Liwa

A dune of 300m with a face reaching fifty degrees. A vehicle hill climb runs each year and access is limited during it.

An enormous uninhabited desert runs away to the south. Where the road ends, nobody goes on without a guide.

Gardens follow the oasis across a hundred kilometres and beyond. A date judging festival in July sees large sums paid for a single bunch.

A hotel shaped after a fort stands among the dunes. Without staying, a booking still gets you into the restaurant and the lookout.

Vehicles work the ridges with the tyres let down to half pressure. Going in alone means getting stuck, so vehicles travel in pairs at least.

Farms raising racing camels line the road through the oasis. Their training runs early, and it can be watched from the roadside.

As the sun comes up, long shadows along the ridges bring out the texture of the sand. As the day goes on that texture disappears and photographs read flat.

A mud walled fort that guarded the oasis stands on a rise. From inside, the line between the desert and the gardens is plain.

A waxed board takes you down the face of a dune. The sand is soft, so the speed never reaches what snow gives.

With no light anywhere nearby the sky goes very dark. In winter the temperature falls under ten degrees, so a layer travels with you.

A Bedouin festival each winter in the Madinat Zayed desert north of Liwa, centred on a camel beauty contest. Judges rank the animals on lips, neckline and coat colour, and the winners carry big prize money. Date judging and a traditional market run alongside.