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The question is sometimes what they have learned in other clubs or how confidence relates to actual skills. I have always been thankful on the big emphasis on safety and camaraderie that lives in Carnity Off-Road Club. I am afraid there are many other clubs around in UAE that love the dune-bashing and wild stuff without properly building this up to a level in which they can do this in a safe way. Same for recovery techniques and convoy behavior. But agree with @BIG T that some people have previous experiences and will be able to grow on the ladder a bit faster than others and that is perfectly fine, as long as they are aware of the core values that live in this off-road community.

For such fast track grading, member needs to share their previous experience details with the Marshal, Crew or Trip leader prior to joining the drive, so that we can gauge the performance on set parameters.

Thanks for your suggestion and we always have that option open to welcome members from different clubs with varied experience. Once they drive with us for one or two drives, we judge them accordingly and offer them fast-track grading based on their skills and expertise. We have done this for few members already and move them to fewbie level on their first drive experience with us.

P.S : Dakar Rally shouldn't be any real category for anything. A Porsche 949 won it in 86 I think, so are we to assume Porsche 949s are very capable offtoaders! If you want off road events. Then nothing like the Camel Trophy and everyone knows Almost stock Discoveries kicked ass in those. Fun fact, first year of the Camel Trophy was run with Jeeps and none made it. They literally fell into pieces. Crappy fact. Last year of the trophy was done by Hondas!

There are two Africa's- one where people can do quick, two-week long runabouts in Range Rovers around a few cities, and one where you can get some real off-road driving experience over the 20 000-odd km "route" from Cape Town to Cairo and points further north via central Africa, where tracks can change and/or disappear overnight.So, did these guys do any actual off-road driving, or did they keep to the popular and reasonably well-maintained tourist routes, the same routes the people who load European students into modified 10-ton trucks use? Or the routes people use to cross the continent on Chinese-made scooters? Of course it is possible to cross Africa in any direction- people do it all the time, but whether you are successful or not depends on you experience, your skill, the vehicle you use,the number of people and vehicles in your party, and not least, on the amount of money you are willing or able to spend on the trip. Documentaries? Meh- they never show the real stuff- like experienced drivers in expedition grade vehicles taking three days to do 40 km during the wet season. After all, who wants to be shown getting stuck every couple of hundred meters? Or remain stuck for the week or more it can take for the mud to dry sufficiently to recover a vehicle? Off course, going into central Africa during the wet season is just stupid, but I was forced to abandon a vehicle there because the monsoon season started three weeks early- as it happens sometimes. A proper north-south continental crossing can take up to eight months if you really want to see and experience the continent, and I have yet to see a Range Rover, and particularly a petrol Range Rover survive eight months of real off-road driving.

Well @treks covered it all with his nice experience in the African continent. Long travel suspension reminds me of Fast and Furious 6 where they throw modified car from a plane into Caucasus mountains I actually wanted to say so many things initially but deleted to not to be too negative on the first post People keep daily driver separate and weekend warrior separate for a reason to have the best of both the world and plus backup car for work if weekend warrior get hurt Mixing above 2 is just borderline acceptable (at your own risk) so adding third criteria to do an overland expedition to Africa in your daily driver is simply pushing your luck to extreme For the expedition, 4x4 need a lot of prep and modification to suit the country you are visiting and spending so much money on one-time expedition is far more than renting a ready vehicle for a week or a month of an expedition With so much modification, stiffer suspension, weight and PATHETIC aerodynamic you drive that as a daily drive will kill your back, deaf your ear and spend too much on petrol and maintenance. I had a Nissan Patrol that has been very well modified by the previous owner with so much underbody protection, stiffer suspension that I can do desert tracks at 120 km even, but on road, it was horribly uncomfortable that I use to stop at every 50 km to stretch my back. Renting vehicle will give a peace of mind that all such mods have been tested and proven in Africa, then you are modifying your 4x4 in Dubai where everyone will say oh yes oh yes to all option to make money and might break a lot of parts on the first bump in Africa - as per treks explanation of 1 meter dug up track - phew

Hi everyone!! This is Vishal here, been in UAE for past 3 years, I don’t have ride of my own… but that didn’t kept me following my ever loving topic “cars”☺️.. Most of the time my search results always end on one of your forum discussions!! And yeah it is helpful and practical. Yearly once or two I rent a 4x4 and go for camping with my friends (last one was shuweihat island ). Looking forward to meetup with you guys!!

