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Its that time when I recall the drive and try to live it again with my words. The drives so far have been so exciting that I do not need to think and type, this week was no different... Here goes... So I misunderstood the meeting point, but more or less I reached on time, thanks to @Gaurav bhai who did not sleep to wake me up on time. My alarm did not work as well as a call from a brother who loves and cares so much about me. Once at the deflation point, besides the usual suspects we had a smiling and enthusiastic personality with us in @Atif bhai and his faithful Prado. After deflation and a briefing from Gaurav Bhai we started our ride Heading to Big Red, @Gaurav bhai was the first one to reach the top, @Asif Hussain was the next to try and could not reach the top from the front face. Next was @Atif bhai who made it to the top, I was surprised later when I saw he reached the top with his traction control still on. @skumar83 was also on top along with @baselsm83 , leaving me with the same fate as Asif Bhai. As usual I took the cheat route with Asif Bhai to reach the top after a couple of difficult crossings. This is where I realized that Atif bhai's traction was on and turning it off gave him a better feel for the rest of the drive. Every one drove well and @Gaurav bhai chose the best possible terrain with @Atif bhai as it was his first time with us. A couple of refusals from @Atif bhai but remarkably he was able to get himself out of the sticky situations every time. At one particular situation he was able to slowly and with a lot of patience and an absolutely sound technique crawled himself out of some very long soft patch. As we headed from Big Red to Pink Rocks we had an amazing time. Upon reaching the top behind Pink Rocks we opened our coolers for some cold drinks and the croissants I got went along so well with the cutlets Asif bhai got.. Time for a surprise and a twist, Gaurav bhai wanted me to take lead and I just wanted a little more excitement due to last week Faqa drive. So after crossing Pink Rocks I saw some huge awesome dunes and somehow got pulled towards them. Once on top of one I found some virgin dunes and before I knew it we were slipping, sliding and making our way trough those awesome set of dunes. At this point Gaurav Bhai pointed out that we were heading back to the Big Red. I slightly adjusted my route as I wanted to depart at Tawi Nizwa. After a good 45 minutes where we had even forgotten how hot it was getting we could see Tawi Nizwa shops in front of our eyes, to our surprise though we were going to be faced with the first real challenge for the day. There was now a fence and a road running through where we never expected the same. As we tried to find a break in the fence, Asif Bhai was teh one to find it, we headed in the direction of the main road which was blocked, so we turned around and drove for about 7 kilometers before we headed left to connect with the road heading to the Tawi Nizwa shops. An inflation with a nice chat meant it was time to say Good Bye until next time. Thanks to @Atif bhai for sponsoring the inflation. over all an exciting day out with the best possible people, good food and great company. Thank you to all participants for the amazing time, loved every minute. Check the Gallery for my pics from the drive to get a better feel.

How many Off-road clubs are active in the UAE? I started off-road driving long ago with my dad's old beaten up land rover, and spent good amount of time in learning off-road driving in the uae for last few years. I joined few clubs in 2004 - 2008 briefly but I wasn't able to keep pace as I was not very regular in off road and started going out with my friends and family instead. Can you guys please help me list all the operational and active off-road clubs in the UAE? I have listed few that I just checked their website and Im sure this list will grow in few days. I am preparing this list for myself and all other new to off-road, as google search shows highly souped up car websites that is far from actual off-road driving. In coming few months, I like to start off-road again as my three friends with who I use to venture are leaving Dubai shortly. If you happen to drive with anyone of these clubs, appreciate some insider feedback on how active it is and what type of people generally participate in weekly drives, what are the major nationality breakdown, what level of drives you guys arrange, which part of UAE do you usually venture etc. Before anyone jump the gun in commenting why my club is below and others are on top, so to be unbiased I have made the list in alphabetical order to respect everyone. Carnity Off-Road Club Abu Dhabi 4x4 club Almost 4x4 Off-Road Club Arabian Offroad Academy Dubai Offroaders Emarat 4x4 Emirates Offroaders Fury Enterprises Just Offroaders Oryx 4x4 UAE Adventures Club (Facebook Group) UAE Offroaders

I had an ML500 for almost two years and it was very nice SUV and ownership was a tad expensive than Japanese. Though you are familiar with BMW maintenance cost, so you won't feel much difference in Merc here. Just make sure that you buy the car that has full-service history and you also try to get the basics done by the dealer until it's 5 years of age. After that, there are many Mercedes experts that you can switch to MercedesRus, Silber arrow, Munich motors etc. For check-up before buying you can use the dealer or any of the above to have peace of mind for the long run.