today is the start of our weekend. we had plans to attend 'dunestock 2008' - an open air music festival featuring local western expat musicians. it is held out in the dunes on a stage which is erected facing a crescent shaped sand dune that creates an amphitheatre effect. 
BUT, unfortunately there is a bad sandstorm brewing outside so i think we will have to pass this year. i pulled some images from last year off the site to give you an idea of how high the dunes are...
there is another kind of 'singing sand dune' here in qatar and it is not the festival type! this type is a natural phenomenon that occurs about 40km outside of doha in the desert. we have yet to experience it but apparently you hear some strange low-pitched sounds; a result of friction from a thin layer of sand flowing down the leeward side of a sand dune, fed from the top by the wind. the crescent shape of the dunes amplifies the sound, and can be heard up to 10 km away! even footsteps can trigger the humming. something we will have to check out one day...
BUT, unfortunately there is a bad sandstorm brewing outside so i think we will have to pass this year. i pulled some images from last year off the site to give you an idea of how high the dunes are...
there is another kind of 'singing sand dune' here in qatar and it is not the festival type! this type is a natural phenomenon that occurs about 40km outside of doha in the desert. we have yet to experience it but apparently you hear some strange low-pitched sounds; a result of friction from a thin layer of sand flowing down the leeward side of a sand dune, fed from the top by the wind. the crescent shape of the dunes amplifies the sound, and can be heard up to 10 km away! even footsteps can trigger the humming. something we will have to check out one day...
1 comment:
Too bad you missed the show--- sounded unique. Lots of love. Mams
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