I never mentioned sedans- I said "rent a suitable vehicle", which is invariably a diesel truck. Sure, you can do a road trip in Africa with an SUV- provided you don't venture too far (50 -100 km) from major centres. The roads around most major cities are generally in reasonable condition, but anything beyond about 100 km or so from a major city (and considerably less in some cases) becomes an overland expedition to the next major city. If you don't want to do cities, any distance between two points in Africa is an overland expedition, and especially so in central Africa, where nobody has been able to build permanent roads- or railways for that matter. However, large sections of the Trans-African Highway system (the parts of it that run around the edges of the continent, at least) have been paved and/or upgraded during the past ten years or so, but there are no guarantees that any part of the Trans-African Highway system will remain paved from one year to the next. If you ever end up in washed out section of the road system in the dry season, when big trucks have reduced it to series of deep trenches that can be deeper than a meter, and run for tens of kilometers, you will find that the limited suspension articulation of an SUV- any SUV- will leave you crested on these trench tops every few meters. Then again,if you ever end up in a washed out section of the road system in the wet season, you need to be in a group of at least four trucks to get through meter-deep mud traps that can run for tens of kilometers. If you can get past the dozens of big trucks that have been bogged down for months in a track that is barely wide enough to allow two ox-carts to pass each other, that is. In fact, a few years ago I had to abandon one of my expedition grade vehicles in such a mud trap because there was no way to get it out of the mud from behind an 18- wheeler that had sunk into the mud up to the top of it's wheels, and from in front of another 18-wheeler that had followed me into the mud trap before the other vehicles in my expedition could follow me in. For all I know, both trucks and my vehicle are still stuck there. So, no, SUV's without proper 4-wheel drive, low range, winches, lockable diffs, rated recovery points, and at least 28 inches of suspension articulation in Africa are not good idea if you venture away from the big centers.

Batteries not included 😁

I think Ive mentioned this before Ive ridden this very car. Not a replica, not a similar one.The actual car in this video. And to top it all off. I had the keys to it for two days as I was the one looking after it. Didn't dare drive it on my own. It was flown over from a private collection of some rich dude in Europe. I did do the typical man child thing of when everyone went away. Got into it and did the vroom vroom thing. Yeah and Saleem is right, this was from the modifies category. Doors welded shut with a big tubular roll cage inside, everything stripped out. Now I probably couldn't even get into the thing. Hot and noisy as f@#k as the engine is right there behind you.Also got to hang out with Jacky Ickxs. The guy who drove it to the finish line. And you wish you could afford it. Regular examples of these are now worth way over a million dollars https://youtube.com/watch?v=GxBzTVoFHXQ

Totally agree with @Gaurav bhai. We respect your experiences, only we need to gauge your driving skills and understanding of our core values.

Ok good to know your next ride will be a Porsche 959 because it is a bad ass offroader, after all it won the Dakar Rally

No, it's not, this mountain entrance is from Wadi Qur or Qour and exit close to Buraq dam. Unless you have previous experience in negotiating steep mountain climbs on loose gravel and big stones area, I wouldn't advise anyone to signup.

And yes it wiser to split your 40 to 50 budget in to two separate rides but with something like a LR3 Prado and Land Cruiser there really is no need as they were made to perform these multiple tasks, smooth city cars and highway cruisers as well being able to play off road. Most of the trouble people get into off road is their own fault and/or lack of experience and/or poor maintenance of their vehicles. Ofcourse shit happens, and any car can breakdown on or offroad. Gaurav how many times your Land Cruiser broke down in the desert?. One from what I can remember, diff gave up the ghost and had to be towed, how many times did my discovery breakdown, once out of no fault of my own. I drove Land Cruisers on safari almost everyday for a decade and only twice in that many years did it breakdown. So if you stay on top of things and keep your wits about offroad. You can easily have your cake and eat it too

Wow @Gaurav @Rahimdadi can see a lot of new members and their Pajeros in the group now. excellent contribution from @BIG Tand @jibransayed its always nice to see your name on the list. waiting to unleash my beast after im back from my annual leave in Jan 2019 i guess.

while inspecting your prado please make sure that you check the right side front chassis for corrosion as almost all the prados have this problem as the water from the evaporator drain usually drops on that place and corrodes it you really dont wanna have a car with rusty or chassis repaired on the passing paper will put a dent on resale value and when you get it please extend that drain pipe in such a way that the drops end up on the ground....

I can’t say much about the surroundings of Shuweihat, since we went straight to the point to spent one night camping on the island. Well, to be frank, it was a terrible idea to do it during the last National Day week-end ! The place was crowded, maybe 400-500 cars on the island, most of them tourists and residents in UAE, and of course (of course ?!!) covered with garbages. We thought about heading out to find a quiet, clean and isolated place, but unfortunately we had to spend the night there because our friends were joining us in the next morning, and we wanted to keep for them the small spot we found on the sea. If you’re going on a Friday or Saturday, I think it’s wiser to follow Jeh’s recommandations : visit the Island, enjoy the beautiful creeks and the scenic views... and leave the place at the end of the day to camp anywhere else… However, if you have the possibility to go there during the week, it may be an excellent idea to settle on the island for a night or two. I will share here the nice area we found on the West side of the Island (my guess is that it can really be like heaven if you go outside the rush times). You can reach it with a simple SUV if you drive carefully, but definitely not with a sedan. Even if you are driving a 4x4, be careful once you reach the sea because the rock can be sharp. By the way, if you want to swim, don’t forget to take strong plastic sandals. Once you get on the Island, go straight on the track until you get close to the GSM antenna (yes, you have some network there), go left towards the hill and cross the fence (there a small gate in it), then follow the fence on your left hand and a few meters before the beach, turn right and find your way to your spot. Left a good news for the end : the speed limit Jeh was talking about has changed. Now, it’s 160 km/h after Abu Dhabi, which means that you can reach the Island in slightly more than 3 hours when you come from Dubai !

Al Ruwais is a town located some 240 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi city in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi Emirate. And almost 350kms from Dubai. Its a very long drive to Ruwais. After a few 100 km's from auh the roads narrow down to 2 lane and the road speed reduces to 80km/h. There are lots of radars on the way and all of them are working so be careful with your speed limits.The best way to spot the radars is to look out for large solar panels on the road as all the Radars are solar powered, almost all. The drive itself isn't scenic in spite of being a coastal road. But once you reach your destination itll be worth it. This off-road trip is meant only for people who like to run away from city and like to camp in the middle of nowhere. All the mentioned camping spots are completely isolated with no human contact for miles. The beaches are beautiful ,but don't have any waves maybe i was there during the wrong season. The temp was low at the beach where we camped in Sila. So if planning for a winter drive make sure to carry warm clothes. Shuwayhat Island is a scenic place for photography. Camping is not recommended on this island as it is visited by loc als and they usually don't welcome outsiders. Plus there's a military base nearby hence camping is really not advisable. Also people wanting to do night photography will have too much light pollution in this area. Its a good drive to go and explore the island and take some pics. Sila beach is long stretch of coastal road where you can camp anywhere and everywhere. The shore is quite far during low tide almost a kilometer away from the road. Onc can walk inside all the way if they want. People interested in bird photography will find lots of bird species in these mangroves. There's also a spot where you can spot 100's of flamingos. It was long and stressful drive if you don't have cruise control,but overall it was fun to get away from the city and sleep beneath the stars. Hope you guys enjoy it. Shuweihat Island, Location, Waypoints, Photos, Videos, Reviews and Feedback from the travellers who visited before.

@VishalJC do you have what it takes to survive here...? i just give you a heads up open arms open heart and lots of smiles....☺️ welcome here bhai

I would love to have Dakar version Porsche 959 with 2.8L twin turbo spitting 444 hp and 500 Nm Sorry forgot to mention 1450 kgs means 300+ hp / ton power to weight ratio, it was quite daring and clever of Porsche to use 959

Sorry for causing all this 😂 But I have to admit that I'm really enjoying reading it. I'll get a notebook and start making notes hihi

See not every ones idea of a overland African trip is doing the Cape to Cairo trans African highway A two to three week crossing of the bush, camping out in the open is enough for them. Or Even North African Desert crossings are also very popular, in Morocco, Algiers. specially with the French as it just a short ferry ride away and everyone there speaks French.. As you might know Africa is not all bush and jungle. And as for your snarky Range Rover comments, this guy did 200,000kms in the African bush in his V8 range rover

Superb comparison, damn hilarious So true 🤣😂

i feel much better now hhhhh, Thank u @Gaurav

Welcome to Carnity Vishal, we all love cars here, do share some more details about camping on shuwait island on below thread

Hello Rahim Bhai, thanks for the advise. I shall join for the next newbie drive sometime later.

Was in Hatta Sunday, seen about 5-6 of these parked around the hill park so asked one of the drivers about this sighting, it’s for moving equipment and stuff around (I think he said mainly in that area, I could be worng) and since there are quite a few unpaved roads in that region it allows easy access to such places - hilux driver How much of this is true or is the actual reason of having hilux taxis, I have no idea.

Big T as in Taimur from D4x4 ?????

Before when it was 1 like = 1 dirham I used to care because every so often I’d have extra money to buy beer. Now I don’t care. It’s like earning reddit karma. It makes some people feel good but in reality, it means nothing. I don’t care if anyone likes my posts or not. My 2 main reasons for posting are either because I’m bored and have nothing else to do, or I see someone who needs help and I’ll try to offer some advice based on experience because I know what it’s like to need help. Forums are great for finding information. Post it on your Facebook group and it’s gone in a day. Post it on a forum and it’s there to help people for life, as long as the admin pay the hosting costs, the information is there for life.

Thanks for the clarification @Gaurav; I would have happily joined and probably got myself stuck or sliding down a steep slope somewhere :-). Please do not hesitate to organize a newbie (or drive-you-do-after-you’ve-done-a-newbie-drive-with-all-the-first-time-instructions) mountaindrive for @BIG T and me to join soon!

If you find a car and need a mechanic to inspect it, send me a message

Thanks @jibransayed for awesome clicks

I second the recommendation for a Land Cruiser 100 series. Having spent over a decade in the Desert Safari field these were are daily mules and been all over the deserts and mountains of this country in them. And checks all your boxes. Power wise there really isn't much difference between a V8 VXR and the straight 6 GXR. And you can hardly feel the 40HP difference. But the VXR or and the Lexus variant the LX have a lot of bells and whistles and some top spec VXRs and all LX470s have adjustable ride height a great addition for off roading. Saves you the trouble of modding and spending extra on lift kits and shit. But be careful a lot of ex safari fleet and abused shabab Cruisers are in the market. Also the V8s are a little bit of a pain to work on and maintain but reliable as fcuk not to say the 4.5 straight 6 is unreliable. The V8s Need timing belt replacement every 100k kms which is a PITA to do. And most ancillaries are deep inside.

Some of these brands have the best warranty engineers. Batteries die exactly a month or 2 after warranty!