Full Day Fewbie Plus - Bateen LIWA - Abu Dhabi - 30 Nov 2025

[Zed]

LIWA must bring Winch Friend, @ChrisW i think you can make money during December LIWA Festival simply with a cardboard thay says "Need a Winch? Chris is here 050-xxx" 😂

Thank you @Asif Hussain bhai for the Reunion Drive before the UAE Union Day 🙏 Too bad the rest of Sweihan Boys have dispersed, but we still have memories of the drive where I brought Biryani for lunch 😅 (as we get older we eat less and more practical like pizza 😂)

Thank you @ChrisW as always. Shoveling is good when we're in Sweihan & Badayer, but when we drove 3 hrs to Liwa, 5-minutes winching allows more fun time than recovery time 👍  Especially when fixing wheel-in-the-air @Shahid Mehmood situation 🙏  Also when my LandCruiser does reverse-winching and starts pulling your Jeep instead of pulling me out, haha I just realized how heavy my car is, and now thinking of selling it 😂😂😂

Enjoy these 2 Reels of our drive:

Trickiness when going down in Liwa

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRsIaAqkrWw/?igsh=bjRzZ3Z1cHRqM3pk

 

Breath-taking view from Top:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRtMK-5CZgJ/?igsh=M29jZ2w2NXc2eTdy

 

[Zsolt]

@Asif Hussain- thank you for the wonderful drive yesterday. The landscape is clearly awesome, and now I understand what you meant about tight bowls and soft sand 🤪

Once you get there, could you pls share some of those photos you took of us while descending from the steep dunes? 🙏

thank you - have a great holiday ahead! 

[Krinesh]

Noted @ChrisW.

Thanks

[ChrisW]

Well, it’s taken a couple of days to come back to it, but that was an excellent drive for many reasons. First and foremost, thank you to @Asif Hussain for the experienced and calm leadership. I really liked the point you made in our opening brief - Liwa is nothing to be scared of, but it will test us. 
 

…and it did!

 

For many it was their first time down there - well done, everyone kept calm and put their earlier experience to work. Whilst our initial progress was problematic, once everyone had become fully accustomed to their cars, the sand and the scale, the second half flowed far better. 
 

It was great seeing you again @Zed and thank you kindly for the tailgate buffet! @Aser thanks for keeping me company down the back too!

 

Here’s a short video with some highlights of our trip:

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2025 by ChrisW

[Asif Hussain]

Trip Report – Bateen Liwa Drive

The most awaited trip to Bateen Liwa is always a thrilling experience for me, and this time was no different. A big thanks to everyone who joined the drive, you all played a part in making this adventure possible.

@Sam Selim was my second lead, giving precise corrections whenever he saw me struggling. You did an amazing job, taking every line flawlessly.

@Shahid Mehmood @nithish468
you both drove fantastically and handled all the technical and massive  dunes with confidence.

@Zsolt @Andrew John Melvill @Glenn W fantastic job, whenever i got a chance to see your moves behind, you guys took the line precisely with ease, your moves were smooth, precise, and controlled. Keep it up!

@Zed having you in the convoy is always a pleasure. As usual, you kept us entertained and smiling throughout the drive. And yes, this time you kept giving us small heart attacks every now and then while cracking your LC 😀

@Aser @ChrisW thank you for keeping a close watch at the back and ensuring no one was left behind. Fantastic job guys and giving the right directions to climb those extremely tricky soft and technical areas.

It was an awesome drive and a great display of teamwork by everyone. For those who haven’t seen the dunes of Liwa, I would describe them in one word: SCARY. But there’s nothing to fear, if you drive sensibly and understand dune formations, you can scale even the massive ones. Massive pockets appear one after another, and it’s impossible to scale the dunes without going into those massive and scary pockets. But with team work we had, we handled it beautifully Well done, everyone....

Oh yeah, how can I forget the moment of the day, when I lost my phone in the dunes of Liwa. At one point I dropped it without realizing and kept driving. After covering a good distance, I suddenly noticed my phone was missing. We searched everywhere inside the car, outside car, and tried calling it, but no luck. Even Zeddy tried locating it from his device, but the last location didn’t show up.(Sorry Zed i gave you my old email ID thats why the new device wasn't appearing)

Finally, we decided to backtrack and there it was, lying in the sand with a massive tyre print from Sam’s Rubicon on it. Luckily, it survived without a scratch and is still working fine.

Once again, Well done everyone! See you again soon!

[_luke_]

15 hours ago, Asif Hussain said:

Trip Report – Bateen Liwa Drive

The most awaited trip to Bateen Liwa is always a thrilling experience for me, and this time was no different. A big thanks to everyone who joined the drive, you all played a part in making this adventure possible.

@Sam Selim was my second lead, giving precise corrections whenever he saw me struggling. You did an amazing job, taking every line flawlessly.

@Shahid Mehmood @nithish468
you both drove fantastically and handled all the technical and massive  dunes with confidence.

@Zsolt @Andrew John Melvill @Glenn W fantastic job, whenever i got a chance to see your moves behind, you guys took the line precisely with ease, your moves were smooth, precise, and controlled. Keep it up!

@Zed having you in the convoy is always a pleasure. As usual, you kept us entertained and smiling throughout the drive. And yes, this time you kept giving us small heart attacks every now and then while cracking your LC 😀

@Aser @ChrisW thank you for keeping a close watch at the back and ensuring no one was left behind. Fantastic job guys and giving the right directions to climb those extremely tricky soft and technical areas.

It was an awesome drive and a great display of teamwork by everyone. For those who haven’t seen the dunes of Liwa, I would describe them in one word: SCARY. But there’s nothing to fear, if you drive sensibly and understand dune formations, you can scale even the massive ones. Massive pockets appear one after another, and it’s impossible to scale the dunes without going into those massive and scary pockets. But with team work we had, we handled it beautifully Well done, everyone....

Oh yeah, how can I forget the moment of the day, when I lost my phone in the dunes of Liwa. At one point I dropped it without realizing and kept driving. After covering a good distance, I suddenly noticed my phone was missing. We searched everywhere inside the car, outside car, and tried calling it, but no luck. Even Zeddy tried locating it from his device, but the last location didn’t show up.(Sorry Zed i gave you my old email ID thats why the new device wasn't appearing)

Finally, we decided to backtrack and there it was, lying in the sand with a massive tyre print from Sam’s Rubicon on it. Luckily, it survived without a scratch and is still working fine.

Once again, Well done everyone! See you again soon!

amazing work getting your phone back @Asif Hussain 👏👏👏👏👏