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Pete Goding

It’s possible to cycle all the way around Lake Balaton—it’s a lovely location for an active break.

You can go kayaking on Lake Tisza or join a guide to take you birdwatching among the reedbeds.

Lake Balaton is where Hungarians come to play in summer, surrounded by ‘strands’ for sunbathing and water sports, and lots of cultural attractions too.

The spa town of Hervíz, near Lake Balaton, is home to the largest thermal lake in the world that’s safe enough to swim in.

While guides like Musallam Ahmed traverse the undulating dunes with ease, driving in the desert takes practice. Tyres are semi-deflated before setting off to expand their footprint and increase the vehicles contact with the ground.

Desert guide Musallam Ahmed shields himself as sand grains are thrown into the air by desert winds. Behind him, the sun sinks towards the horizon, casting long shadows over the sand.

The thick, heavy fabric adorning the Al Hashman Bedouin tents provides much needed shelter from the elements and ensures a comfortable night’s sleep in the Rub' al Khali. Temperatures plummet at night, and fires are a regular fixture in every camp. Traditionally, Bedouins will sit in a circle sharing food and stories; tales of ancient cities and civilisations now lost beneath the sand.

The towering sand dunes encircling Bedouin campsites in the Rub' al Khali provide elevated platforms from which to watch the sun rise and set. They’re also places where viewers can’t help but be reminded how small they are on this planet and how vast, beautiful and untameable our natural environment can be. Temperatures out on these dunes can reach 51C in the summer months, dropping to 22C in winter, but if you look closely you’ll see that life, from lizards to dug beetles, survives even here.

Pointing to the town of Al Hashman in the Dhofar Governate, this lonely and solitary signpost is the last emblem of civilisation before travellers are confronted by vast swathes of sand. An in-depth knowledge of the desert is needed to traverse these giant dunes.

Alongside their herdsmen, camels roam the harsh, rocky terrain in search of their next watering hole. A camel’s hump is formed of fat and can be broken down into water and energy to help it survive the brutal desert conditions.