Desert Safari in May: The Emptiest Month With the Latest Light
39.6°C by day, 24.6°C after dark, the lowest humidity of the year and a camp with room in it. May is the month the season has officially ended and the evenings have not noticed yet.
- 8 min read
- Al Khatim Desert
- Runs every day
- Same price all year
May is the month everyone writes off. The winter guides stop at April, the summer guides start in June, and May sits in between being quietly one of the better evenings of the year.
It has the driest air of any month, no rain at all, the latest sunsets so far, and the emptiest camps we run outside high summer. What it also has is a 39.6°C afternoon, which is why it only works as an evening trip — and why hardly anyone books it.
The short version
The air is at its driest. About 50 per cent humidity in the city, the lowest of any month, and lower again out at Al Khatim. This is the single most underrated fact about May.
The afternoon is hot. 39.6°C. Evening-only, without exception. Pickup at three means the worst of it happens inside the vehicle.
The evening holds up. 24.6°C at the camp — warm, but the dry air makes it feel a good deal easier than the same number in August.
The light runs past seven. Sunset climbs from 6:52 to 7:06 PM. The first month of the year with a seven o’clock sunset.
Nobody is here. The quietest camps outside high summer. Same-day bookings are usually possible, weekends included.
What May actually looks like in numbers
Official Abu Dhabi climate normals, with April and June either side.
| Measure | April | May | June |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average daytime high | 35.0°C | 39.6°C | 41.4°C |
| Average overnight low | 21.1°C | 24.6°C | 26.9°C |
| Rainfall | 5.2 mm | 0.3 mm | 0.0 mm |
| Humidity, city average | ~53% | ~50%, the year’s lowest | rising |
| Sunset, 1st | 6:39 PM | 6:52 PM | 7:07 PM |
| Sunset, last day | 6:51 PM | 7:06 PM | 7:15 PM |
| How full the camp is | Thinning | Quiet | Quietest of the year |
The humidity row is the one to read twice. Most people assume the hottest months are the stickiest, and in Abu Dhabi that is true of July and August but not of May. May is hot and dry, which is a completely different experience of the same temperature.
The rainfall row closes the winter story. 0.3 mm is a rounding error. From here until October you can plan an outdoor evening without a weather app.
Hot and dry is not the same as hot and humid
A thermometer cannot tell you how a May evening feels, because half of the answer is in the air rather than the temperature.
At around 50 per cent humidity, May has the driest air of the Abu Dhabi year. Sweat evaporates, which is the entire mechanism your body uses to cool itself. At 80 per cent humidity — which the Corniche reaches in July and August — it does not, and the same reading feels considerably worse.
The practical effect at the camp: a 24.6°C May night is genuinely pleasant to sit out in, while a 30.2°C August night with humid coastal air moving inland is something you manage rather than enjoy. The gap between those two evenings is much wider than the five and a half degrees between them suggests.
It also means the desert beats the city more decisively in May than at almost any other time. Al Khatim sits about 85 km inland, away from the sea that supplies the humidity.
The quietest camps of the shoulder season
By May the winter visitors have gone home and the summer plans have not been made yet. The result is a month with genuinely good evenings and very few people in them.
| What you get | What it means at the camp |
|---|---|
| Room on the dunes | Your sunset ridge is not shared with three other groups |
| A shorter wait for everything | Camel, quad, henna, costume corner — no queue |
| More driver time | Fewer vehicles means a longer, less rushed dune session |
| Same-day availability | Including weekends, which is unusual for us |
| The same price | Our rates do not move with demand in either direction |
If you have ever read a review complaining that a camp felt like a processing line, that review was almost certainly written about a December or January weekend. It is not what May looks like.
Early May and late May are two different deserts
The first fortnight is still shoulder season after four o’clock. Evenings that settle comfortably, air that stays dry, and light that keeps stretching. It is the last stretch of the year that feels like spring.
From roughly the middle of the month, summer arrives properly. Afternoons push past 40°C, the nights stop dropping below the mid-twenties, and the first shamal wind days appear. Nothing about the trip changes — but the character of the evening does.
If your dates are flexible, the first two weeks of May are among the best-value evenings on the calendar: April conditions with June crowds.
The shamal, and what it does and does not do
The shamal is a northwesterly wind that runs through the Gulf in early summer, roughly from late May into mid-August. It lifts fine sand, softens the horizon and takes some of the sharpness out of distant ridgelines.
Two things worth being clear about. First, this is not a sandstorm season in the dramatic sense — on almost every shamal day you would describe the sky as hazy rather than anything more than that. Second, it very rarely stops a safari. Our drivers adjust the dune section when wind is moving sand across the tracks, the same judgement they use for soft sand or a slick surface after rain.
