Champagne and strawberries in the desert

updated 6:55 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2006

MARGHAM, United Arab Emirates - Skinny-dipping in Arabia? If it feels good, why not?

So I was swimming naked. It was broad daylight, but I figured the private infinity pool behind our private bungalow in this exclusive desert resort was private enough. No one's going to see me but my wife, and she was napping.

But I sensed a pair of eyes watching me as I floated in the pool. I looked around and quickly spotted the peeper. He was hiding in a broom bush: A young Arabian gazelle, a very rare species known for its white belly and alleged timidity. Somebody forgot to tell this one.

I clapped my hands and the gazelle sprung off in a puff of dust, loping down the peach-colored sand dune to another private bungalow below ours.

The Al Maha Desert Resort is eco-tourism, Dubai-style. Its 40 ridiculously luxurious bungalows resemble Bedouin tents, but they're stocked with pillow menus, Bulgari soaps and crystal decanters of free sherry.

They sit on the slope of an enormous dune inside a desert conservation reserve of 90 square miles — about 5 percent of the landmass of Dubai, an emirate that is also home to the city of Dubai.

Al Maha isn't the only eco-tourism option in the Emirates, just the most expensive. In the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, my wife and I also joined an overnight trek with a company called Mountain Extreme, which takes hardy souls climbing in the sun-shattered rock of the Hajjar Mountains. There are several other wilderness options in this western-oriented Arab country that has become the Middle East's epicenter of luxury tourism.

Al Maha's version of eco-tourism isn't always ecologically friendly. Its air-conditioned bungalows use lots of water and electricity. And the resort's owner, Emirates airlines, has introduced nonnative plants and more than double the animals than the desert can support, so they need to be fed.

But Al Maha is playing a key role in protecting species and desert habitat that are disappearing amid the Gulf's rapacious development.

The resort is oriented with a view over a desert valley and the undulating dunes that stretch unbroken until meeting the rocky Hajjar crags on the dusty horizon.

IF YOU GO ... AL-MAHA http://www.al-maha.com or (011) 971-4-303-4222. Nightly rates for two-person bungalows begin at $1,000; summer discounts available. Last summer, Emirates airlines' frequent flier club members were offered bungalows for $490 per couple. Stays can be exchanged for frequent flier miles. Rates include meals and private guide. WADI BIH http://www.mountain-extreme.com or (011) 971-7-204-1370. Overnight trips with guide John Falchetto, $180 per person, including food and transportation from Ras al-Khaimah. Day trips and sea-mountain trips include snorkeling and kayaking. GETTING THERE Dubai's airport is served by 110 airlines. Emirates Airlines offers two daily New York-Dubai nonstops. Al Maha is a 40-minute drive from Dubai. The resort arranges $250 airport transfers but you can get a taxi for less or rent a car. Mountain Extreme's base is just over an hour from Dubai; $55 each way from Dubai. WHEN TO GO The Gulf's steamy summers (June-September) are best avoided, but for those who can handle the heat, flights and hotels are cheaper. Al Maha is open year-round, and Mountain Extreme runs limited excursions in summer. The weather cools in October and stays nice through April. OTHER The Emirates is probably the most western of Arab countries and one of the safest. English is widely spoken. The country is home to some 15,000 Americans and welcomes tourists to its huge array of resorts. Dubai is also a top U.S. Navy shore leave destination. The country has never been hit by a terrorist attack, but the U.S. State Department urges vigilance. Alcohol is legal and accepted in Dubai. U.S. passport holders get free 60-day visitor visas at the airport.: http://www.al-maha.com or (011) 971-4-303-4222. Nightly rates for two-person bungalows begin at $1,000; summer discounts available. Last summer, Emirates airlines' frequent flier club members were offered bungalows for $490 per couple. Stays can be exchanged for frequent flier miles. Rates include meals and private guide. Source: The Associated Press

The valley, with an artificial watering hole at bottom, was the center of our attention. We watched the animals with hotel-supplied binoculars from our private deck, lounging, like the antelopes, in the total quiet of a 108-degree May afternoon. We also watched the traffic from our breakfast table in the luxurious lodge, and during our starlit dinner on the terrace, with the help of well-placed floodlights.

With a few hitches, the wildlife is thriving. The biggest success is the Arabian oryx, a big white antelope whose numbers had been poached to fewer than 50 by the 1960s. At one point, Dubai's herd was given asylum in Arizona to prevent extinction.

Al Maha's herd of 110 Arabian oryx has since swollen to more than 300, many of which can be seen munching the irrigated greenery that lends privacy to Al Maha's bungalows.

There are also three species of gorgeous springing gazelles, two desert foxes as well as the fascinating sand skink, an 8-inch lizard with porcelain-like skin. We chased one but it dove into the soft dune, causing sand to cascade like water.

“They can literally swim in the sand,” says Don Booysen, the drawling South African naturalist who was our personal guide.

Some animals and trees in Al Maha don't belong in the reserve, most notably a herd of scimitar-horned oryx, once native to Africa's Sahara, now extinct in the wild. Conservationists here are struggling to revive the herd after its numbers dropped alarmingly, from 35 to 18. Another misplaced breed is the Thomson's gazelle, a native of east Africa.

The desert's most destructive nonnative animal — the camel — has been banished from most of the resort, allowing natural greenery to return from decades of overgrazing. Camels bred for racing have denuded much of the Emirati desert, turning already barren lands into empty wastes. But well-connected sheiks keep a few herds inside the reserve against the resort's wishes.

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