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TRIP REPORT A chilly early morning start which was full of surprises. The best surprise was to reach early and see most of the convoy already deflating. One of the bad surprises was @abdallah hussein did not show up and I had no intimation of that. Radios that were not charged properly or was a faulty piece sold by the shop. Biggest surprise was my car count was not lower. I later realized that @sheri had joined the drive around 10 pm after I had locked my drive at 8pm and gone to sleep. I was always in search for some virgin dunes and discovered some nice clean patches early on. As we came close th Pink Rocks I saw so many convoys playing around and there were cross tracks all over the place. At this point I decided to cross Pink Rocks and play around on the other side. With a bit of a paved way for us we were able to make it to some very nice dunes very quickly. Everybody managed to keep good pace and kept the convoy closely knit. As we approached Big Red and jyst as I was about to exit I saw a clean face on one side and decided we were going to play. Sideys was the name of the game and everyone one did so well to show case their skills with steering and throttle control. After everyone had their fill and as it started to get hot we exited, inflated and head back home to be glued to our screens on Sunday at 7 pm to grab any available spaces. My thanks to @Ashy as my second lead, he did very well in handling his JGC. @PN1207 did very well at number 3, but needs a little bit more practice with his throttle control. @Roopesh babu still needs to apply what we have taught in theory, but managed himself well on the trip. @Francois Germishuys just added thrill to the group with his very loud F150 which I could hear from 200 meters behind me. What an awesome feeling. @Franco Swart did really well with his little Pajero. Awesome sight to see good control on both steering and throttle. My sincere thanks to @Alexander Alcala performing the most difficult job of Centre Forward to keep the convoy moving. @Anand Nataraj did very well with his Xterra. @sheri did well to keep up and I never heard any refusals from him. @Vijaysekhar was very pleasing to the eyes to watch as he not only had good control but all his manoeuvres were with grace and poise. @Shyam Karat only impresses me every time I drive with him. @Gok Krish and @Kailas right at the end kept the whole convoy moving and enjoyed driving together in the back. Special thanks to @Kailas to be my sweep and keeping me updated about the condition in the back at regular intervals. All in all a brilliant drive, but more interesting was the fact that so many members appreciate and want to do more to help out our community. Rest assured with growing numbers all of you are headed in the right direction to contribute and make our community stronger. Until next time adios amigos and Amigas.

Dear Desertnauts. @Rizwan Waheed, @Syed Raza Hussain, @Kailas, @Athula Dharmadada, @Andrei, @Gok Krish, @Ashy, @Hardik Mody, @Shyam Karat, @Mikhail Lukichev, @Baskaran P.R and @Suresh Nair, welcome to this drive. In anticipation of this Friday's drive, here are some information about what we are looking forward to. As we know, arboretum means "a botanical garden devoted to trees". While it's not likely that this area would qualify as a "garden" by any botanical standards, it is actually quite full of trees. The northern part of Faqa, in fact, benefits from a higher aquifer, which allows for a very abundant presence of trees, rarely alone, and more frequently gathered in sparse copses. We will enter the long range, white sand dunes, of this area through some of these groups of trees, and we'll continue in a southerly directions, toward the heart of the Faqa region. From here we will either double back toward the entry point, or continue eastward, looking to reach Faqa town, depending on the convoy's response to the more technical nature of the terrain which characterizes the second half of the drive. This is in fact an area that is usually visited by Fewbies and above convoys. Nonetheless, the nature of the northern sector of Faqa, with waves of long range, relatively open dunes, allows for safe travel also by Newbies in search for a bit of a challenge. Hence Arboretum 101 as the name of the drive, to suggest a Newbie level outing with the chance to taste, in a safe and controlled manner, some of the challenges to come once achieved a higher rank. It will provide the convoy with ample opportunities to practice low side slopes, riding on smooth, wide ridges, and straight crossing low dunes, honing one's off-roading skills, especially in the areas of finesse and control. More info to follow just before the drive. In the meantime, enjoy your week.

