When I heard that for the first time I immediately turned back, but after killing a Reaper Leviathan I don’t really fear them anymore. I would go there again if there are any valuable resources.
Always stayed away from the dunes cause I just thought it was a reaper-infested biome without nothing but heat vents. After I beat the game however, I came to love the dunes. There’s so much scrap metal and big nodes, and the reapers aren’t even that bad.