OceanAir Desert Safari is a Dubai-based desert tour experience operated by OceanAir Travels, centered on its own camp Al Khayma Camp in the Lahbab Desert and built around dune bashing, camel riding, and a themed dinner-and-entertainment evening. In 2020, its Premium Red Dunes & Camel Safari with BBQ was ranked the world’s No. 1 tourism experience in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, ahead of experiences from Florence to Amsterdam. Below is a full breakdown of the company, its camp, its packages and pricing, who it suits best, and how it compares to other Dubai desert safari providers.
OceanAir Desert Safari is Dubai’s award-winning desert tour, operated by OceanAir Travels under CEO Essam Salah and General Manager Jasem Al Shehhi. Based at Al Khayma Camp in the Lahbab Desert, roughly 45 minutes from central Dubai, it delivers dune bashing in a 4×4 Land Cruiser, camel riding, sandboarding, henna painting, falconry photo sessions, and a BBQ buffet dinner with live Tanoura, Khaliji dance, and fire show entertainment. In 2020, OceanAir’s Premium Red Dunes & Camel Safari with BBQ was named the world’s No. 1 tourism experience in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards. Packages range from a budget-friendly half-day safari to mini-group premium tiers with a 3-cuisine buffet, quad-bike add-ons, and a full overnight stargazing experience with sunrise breakfast. Whether traveling solo, as a couple, or with family, OceanAir’s shared and mini-group formats suit every group size. Book the OceanAir Desert Safari with Roar Adventure Tourism and secure your preferred date and package today.
What Is OceanAir Desert Safari
OceanAir Desert Safari is the flagship product of OceanAir Travels, a UAE-licensed tour operator that has run desert experiences in Dubai for more than a decade. The core format is consistent across most of its packages: guests are picked up from their hotel, driven roughly 45–60 minutes to the Lahbab Desert, taken on a dune-bashing ride in a 4×4 Land Cruiser, and brought to Al Khayma Camp for a mix of cultural activities, a buffet dinner, and live entertainment before being returned to their hotel.
The company also operates in Abu Dhabi under OceanAir Travels Abu Dhabi, running similar desert adventures, cultural tours, and mosque and palace visits, but the Dubai desert safari at Al Khayma Camp remains its best-known and most-reviewed product.
OceanAir Owner and Company Details
OceanAir Travels was co-founded by Essam Salah, who serves as the company’s Co-Founder and CEO. Jasem Al Shehhi holds the role of General Manager and has spoken publicly about the company’s plans to expand into additional safari projects and heritage-dining concepts, with a stated focus on sustainable tourism and environmental preservation in its desert operations.
The company is registered in the UAE as a tour and travel operator (also referenced under the name Ocean Air Travel and Tourism LLC in some booking platform listings), with a Dubai head office and a presence in Abu Dhabi. It distributes its tours through its own website as well as third-party travel platforms, which is why prices and package names for the same tour can appear slightly differently depending on where a listing is found.
Which Desert Safari Camp OceanAir Uses
OceanAir runs its desert programs out of Al Khayma Camp, a dedicated desert camp built to host large volumes of guests while still delivering a themed, Bedouin-style atmosphere. “Al Khayma” translates roughly to “the tent,” reflecting the camp’s design around traditional tent structures, low seating areas, and an open-air stage used for evening performances.
Al Khayma Camp is set up to support OceanAir’s tiered package structure from large shared-group setups for standard safaris to smaller, more private table arrangements for premium and mini-group packages. The camp includes a dining area for buffet service, a stage for entertainment, animal stations for camel rides and falconry photos, and a lounge-style seating zone for shisha and Arabic coffee service.
Al Khayma Desert Safari Camp Location
Al Khayma Camp sits in the Lahbab Desert, sometimes spelled “Lehbab,” an area of red-sand dunes located roughly 45 minutes to an hour outside central Dubai. Lahbab is one of the more established desert-tourism zones near Dubai, chosen by multiple operators for its accessible dune terrain, making it a common backdrop for dune-bashing routes across the wider Dubai desert safari industry, not exclusive to OceanAir alone.
Hotel pickup is typically offered across Dubai, Sharjah-adjacent areas, and sometimes Dubai International Airport terminals for guests arriving on the day of their tour, though pickup coverage can vary by the specific package booked.