Congratulations @Alexander Alcala for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. Fewbie: Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Basic self-recovery techniques Advance side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives And Fewbie Plus, after 5 drives at Fewbie level only Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Congrats @Anand Nataraj

@Anand Nataraj Congratulations!

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi for such a wonderful experience. Feels like got everything I could expect from a drive in the desert, technical dunes, super scenic nature views, ridge riding, up & down crossings, bowls, sabkha, overall a fun and adrenaline packed drive. Thanks to @Kalahari and @Nivin for the efforts to manage the convoy so well 👏🏻👏🏻 Hoping to have such fun soon, after all weekend is just a week away 😀.

What an epic drive in technical dunes' hell!! Wicked idea by @Gaurav (apparently inspired by @Srikumar) to choose the Lisaili to Faqa drive headline as a bait 😉 for a fun filled itinerary, while actually designing an excruciatingly difficult challenge for the last Leaders Lead session. Almost entirely focused on the super technical dunes between Lisaili and Murquab, this was one of the most difficult drive I had to do while with Carnity. My hats off to all the soon to be leaders for facing up to the challenge without batting an eye, always responding with a positive, energetic and calm attitude to the difficulties revealing themselves dune after dune after dune. @Chaitanya D, @Tbone, @Kalahari, @Brette and @sertac all displayed leaders' qualities, by driving with flair, control, unwavering determination and resilience, plus supporting each other when needed. I was also very impressed by everybody's calm and clear communication skills, even under quite a deal of pressure. I dare just giving them one advice: you can never plan enough, even the unplanned. I realize that nobody wishes to take a convoy in little fun, hard to navigate, technical areas, but on any drive one can find himself ending up in such an unplanned situation. This is why I suggest you always mark on your maps multiple exit points, especially in proximity to the technical areas. Take your time to look back at the maps, especially while driving through these areas, and at the same time take visuals of the surrounding terrain, so that anytime you find yourself in a tight spot, you may have one or more ways out, even though this may mean not reaching the planned exit point. As we said today, you cannot control all aspects of a drive while planning it at home, but you can do your best to be prepared, and minimize any risks you may encounter. Having said this, I congratulate all of you guys with today's achievements. You led in one of the most difficult terrains you may find in this area, and you came out successfully. Great job. See you soon with your new stripes on.

THE JOY RIDE - Lahbab to Margham Relay Drive Report There are times that drives become a source of pure joy. Like yesterday. A thoroughly enjoyable itinerary, in a brand new area of Dubai, with a smooth beginning on long low yellow dines, and an exciting finish on a large, intricate bowl area of red sands. Joy was starting from Lahbab, through an entrance just past the truck resting area, moving in a south-westerly direction, to cross several low long range dunes, just as the sun was coming up the horizon. After a short technical briefing about dune crossing, joy was practicing what we had just preached, on a mixed terrain of low dunes and open sabkhas. This is an area visited only by locals, and joy was seeing them practicing the art of falconry, or making a living with camel farming. Joy was reaching some higher dunes, a bit tighter than the earlier ones, just after crossing an oil (or gas?) interred pipeline (through a fenced passage with the look of a mine field). Great joy was to hear Richard's voice crackling on the radio, just before seeing him come up from behind a dune, followed by the other half of the Relay convoy, for a meeting that took place at an unplanned location (we missed the original one due to the different timing of the two convoys). And finally, elating joy was riding the numerous bowls, lined up one after the other on the red sand pyramid dune facing Nazwa (and at the back of Margham), with the all encompassing view of Pink Rock and Big Red in the hazy distance. A perfect ride in a beautiful location, with a very well synced group of drivers. Thank you @Kalahari for the impeccable Second Lead and recovery support, as well as to @Nivin and @marks, respectively at Center Forward and Sweep, for their enthusiasm and efforts in managing the few refusals and stucks at the back of the convoy. Great job by new Fewbies @Hatim Patharia and @Mohamed Seidam: your graduation was well deserved. Many thanks to @Mehmet Volga, @Biju Abdul, @Nabil Bishara, @Shaaz Sha and @Tero Vallas for joining and making sure that the drive went well, also thanks to their poised and sure-footed driving in an only apparently easy area. At the end of the day, we had driven for 52 Km, in 4:01 hours, at an average speed of 13 Km/h (and 21 Km/h while moving), at altitudes ranging from 61 meters to 134 meters. Speaking of joy, please enjoy your week, looking forward to seeing you soon again on the sand.

