Bedouin Lifestyle Camp Brings A Glimpse Of Desert Lifestyle To Urban Dubai In DSF 2013

Visitors get an insight into desert cultures from the region and beyond with music, dance, food, handicrafts and more

A suave, polished corner of the city has been transformed into a colourful Bedouin camp during this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), bringing a bit of the hoary past of the region’s hardy and ingenious desert dwellers to modern Dubai.

Surrounded by the shiny, glass fronted skyscrapers of 5-star hotels and the futuristic architecture of the Dubai Festival City Mall, the Festival Promenade is the last place you would expect to see a camel or a Bedouin’s tent. But a corner of this modern setting, one of the main destinations of DSF 2013, is hosting the Bedouin Lifestyle Camp for the duration of the festival, giving a glimpse of the region’s heritage to visitors through decoration, food, costumes, music, dances, handicrafts, folklore and heritage.

The countries of the Arab world that have a shared heritage of desert nomads are represented at this event with their respective sections. There is a section each for Yemen, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, and the hosts UAE, as well as Kenya and India – countries surrounding the Arab region that also have desert nomads.

The area has been specially decorated to resemble a desert setting with mounds of sand surrounding the encampment. Camels can be seen tethered around the encampment, just as they would have been around an authentic Bedouin shelter. Right at the entrance is the UAE section with falconers welcoming guests, holding their magnificent birds on their arms. A group of ladies can be seen cooking traditional Emirati food and another weaving traditional cloth the way they did in their desert life. The UAE section itself reflects the country’s history in its decorations and exhibits, with the falconers, camel herders and the ladies all ready to interact warmly with visitors and explain to them the nuances of Bedouin history and traditional life in the region.

Adel Misbah, Event Planning Manager at the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), an agency of the Department of Economic Development and organizers of DSF, who was present at the venue, said: “The UAE’s culture is full of different and unique features that tourists and visitors are keen to know about. Visitors love the live performances and explanations that they can find here, such as of falconry, rather than watch these things on TV or other media. Apart from our traditional clothes and costumes and our attachment to our animals like the camel and the falcon, we also have here live stage performances of our traditional dances and music for visitors to enjoy. It shows them a glimpse of the history and heritage of the place and the continuity that transformed us into the modern, civilized place that we are today.”

Over at the Jordanian section, several indigenous handicrafts are on display of items of daily necessities as well as more decorative artefacts. The Jordanian Bedouins sit around in their section, just as they would gather in their encampment in a place like the Wadi Rum, and interact with visitors to explain their traditions and lifestyle.

Taha Al Musharafah, one of the people involved in the Jordanian section said the main feature of the Jordanian Bedouin lifestyle is the activities that men do, such as herding livestock, making the tents and hunting equipment. His colleague, Muaaz Al Maani, added: “It is the women who milk the livestock and make the cheese and Laban or yogurt from the milk. They also have ingenious ways of cooking various dishes using the limited natural ingredients available in the harsh landscape the Bedouins inhabit.”

The lifestyle of India’s desert nomads is also represented in the section dedicated to the country. Songs and dances of India’s desert people welcome visitors to the section, giving a glimpse of the heritage and culture of people of deserts outside of Arabia. Just like the other sections, the Indian one also includes handmade products as well as “Henna” artists painting beautiful patterns and designs on women’s hands.

Mohan, one of the people involved in the Indian section, said: “The lifestyle of Indian desert nomads does not differ much from the Bedouins of Arabia. It is the circumstances and the environment that people live in which makes them adopt a particular lifestyle – such as making use of the animals around them, like the camels whose natural habitat is the desert. The Indian desert nomads move from place to place in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan state in search of water. For life to go on, we have to go to a place where there are wells with fresh water. Once they dry up, we move on and trek across the sands to other wells. We don’t usually like to live in cities as they are very crowded and noisy. A desert nomad belongs on the sand dunes.”

It is this call of the desert that the Bedouin Lifestyle Camp at the Festival Promenade is seeking to explain to glitteringly urban Dubai during DSF 2013. And going by the numbers of visitors so far, the message has found resonance with many. 

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Jan 13, 2013

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