OceanAir Desert Safari Packages
OceanAir’s product range spans budget-friendly shared tours through to overnight camping experiences. The main package types include:
- Half-Day Desert Safari a shorter morning or afternoon option (around 4 hours) with dune bashing, camel riding, sandboarding, and refreshments, with an optional quad bike add-on
- Shared Red Dunes & BBQ Lunch a daytime, shared-group safari with a lunch buffet
- Shared Red Dunes & Arabian Cuisine Dinner (Premium Red Dunes & Camel Safari with BBQ) the flagship evening package, and the one that won the 2020 TripAdvisor award
- Shared Red Dunes & Quad Bike with BBQ the standard evening format with a 35-minute quad bike ride added
- Premium Safari, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp (3-Buffet option) a smaller mini-group package (limited to around 6 guests) with three separate buffet cuisines: Emirati, Moroccan, and Arabian
- Quad Bike Safari, Camels & BBQ Dinner a mini-group package built around a longer quad-biking segment
- Overnight Desert Safari with Stargazing a 15–17 hour experience including dinner, an overnight stay in the desert camp, stargazing, and a sunrise breakfast
OceanAir Desert Safari Package Prices
Prices vary by season, currency, booking platform, and promotional discounts, but typical per-adult pricing bands look like this:
| Package | Duration | Group Type | Typical Price (per adult) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Day Desert Safari | ~4 hours | Shared | ~$35–47 |
| Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp | ~7 hours | Shared/Group | From ~$70 |
| Shared Red Dunes & BBQ Lunch | 7 hours | Shared | ~AED 320–350 |
| Shared Red Dunes & Arabian Cuisine Dinner (flagship) | 7 hours | Shared | ~$115–130 |
| Shared Red Dunes & 35-Min Quad Bike with BBQ | 7 hours | Shared | ~$170 |
| Premium Safari, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp (3-Buffet) | 7 hours | Mini-group (6 guests) | ~$145–170 |
| Quad Bike Safari, Camels & BBQ Dinner | 7 hours | Mini-group (6 guests) | ~$139 |
| Overnight Desert Safari with Stargazing | 15–17.5 hours | Shared | ~$180–240 |
As a general reference point, independent travel guides list OceanAir’s overall Dubai package range at roughly AED 323–462, with lower-cost half-day options and OTA promotional discounts pushing entry pricing below that band at times.
Activities Included at Al Khayma Camp by Oceanair
Across its various packages, OceanAir builds its desert program around the following core activities and inclusions:
- Dune bashing a 30–45 minute off-road ride over the dunes in a 4×4 Land Cruiser
- Sandboarding sliding down dune faces on a board
- Camel riding a guided ride around the camp grounds
- Falconry photo opportunity posing with a falcon in traditional Arab dress
- Henna painting
- Traditional costume photos
- Shisha
- Arabic coffee (gahwa) and dates on arrival
- BBQ buffet dinner or lunch, with some packages offering a 3-cuisine buffet spread (Emirati, Moroccan, Arabian)
- Live entertainment Tanoura dance, Khaliji dance, traditional Yola dance, live Emirati folk music, and a fire show
- Quad biking available as a standalone add-on or bundled into specific package tiers
- Overnight camping with stargazing and sunrise breakfast exclusive to the overnight package
Quad biking is not included by default in the standard or premium evening packages it’s sold as an upgrade or bundled specifically into the quad-bike-named packages.
Who OceanAir Desert Safari Is Best For
- First-time Dubai visitors wanting a single, well-rounded introduction to dune bashing, Bedouin-style dining, and desert entertainment
- Budget-conscious travelers the half-day and standard shared packages offer one of the lower entry price points among award-recognized operators
- Groups and families shared packages are built to handle larger volumes without sacrificing the core activity list
- Small groups wanting more privacy the mini-group packages (capped around 6 guests) suit couples or small families who want a quieter dining setup without paying for a fully private tour
- Travelers wanting a longer, immersive experience the overnight stargazing package suits guests who want more than a single evening in the desert
- Photography-focused travelers falconry photo ops and costume photography are built into most packages
OceanAir Desert Safari Reviews
OceanAir’s reputation is strongest at the top end: its Premium Red Dunes & Camel Safari with BBQ was named the world’s best tourism experience in TripAdvisor’s 2020 Travellers’ Choice Awards, based on aggregated traveler ratings across TripAdvisor and its subsidiary Viator over a 12-month period. That same package and its variants continue to show strong review volume on booking platforms some listings show ratings around 9.8 out of 10 (“Exceptional”) with review counts well into the thousands, and bestseller-tagged packages carrying perfect or near-perfect average scores.
That said, review sentiment isn’t universally flawless. More recent, independently posted reviews on platforms like Trustpilot show some friction points, most commonly centered on pickup-point coordination guests reporting that their confirmed pickup location wasn’t honored on the first attempt, requiring follow-up to resolve. In the cases visible publicly, the issue was eventually corrected in the guest’s favor, but it’s a reasonable expectation-setting point: confirm your exact pickup address and time window in writing ahead of your tour date.
Taken together, the review picture is a company with genuine, independently verified peak performance (the TripAdvisor global #1 ranking is not a self-issued claim) alongside the kind of occasional logistics friction that’s common across high-volume, multi-package desert safari operators.
Oceanair’s Al Khayma Camp Photos
Al Khayma Camp is designed around traditional Bedouin visual cues rather than a modern resort look. Expect low, tent-covered dining pavilions with cushioned floor seating, warm lantern-style lighting once the sun sets, an open stage area used for the evening’s dance and fire performances, and a separate animal area for camel rides and falcon photo sessions. Buffet stations are typically arranged along one side of the dining tent, with live cooking stations for some of the higher-tier packages. The overall atmosphere leans toward communal, high-energy evenings for the shared packages, and a calmer, more intimate table setup for the mini-group and overnight options.
OceanAir vs Rayna Tours vs Royal Vision vs Other Desert Safari Camps
All major Dubai desert safari operators follow a broadly similar formula dune bashing, camp activities, buffet dinner, entertainment but they differ in camp ownership, group format, and price positioning.
| Operator | Camp | Founded | Group Format | Entry Price (per adult) | Standout Feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OceanAir Travels | Al Khayma Camp, Lahbab | Operating over a decade | Shared + mini-group (6 guests) options | ~$35–47 (half-day) | TripAdvisor’s 2020 World’s Best Tourism Experience |
| Rayna Tours | Rayna Desert Camp, Al Aweer | 2006 | Standard, premium, and VIP air-conditioned Majlis tiers | ~AED 175 (~$47) | Widest package/combo variety (city tour, dhow cruise, Global Village combos) |
| Royal Vision Tourism | 3 owned camps (Bedouin-style, family comfort, luxury) | 2006 | Standard, VIP Hummer, sunrise-only options | ~$65 | Owns and runs three distinct camp styles for different guest preferences |
| Other premium operators (e.g., luxury Range Rover-based tours) | Private/exclusive camps | Varies | Private, small-group only | AED 595 and up | Six-course dining, private guide, higher-end vehicles |
| Independent/budget guides | Shared Lahbab-area camps | Varies | Small shared groups | ~$39 | Lowest price point, more informal format |
Comparing Packages, Prices & Inclusions in Detail
| Feature | OceanAir | Rayna Tours | Royal Vision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard evening package price | ~$115–130 | ~AED 175–250 | ~$65 |
| Premium/mini-group tier available | Yes (6-guest cap, 3-buffet) | Yes (Premium + VIP Majlis) | Yes (VIP Hummer) |
| Overnight safari offered | Yes (stargazing + sunrise) | Yes (sleeping bags, sunrise breakfast) | Not a core listed package |
| Quad biking | Add-on or bundled package | Add-on (150CC, 20-min) | Not standard |
| Air-conditioned VIP seating | Not specifically marketed | Yes (VIP Majlis) | Not specifically marketed |
| Falconry photo op | Yes | Not specifically marketed | Some listings include it |
| 3-cuisine buffet option | Yes (Emirati, Moroccan, Arabian) | Not specifically marketed | Not specifically marketed |
| Independently verified award | TripAdvisor #1 World’s Best Experience (2020) | Not specifically documented | Marketing claims “most awarded,” not independently sourced here |
The practical takeaway: OceanAir and Rayna sit in a similar mid-market price band with comparable inclusions, while Royal Vision positions itself around variety of camp style rather than a single flagship product, and true luxury operators charge several multiples more for private vehicles and six-course dining.
Oceanair’s Group vs Shared Bookings
Understanding this distinction matters more than the marketing names suggest:
- Shared bookings place you in a larger group vehicle and a shared dining/entertainment setup with other travelers booked on the same time slot. This is the most common and most affordable format it’s how OceanAir’s standard and quad-bike evening packages, and most competitors’ entry-level packages, operate.
- Mini-group bookings cap the number of guests sharing a table or vehicle (commonly around 6 people), giving a more personal experience without the cost of a fully private tour. OceanAir’s 3-buffet Premium package and quad-bike package use this format.
- Private/group bookings (in the sense of booking out a vehicle or table exclusively for your own party) are usually reserved for corporate groups, larger families, or premium-tier packages, and carry a proportionally higher price since the operator isn’t filling the remaining seats with other travelers.
If your priority is price, shared is the most economical route. If your priority is a quieter, more personal camp experience without paying full private rates, the mini-group tier is the middle ground worth requesting specifically when booking.
Booking Logistics and What to Expect on the Day
Most OceanAir packages follow a similar day-of structure regardless of which tier you choose. Pickup times are generally scheduled in the early-to-mid afternoon for evening packages (commonly between 2:00 PM and 3:30 PM), giving enough buffer time for the drive to Lahbab, a stop for dune bashing, and arrival at Al Khayma Camp before sunset timed intentionally so guests catch the golden-hour light during the drive and the first part of the camp program.
For half-day and morning packages, pickup tends to fall in the morning window, with guests returned to their hotel by early-to-mid afternoon. The overnight package runs on an extended clock: afternoon pickup, a full evening program, overnight camping, and a morning drop-off after breakfast and sunrise viewing the next day.
A few practical points worth confirming at the time of booking, based on common questions from past guests:
- Confirm your exact pickup address and time window in writing. As noted in the reviews section, pickup coordination is the most common point of friction across high-volume operators, OceanAir included. A written confirmation reduces the chance of a mismatch on the day.
- Ask which entertainment acts are scheduled for your specific date. Belly dance, Tanoura, and fire shows often rotate, so if a specific performance matters to you, it’s worth asking in advance rather than assuming every act runs every night.
- Clarify what’s included vs. paid on-site. Quad biking, certain premium buffet upgrades, and some photography add-ons are handled differently depending on the exact package name, so matching the listing description to what you actually want avoids surprises at the camp.
- Dress for temperature swings. Desert evenings cool down quickly after sunset even during warmer months, so a light layer is worth bringing even if the daytime temperature feels warm at pickup.
How to Choose the Right OceanAir Package
With eight-plus package variations available, the decision usually comes down to three questions:
- How much time do you want to spend? If you’re short on time or traveling with young children who tire quickly, the half-day option covers the core activities (dune bashing, camel ride, sandboarding) without the full evening commitment. If you want the complete cultural program dinner, dance shows, fire show you’ll want one of the 7-hour evening packages.
- Do you want a bigger, livelier group atmosphere or a quieter table? Shared packages put you among a larger crowd, which tends to make the entertainment portion feel more like a lively communal event. The mini-group packages (capped around six guests) trade some of that energy for a calmer, more personal dining setup a better fit for couples, anniversaries, or families who prefer not to share a table with strangers.
- Do you want to stay overnight? Nothing captures the desert’s night sky and stillness quite like the overnight package. It’s a meaningfully different experience from the evening-only packages less about entertainment volume, more about the quiet, immersive side of desert travel so it suits a different kind of traveler than someone looking for a single lively night out.
Once you’ve answered those three questions, the price table earlier in this guide should narrow your choice down to one or two realistic options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OceanAir a legitimate desert safari operator? Yes. It’s a UAE-licensed tour operator with over a decade of operating history, and its flagship package was independently ranked the world’s top tourism experience by TripAdvisor in 2020.
Where does OceanAir’s desert safari take place? At Al Khayma Camp in the Lahbab Desert, roughly 45–60 minutes from central Dubai.
How much does OceanAir desert safari cost? Pricing ranges from roughly $35 for a half-day shared safari up to around $240 for the overnight stargazing package, with most standard evening packages falling between $70–170 depending on inclusions.
Does OceanAir desert safari include quad biking? Not by default in the standard or premium packages it’s available as a paid add-on or bundled into specific quad-bike-named packages.
What’s the difference between OceanAir’s shared and mini-group packages? Shared packages seat you alongside other travelers in a larger group setting. Mini-group packages cap attendance around 6 guests for a more personal dining and vehicle experience at a moderate price increase.
How does OceanAir compare to Rayna Tours and Royal Vision? All three offer a similar core format dune bashing, camp activities, buffet dinner, entertainment at comparable mid-market pricing. OceanAir’s main differentiator is its independently verified 2020 TripAdvisor global award; Rayna offers the widest combo-package variety; Royal Vision operates three distinct camp styles under one company.
Is OceanAir desert safari good for families? Yes its shared and mini-group packages both include family-friendly activities like camel riding, sandboarding, and costume photos, and the buffet format accommodates a range of dietary preferences.
Book Your OceanAir Desert Safari Today
If everything above sounds like the experience you want an internationally recognized desert safari, a choice of shared or smaller mini-group formats, and a full evening of dune bashing, dining, and live entertainment at Al Khayma Camp the next step is booking your date.
Book the OceanAir Desert Safari with Roar Adventure Tourism today to secure your hotel pickup, package tier, and preferred time slot.