Congratulations @Franco Swart for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. Fewbie: Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Basic self-recovery techniques Advance side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives And Fewbie Plus, after 5 drives at Fewbie level only Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Congratulations @Javier Lucero for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. Fewbie: Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Basic self-recovery techniques Advance side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives And Fewbie Plus, after 5 drives at Fewbie level only Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Hi @redonettii welcome to Carnity and I hope to explain a bit about your shortlisted cars, so you can choose whatever fits the best based on my explanations. V6 Prado: Best combination of all the things that you expect from her, but minus the intermediate level off-roading in case you wish to do. It will be good for newbie to fewbie level, unless you trim or modify the front bumper. But it's adequately capable to reach to any decent level of off-roading (not extreme off course) in terms of power. For road it comes with comfy ride and features to check almost all the essential boxes. Y61 Patrol: Tiny bit lesser comfy for road, but super ready for off-road for any level in stock shape. And like Heisem mention super thirsty. I had older one 4.5 and on highway at 140 speed I could feel the fuel tank needle movement. Being 4.8 must be more of a fuel guzzler. Y62 Patrol: Best of all in terms of comfort and power but with limited off-road capabilities and unless you do serious bumper trimming, bash plates, lift kit etc. In stock state it's OK for newbie levels only if you drive it sensibly, the day miss the "sensibly" part front bumper will take a nasty hit. For fewbie level - I haven't seen any Y62 reaching there yet without breaking the bumpers, but recently seen 2020 Y62 model with very good clearance and they might survive better than the older shape. Land Cruiser: Same if not better than Y62 in terms of road comfort but with good off-road stance that can easily get you till fewbie drives without much headache. But again LC200 and Y62 are inherently heavy beast that require special skills to learn to offroad with such heavy cars. If you are buying this 4x4 purely for off-roading then I would highly vote for Prado or Y61 Patrol, because no matter which type of offroading you will "eventually" like after few months (sand mostly), these two vehicles will scale to those needs perfectly. Last but not least, if you don't have big family or big plans for visitors than SWB (short wheel base) Prado or Patrol will be more fun for off-roading in the long run. Short and nimble to go anywhere, light and powerful to scale to any off-road needs plus slightly lesser of fuel guzzler than LWB.

Thank you very much @Srikumar and especially @Jeepie for being patient with absolute newbies like me and guiding us from the beginning. It was a wonderful experience and looking forward to many more adventures as part to the club.

Congrats @Anand Nataraj

Congrats @Anand Nataraj

wonderful @Javier Lucero well deserved. Yes, now that you have become Fewbie you need to speeden up the signing in on drives as it gets tougher from here on. 😂

Man, just so cool. Geeked. Now just need to sign up in time for a drive 🤣

Congrats @Franco Swart

Congrats @Alexander Alcala

Congrats @Javier Lucero

@Javier Lucero Congratulations!

@Alexander Alcala Congratulations!

@Franco Swart Congratulations!

Thank you, Gaurav and other leads for support and guidance. Very much excited to join fewbie rides.

Congrats @Franco Swart!

Congratulations @Alexander Alcala

Congratulations @Franco Swart

Congrats @Javier Lucero !

Congrats @Alexander Alcala !! See you soon on one of my Fewbie drives

Congrats @Franco Swart !

Thank you for the promotion. Happy to learn all about the dunes in UAE and looking forward for more offroad experiences in the area, including beach and wadis (and also camping, off course). Hoping to make more friends sharing the offroad passion.

The drive was excellent with high tempo and only a few stucks/refusals. Many thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for such a good route discovery, his technical instructions and great leading as always... Thanks to other leads @Kalahari @Nivin and @marks for their efforts in recoveries ensuring quick back to drive with full of joy. Also thanks to all other drivers for your good performances. See you on the next drive!

