speak English. However, once you venture off the beaten track to areas such as the west of Liwa, this is not always the case and most phrasebooks don’t cover many of the topics vital for adventurers. We hope you’ll never need these, but just in case, here are some phrases which you may find useful:
