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Liwa: A new level of Crazy Nothing can prepare you for your first time in Liwa. No amount of You-Tube videos, tales from friends or indeed, pre drive briefings prepares you brings the immensity of this challenge. But let’s start at the beginning. To our surprise and delight, @Jeepie and myself were elevated to Intermediate level recently. I say recently! In truth, 4 days before the Liwa drive. Having hear so much about Liwa, the moment the drive was posted we signed up. The rest of the week was spent in preparation. Did we have all the right equipment? Kinetic Rope & shackles, tool kit, extra fuel tank, jack etc., making sure that the car was filled up with all the right fluids and that nothing was loose and sorting out camping gear. A Liwa drive is not the sort of place you just turn up and ‘wing it’, hoping someone else will sort you out with a compressor, or shovel or water. It’s the sort of place that takes planning, investment both financially and in time and in sorting out your vehicle (so that when you are in Liwa your belongings stay safely stowed (and cannot fly all over the place) – more on that later. It’s also a 3 hour drive from Dubai. Having managed to extricate myself from work more or less on time we left for Liwa. Almost 3 hours later and 10 minutes from the meeting point, contrary to our expectation we would find ourselves in the middle of a wilderness we were driving through the streets of Zayed City. Not quite the desolation of Liwa we imagined. Deeply attractive option though it was, sleeping in the car in the car park of the Adnoc station was not our idea of camping so we went in search of a suitable spot to pitch our tent – a little disappointed that our vision of camping under the stars out in the middle of the wilderness had become more a case of can we find a relatively quiet spot to spend the night that’s not in the middle of a major highway. This was probably the last moment of disappointment we had. Especially as having found an acceptable site we were joined later by @Gaurav and @Brette where @Gauravregaled us with tales of Liwa’s past. We woke to the sound of Camels being loaded unhappily into a truck and began preparations. Filling stomachs, water bottles and gasoline tanks, tying everything down securely in the car and then once @Javier Marrived and checking the cars again deflating and paying particular attention to @Gaurav’s briefing, we were off. Nothing can prepare you for your first time in Liwa. Despite the time and energy preparing, the research, the hard work in getting everything needed (thanks again @Jeepie) once you start to see the immensity of the place, it’s simply mind-blowing. It took us at least 30 minutes of hard driving along one of the internal dirt tracks before we even went truly off-road, and once we did, another 30 before we passed the last of the camel farms inside the desert and made our way into Little Liwa. And once we did … the beauty, the colors, the contours and simple immensity of the place were stunning to the eye. It probably would have been enough to just have the privilege of seeing these views without going further, just to drive and explore the incredible beauty of the landscape without massively challenging our cars or abilities would have been enough. But further we did … and the reward? 24 hours on and I still cannot believe where our cars took us (and we took them). In our briefing, @Gaurav had warned us about the humungous dunes. Until you see them towering above or look at the vertiginous drop on the other side, it’s simply impossible to imagine and fathom. Terrifying, exhilarating, incredible. I guess I should admit something here. I entered Liwa pathologically afraid of falling from heights. That’s quite different from being afraid of heights – I am ok being as high as you want (Burj Kahlifa viewing floors, bring it on), but if there’s a chance of falling, I literally cannot look over the edge ... That particular fear has been overcome as a result of continuously driving the car over the edge of precipitous dunes to crawl down the slip face as we moved on to another dune formation. Liwa is renowned for its soft sand. It looks hard, stable and compacted, until you drive onto it and find that it’s silky, like gossamer under your wheels which desperately trying to gain some semblance of grip as you struggle up inclines that look benign and inviting. And then there’s the bowls. As brand new intermediate rankers, driving Liwa was challenge enough without trying too many heroics slide slipping across the massive dunes. The terrain, keeping up with the convoy, learning to be much more responsible ourselves for the navigation of the dunes ahead was more than sufficient with which to cope throughout the day. 4x4 fanatics will, play. And play we all did. In some cases, impressively so. We paid our respects to the Yellow Truck, and gave increasing respect to the scenery and landscape around us. We found a lovely calm bowl in which to lunch and moved on. The dunes are unrelenting on car and driver (and passenger, from time to time). And endless. Standing atop a dune 300 meters above the scenery as far as the eye could see it was dunes. It is in my mind’s eye and will remain there for a long time. It was not until yesterday that I truly appreciated what a desert meant. And this is small Liwa. It blows my mind to think that there as literally hundreds more kilometers of this landscape in the UAE and thousands in KSA. With one notable exception (@Jeepie it seems did refuse and needed help, but did not get stuck at all), we all had our ‘moments of learning’ and were kind enough to offer our co-travellers the opportunity to practice recovery techniques. In a long day of driving these moments were not that frequent and quickly managed. We will leave it what goes on in Liwa, stays in Liwa. With the light fading, we rushed (!) back aiming to hit an internal track to find our way out of the desert. There, we filled our gasping tanks with the reserve fuel we had brought with and drove quite slowly and relaxed along a dirt track to the main road and out of Liwa. Five, happy any tired drivers, four incredible vehicles, three who had never experienced Liwa before, two who had guided us through safely and carefully with one aim: Enjoy Liwa to the full and get out safely. My reflections, for what they are worth sit on one side on the incredible beauty of the scenery we were privileged to see and play in. This is savage country, where, were it not for the careful organization and well maintained vehicles we would hardly last a day. It’s truly stunning on a level that even though I have been to a few deserts in my time, nothing compares to this. The three hour journey home was a challenge. After the wonders of the dunes, the designers of UEA's road, who must have been sitting with ruler in hand as they created the road network do not make for an interesting drive home in the dark after such an eventful day. As a learning experience this was simply invaluable. There is a massive leap from Fewbie to Intermediate. Anyone chomping at the bit to get that promotion, be careful what you ask (aim) for. The expectations on you as a driver are completely different as an intermediate. From self-navigating (there’s nowhere near as much look out for this, watch that etc., - you just need to keep your eye on the sand and do your best to follow), the speed of the drive to the equipment you must have to name but a few the expectations of the other drivers over your communications – the list goes on. Next time, at least I will know what to expect from Liwa, and perhaps what it expects from me – because you can be sure: there will be a next time. The addiction just gets deeper and stronger, and Liwa is a fix, not a cure. See you soon in the sand.

Thank you all for a nice ride especially @Srikumar @Rahimdad @Frederic @Emmanuel for their amazing helpful nature and friendliness. This group is simply about having nice time and seeing people for what they really are and that is friendly, brotherly and simply human aside of genders, nationalities or whatever other things that does not really matter Big thanks to Gurav which we missed this ride See you all the next ride

Thank you much Carnity for the adventure drive, it was my first adventure in desert and enjoyed and learned many things and met lots of new friends, and more over the crews "hats off you guys" specially i was stuck. See you soon guys!!!!

Thank you everyone for making it a memorable start for me in the carnity group off road drives. Thank you @Rahimdad , @Emmanuel, @Frederic , @Srikumar for mentoring all and making it a fun yet safe experience. It was a great experience to learn from you all. Frankly can't wait for the next one...let's go

Once again you took me there, and I’m so glad you made it all back safe and sound and with unforgettable memories !

It was indeed a splendid drive today. I felt that the drive had levels, with initial level being a subtle drive next to camel farm on a plain off-road track, then passing over smaller dunes, fighting through substantially bigger dunes of soft sand and finally reaching the mega challenge of climbing the pink rock incline. With @Frederic and @Vanessa8580 continuously boosting my confidence, @Shamil and @Frederic always by the side to help/ guide and @Frederic thoughtfully leading the convoy it seemed bit easier. 😊 It was a friendly environment through out in the group and a Friday morning well spent. Thanks to @Rahimdad, @Frederic and @Srikumar for arranging this drive. Looking forward for more if my Explorer can take it. 😀

Trip report, It was very nice to drive again, after having been a passenger for a while (which had offered great learning opportunities). I got to test my car on the dunes and get used to one another. I would like to thank @Emmanuel and @Shamil for welcoming me into the Xterra club and being of assistance explaining the first mandatory modifications my car needs to undergo. @Rahimdad has been, once again, a patient lead, assisting everyone who needed some help when facing a refusal. I cannot express how thankful and lucky I feel to have him by our side at this starting point. A teacher and mentor by nature 😉. Once again, I met very nice people, with many new drivers joining today's expedition. It's nice to see the off-roading club growing in number! See you all next Friday!

Trip Report Convoy 3 Again a beautiful morning in the sand with wonderful people ! With @Shamil as my second lead, and @Xaf at the back to sweep and assist, I was feeling quite comfortable. Because my wifey @Vanessa8580 had her first official drive I had to reluctantly hand over my little blue Pajero and came out with its younger and taller sister. That took a while to get used too of course, but that’s normal. @Nayan Shenai managed great with his Ford Explorer, same as @Szymon Stankiewicz, @Rafal W., @Shiju Manuel, @Anvar Sadath Bekal, @Sherif Hamed, and of course @Vanessa8580. We had some refusals and some stucks which is always a good opportunity to learn and practice shoveling and rope recovery. All kept a positive spirit and smile handy. One of the good things about this area is the Pink Rock climb, as it’s for many people a first time where they can really put the pedal to the metal and observe how the car reacts and behaves. My sincere thanks goes to @Shamil and @Xaf who both impressed me with excellent recovery techniques, composed behavior to explain the right steps to the newbies, and proactiveness to quickly detour where needed or to help out someone else. You both might have had Liwa on your mind, but your heart and spirit was with us 👍. I hope you all had fun and some challenges along the way, and look forward to our next drive !

Today's drive was quite exceptional. Being the second lead of the convoy was an opportunity to become more responsible. Much appreciated @Rahimdad bhai for believing in me , i hope that i was up to your mark. Eventhough drive was short, we got to learn some of the important offroad recovery techniques, great cooperation made it so natural at troublesome occasions particularly when fj's tire got blasted Nevertheless, a big shoutout to those who provided refreshements. Hanging tight for my next drive.

Hello all, I meet wonderful new and familiar friends today and some asked me on the flag poles and suction base which I got from RAMY Automotive Dubai - Al Quoz Ind. Area #4, ACE sells the poles as well but you have to try them on the the base (they do not sell bases) and not all bases fits all poles. Also price of the base ~90-100AED, price for the pole is 200-250AED depends on the height and you can negotiate Good luck!

Thank You Micheal for your valuable advice on field 😍

Hi @Michael sammy you can post your images in the Gallery. On the homepage, just click on GALLERY and you'll find a gallery for every drive we did.

Join us in exploring the Al Qudra Desert to see what's beyond the lakes, and learn the art of offroading at the same time ! This area is a very versatile playground for Absolute Newbies on their first offroad adventure. Why should i join ? We will teach you how to drive offroad safely and learn the best offroad driving and recovery techniques. If you have already driven in sand before then you can learn more from experts having decades of offroading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridge to test your off-road control. Can my vehicle do this ? This drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicle having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and front and rear tow hooks. If in doubt please first announce your questions on the drive thread so we can advise you further. Can i bring passengers ? Yes of course, but if you are absolute new to offroading it is better to drive alone first to avoid any distractions. What can i expect ? The drive will start with a detailed briefing, followed by 2-3 hours of driving in sand dunes and then followed by a break for refreshments over a feedback and assessment session for each offroader. You will learn about the following subjects: Introduction to off-roading Desert driving basics and etiquette Desert driving tips, techniques, myth and best practices Off-road and safety gear familiarization and recovery procedures Vehicle orientation, risk analysis, deflation and outdoor safety advice Are you joining us for the first time ? Please share your vehicle details below Prior off-road experience (Yes/No) Confirm front and rear tow hooks in good condition and usable Level: Absolute Newbie, Newbies and above (All level) When: 06 March 2020 Meeting time: 6:45 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point : Al Qudra https://goo.gl/maps/FbLs4vy99taAEzbTA Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 12:00 PM - (much before Friday prayer) Friday Prayer Mosque: The Endurance Masjid - https://goo.gl/maps/SXmkx2jntnK85DzB7 MUST READ: First off-road drive checklist Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities Off road Driving Etiquette's Off-road Convoy Rules Off roading - Everything you need to know Please RSVP on the below calendar.

Thank you so much @Frederic! Haha it's nice to hear, I went to the first place I spotted and asked for CN 888 as I saw it mentioned somewhere here, and Al they got was 988. I didn't know anything about it 😂

Nice ride indeed, was my first with your group but definitely not the last, will be joining next ride for sure, was a fun day, thanks to all 🙏

@Michael sammy after testing today, it seems Carnity Channel 2 is indeed getting some interference within your vehicle. We will take note of this and make sure that your next convoy that you are assigned too is on another frequency. @Szymon Stankiewicz i was able to program your Crony CN988 with a Baofeng cable and Baofeng BF480 Software (go figure). I was pretty impressed with the battery size, build quality, and volume. Looks like you have a good model. Just unfortunate that it does not have a display, so for re-programming you will always need software / laptop and programming cable. @balaji0007 Your Baofeng 888 is programmed as following: Channel 1-2-3-4 = CARNITY CHANNEL 1 Channel 5-6-7-8 = CARNITY CHANNEL 2 Channel 9-10-11-12 = CARNITY CHANNEL 3 Channel 13-14-15= CARNITY CHANNEL 4 Channel 16 = CARNITY CHANNEL 5 (Backup Frequency) To the other newbies still looking for a radio i would like to advise against buying a walkie-talkie without display, as it needs to be programmed with a laptop, software, and programming cable. We can recommend following models that are equipped with a LCD display: Motorola MT777 or Crony MT777 (same) Baofeng UV5R Prolab WT5-WD Crony CN888 All are available in Dragon Mart. If you have any questions please ask on this thread. @Emad Malaeb @Kalahari @Hafiz Abdul Rahman @Ralph Geonzon @Nayan Shenai @Shiju Manuel @Nizam Mohammed @Najeeb Mohammed @Chaitanya D @Jolly Abraham @Rafal W. @Jamy B. @Jihad Hachem @andersonlorente @Anvar Sadath Bekal @Jorge Stepniak Felippe @Nikhil Saju Paul

Guys truly said, today it was a blast and real fun its not about the drive only its about with whom we drive. Great leaders, great team to be honest it felt more of a family spirit. I'm usually not writing here but i just felt to share 😇 Big thanks 🙏 for everyone who made this day fun and safe day drive. Not to forget the mentoring and support given today by @Rahimdad @Srikumar @Frederic @Emmanuel I am sharing some images and videos from today's drive, I'm not sure if this where I should share the images or there is a different way of sharing the drives images and videos. Please advise 🙏

Thank you all - especially to Marshalls - for today experience. Newbie like me cannot be in better hands on the begging of his journey. Thank you again and see you soon!

It was indeed a fun weekend trip. Would like to explore diffrent landscapes, hope u will be arranging more of this kind , i am looking forward to meet all of u guys once again....

Huge shout-out to organisers and marshals of this outing! It was my first trip with this group and thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from the opportunity to learn in a safe and controlled environment, the community spirit was excellent. Well done all!

No , Dont Need to ! Free RTA Smart App or Uncle Google takes me wherever requires

thanks, a lot appreciate the efforts 👌

Once I checked with Nissan to update the maps of the GPS and they were charging me almost 5k. 350 is not that bad, I wonder if this is on purpose to get some extra money from toyota owners.