Hello guys! Although I am still a newbie when it comes to off-roading, this topic and initiative is too exciting to stop myself from putting in my two cents. Coming from the background of advertising & storytelling, I would like to give a few inputs, obviously completely up to you guys to take them into consideration or not. In my limited experience of off-roading, i think it's one such activity that elicits a myriad of emotions - from anticipation, excitement, challenge, struggle, thrill to the feeling of exploration, triumph, victory and of course bonding with the nature & the fellow convoy members. It would be interesting to try and capture these 'emotions' as few core themes in terms of the videos. The cars can become the protagonists or actors who experience these emotions as much as the drivers do. One way of doing this could be that each drive leader is assigned a theme that's made of a collection of emotions and they can plan their drive / drone shots in a way that brings those emotions to life in the best possible way. Possible themes / collection of emotions could be (limiting it to three for now) Anticipation & Thrill - at each and every step of the off-roading experience, there's always a sense of anticipation of what's coming next. Right from the preparation part to climbing up the dunes, this feeling is what gives us an edge of the seat experience. Could be captured well by a combination of mounted cameras for POV shots, low-flying + panning drone shots & shots that capture the human emotions as well. Challenge, struggle & Triumph - climbing up the dunes, stucks & refusals, the moment when you feel that you might get stuck but are able to cross the dune, side sloping etc. These could be brought to life with tracking shots, sliders, surprise shots & overtakes. Exploration, Discovery & Connection - the sense of wanting to go to unchartered territories, exploring the nature around, the feeling that you 'can' explore the unexplored and yet the feeling of being connected to the nature. This could be brought to life with parallax, tilt reveals and panning shots. I understand that a lot of this would come to life in post - edits and audio / music will play a big role in bringing the emotions out. The ultimate output of all this could be a Content Series for the Carnity social channels - something on the lines of 'The feeling called Carnity'. This series would then feature a series of short videos that showcases the various emotions Carnity drives make you experience. There could be a master film that's a sort of trailer to the content series. Seems likes a bit of a ramble now! All the best for this, fantastic initiative, excited to see the end result! Cheers!

Hi @Gaurav, Thanks for your contribution. I see where you want to get in terms of story telling and I like it very much. To do a 3 mins video like this we will need many shots, over multiple drives, everytime we should focus on just a few moments not to derail the drive, unless we change the concept slightly and organise a 2 or 3 "video shooting drives" where we spend most of the time shooting (ie we keep the drones up in the air for the good part of 2 hours) and the convoy members support as "stunt actors". Most of the story can be shot with a couple of my drones (a smaller and quieter one for short distance shooting and tight manoeuvring to shoot recoveries, vegetation and wildlife, and a bigger one for faster more cinematic camera movements chasing cars in movement). We may have combine it with some conventional camera shooting (handheld on gimbal or fixed/suction mount GoPro - I have plenty of this stuff to mount in all possible ways), which could be cool as we may involve the convoy members in the shooting (it is going to be fun). We will need some voice recording too for radio comms, again to be done by GoPro or even phones. I think we could cover Preparation and Ending parts easily in 1 or 2 drives. The Driving part will take at least 5-6 separate drives to cover everything, especially if we want to capture wildlife, unless - as said - we plan for dedicated video shooting drives. I think your proposal is great, @Gaurav. Thanks very much for this fundamental step. Unless someone has more to add to it, we could consider it our TREATMENT, based on which we now start developing our SCREENPLAY, ie we break down the story in scenes and the scenes in single shots and, one by one we plan how to execute them during our drives. Ready to take off: This is so thrilling!

Congratulations @Anand Nataraj for reaching the Fewbie Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. P.S. Trip lead might deny your participation if you don't have required off-road gear. Fewbie: Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 5 Newbie drives are required within last 3 months for Fewbie promotion. What you'll learn Basic dune and sand reading Basic self-recovery techniques Advance side sloping and hill climb Basic ridge riding and criss crossing Basic control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Presence of mind and attention to detail Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie and Fewbie drives And Fewbie Plus, after 5 drives at Fewbie level only Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

congrats @Franco Swart

Congrats @Franco Swart. Hope to see you on a drive soon.