What it does affect is photography. If you are coming for sharp long-distance shots of the dunes, October to March is your window. If you are coming for the evening, May is unbothered by it.
What to wear in May
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| Light, loose, breathable clothes | 39.6°C at pickup — cotton and linen, not synthetics |
| Nothing warm at all | 24.6°C after dark; a fleece would be dead weight |
| Long trousers if you plan to ride | Camel and quad saddles are unforgiving in shorts |
| Closed shoes and socks | Sand still ends up everywhere |
| Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen | The sun is strong at three in the afternoon now |
| A scarf or shemagh | Useful on a windy late-May crest |
May is the first month of the year where you can pack for the desert without packing for the cold. More on the what to wear guide.
Morning or evening in May?
The evening, for the programme, the sunset and the shows. From AED 35 a person self-drive.
The private morning drive at AED 799 per car changes character in May. It is no longer a comfortable dawn like February — it is an early one. Start at first light, be on the sand while it is still cool, and be finished before mid-morning. Done that way it is excellent, and the dunes are entirely yours. Done casually, it is a hot morning.
What a May safari costs
There is no low-season discount, just as there is no high-season surcharge. May costs what February costs. What you get for it in May is more room.
| How you travel | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Self-drive to the camp | AED 35 | per person |
| Shared bus from Al Wahda or Mazyad Mall | AED 50 | per person |
| Hotel pickup, shared vehicle | AED 100 | per person |
| Private car, up to seven guests | AED 599 | per car |
| Private Land Cruiser | AED 800 | per car |
| Morning safari, private | AED 799 | per car |
Add-ons at the camp: quad bike AED 100 single or 150 double, VIP majlis seating AED 50 per person, long camel ride AED 300, falcon photo AED 30, extra dune bashing AED 150 per vehicle.
No deposit and no card details. You pay on arrival, cash or card, and you can cancel free up to twenty-four hours before pickup.
Who May suits, and who should pick another month
Book May if you want a good evening without the crowd; if you are booking at short notice; if you dislike humid heat and want the driest air of the year; if you want a long, late golden hour; or if you are a resident who has done the winter camps and wants the same desert with room in it.
Pick another month if you want daytime as well as evening, which ended in March; if you want cool nights, which means November through March; if you are travelling with anyone who finds a hot afternoon genuinely difficult, even briefly between hotel and vehicle; or if you want the sharpest possible photographs, which is a winter thing.
May questions we get on WhatsApp
Is May a good month for a desert safari in Abu Dhabi?
As an evening safari, yes — and it is the most underrated month on the calendar. May averages 39.6°C by day and 24.6°C at night, with effectively no rain and the lowest humidity of the year. The first fortnight still behaves like spring after four o’clock; the second half is summer.
How hot is Abu Dhabi in May?
The average daytime high is 39.6°C and the average overnight low is 24.6°C. The daytime figure is nearly five degrees up on April, which puts May firmly into evening-only territory.
Is May very humid?
No — and this surprises people. May has the lowest average humidity of the year in Abu Dhabi, around 50 per cent in the city, and the inland desert runs drier still. The muggy months are July and August, not May.
What time is sunset in May?
From about 6:52 PM on the 1st to about 7:06 PM on the 31st. May is the first month of the year where the sun is still up past seven o’clock, which pushes the whole evening later.
Does it rain in May?
Effectively never. The average is 0.3 mm for the entire month. From May to October, rain is not something you need to plan around at all.
Is May busy?
It is one of the quietest months we run. The winter visitors have gone and the summer residents have not yet made their plans. Same-day and next-day bookings are usually possible, including at weekends.
What should I wear in May?
Light, loose, breathable clothes and nothing warm. At 24.6°C the camp is comfortable in a t-shirt all evening. Sun protection matters at pickup; a layer for the cold does not.
Is there a sandstorm season in May?
Late May is when the shamal wind begins to make itself felt, and it runs into early summer. It is wind rather than a storm — it lifts fine dust, softens the horizon and can make the ridgelines hazy. It very rarely stops a safari.
Should I book May or June?
May, for comfort. They share the quiet and the late light, but May averages 39.6°C against June’s 41.4°C, and May nights are more than two degrees cooler. June buys you the latest sunset of the year and the longest days; May buys you an easier evening.
The month either side
The April guide covers the month with the best evening of the year, and June — the longest days and the latest sunset — comes next. Every package and pickup time is on the price and timings page. All twelve months are compared on the best time to go page.
Tell us your May date and we will usually have room
Send the date, the package and how many of you there are. A real person replies, usually within a few minutes. In May we can often take a booking for the same evening, weekends included.
Al Khatim Desert · Abu Dhabi | Pay on arrival · Free cancellation · No deposit