"Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa An hour's drive from the densely packed skyscrapers and shopping malls of Dubai , Al Maha, which opened in 1999 as the United Arab Emirates' first luxury desert resort, lies within a 55,600-acre nature reserve. Al Maha operates on the African safari model, with early morning and sunset excursions by 4x4, camel, and horseback. Linked by paved pathways to the restaurant, spa, and lobby, the resort’s 42 tented suites are spaced far enough apart from one another to feel entirely private. Decks and plunge pools provide panoramic views of sand dunes and a water hole that lures some 400 Arabian oryx, an indigenous species brought back from near extinction following 19th and 20th-century overhunting."