@tcarrimjee Congratulations!

Congrats @Senthil Kumar!

Congratulations @Senthil Kumar

Congrats @Anand Nataraj !

Thank you Gaurav, really enjoying my journey so far and looking forward to learning even more.

Great. I will WhatsApp you some nice.play areas tomorrow

Dear @Bhaskar, Thank your very much for your interesting contribution. I like very much the view on the emotional side of off-roading. As with @Gaurav's proposal this requires much more than drone shots, but I'd say the idea is worth much more than your two cents 😂. Let's think about it. Dear @Srikumar, Yes pls share the route so I can check it against no-fly zones and GCAA regulations. Thanks.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher we can try it on the Sweihan drive. What time is better, just after sunrise or closer to 8 am. Will try to scout some nice dunes where we can try to shoot. With the well spaced out dunes of Sweihan we might get some good footage, Maybe then I can share with you the route and you can see if drones are allowed in those areas.

Hi @Gaurav, Yesterday I took advantage of a short break during a pop-out recovery at the Intermediate Drive in Area 53 with @Frederic to fly my drone a little. I stole a couple of nice shots, which I will share later, but with static parked cars, captured from some distance, they don't tell much, I must say. If we really want to have some great footage we will have to plan the shootings in advance and carve some dedicated time during the drive (or have specific drives just for the purpose of shooting), so that preparations are not rushed into and all shots are executed as per plan as much as possible, while the convoy performs real some real action. Can we plan for a test in one for the next drives? All in all, we should include a 10 mins break for preps and briefing, 15 mins shottings with convoy driving around and 5 mins wrapping up.

@andy_macdxb You don’t need to feel sorry, it’s part of the game and I guess that every single driver knows that this kind of bad luck could have happened to himself.

Ho @andy_macdxb I am reading this as a drive lead of another drive this weekend. It's probably not that well know/realized that we share some of these experiences of the drives together, but the double pop out story made it to 'dispatches' this week. Good that you got home, however slowly, and can look at what needs to be done to remove what ever it is that is rubbing against the wheels. Having just bought a Pajero and moved from the Jeep, it's clear there is a llot more 'stuff' in the wheel arch! I actually wanted to come back on the apology that you made that it took time to get your problem sorted. Why, because 10 days ago, we had a similar situation of a pop out taking around an hour of driving time from the drive. It's part of the game Andy. Carnity is more about the team work needed to get all the drivers into and out of the desert safely, than pushing aggressively to drive, drive, drive when we finally hit the sand. Everyone learns from sorting out this sort of stuck, because these new situations prepare us for the next time it might happen. If all we wanted an easy fast drive, we could just follow the standard tracks and routes and never deviate - and leave someone behind who delayed us. Hoping you get your Paj back on track soon and that we will get a chance to drive together once it's sorted.

@Emmanuel @Chaitanya D and all the drivers on today’s morning drive at Faya.. thanks for being there and hope you enjoyed the drive .. I know there was lots of waiting but part of the learning is to expect the unexpected and deal with it.. @andy_macdxb hope the damage to your front bumper is not significant and hope to see you soon on the sand.. Never leave a fellow Carnity behind, Great team work to handle double pop outs in a very tricky spot..

To put it in simple steps 1. Use a 2 tonne (min) floor jack kept on a wooden plank as a base on sand, lift the car where pop out has happened. 2. Once the tyre is off the sand, we pull it back on to the rim sufficient enough the allow the air fill back into the tire through the valve after clearing the sand from inside the rim using water ( preferably a stream ) 3. Once the pressure builds up, the tyre pops back in. What happened in the morning today was a very tricky situation because we were on the top a soft sand dune, the car was stuck in a supersoft pocket and with very little area for us to put in a jack, clear the sand and pull the tire back. But , we could manage to get out of it thanks to @Emmanuel and fantastic support from @Islam Soliman too. Appreciate the whole convoy members who waited patiently 🙏 for almost an hour. The tire with pop out needs cleaning on inside and balancing once you are on tarmac.