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Good morning Desert Drivers Friday morning will see us scale the wonderful wide, white dunes or South Qudra. This is a playgound of wide open dunes where desert driving skills can be honed and learned in challenging, but not too challenging landscapes. Confirmed drivers on this drive are @RaYan E @Kailas @Gok Krish @Syed Raza Hussain @Karthik Krishnakumar @Shyam Karat @Mahmoud Asar @Piotr Kolodziej @Nitin Mohan @Yusuf Esaf @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan @Rizwan Waheed Please make sure you have the required equipment with you BEFORE you arrive at the drive. As absolute newbies it was possible to turn up without the right kit - at newbie drives you do need to have as a minumum: Flag, deflation kit, shovel and on THIS DRIVE A WORKING COMPRESSSOR. If you don't have these, you won't be driving, because it puts the other drivers at risk. There is going to be some amazing support on this drive @Foxtrot Oscar @Lorenzo Candelpergher and @Franco Swart will all be on hand to help out and make sure that the convoy runs as smoothly as possible. What to expect from a drive in South Qudra? Lots of wide dunes where there is a chance to traverse and get a great feel for controlling your vehicle in the sand. Excellent assortment of dunes for different feeling as they are crossed - some straight up and over like you arleady learned, some whale back so you start to learn what it is like to cross over the top of a dune. Good descents where you can practice your control on the slip face of a dune and avoid fish taliling. The plan of action is to get into the dunes as quickly as possible (there is a short track we take before getting into the dunes proper) and enjoy the earlier morning cooler weather before the sand becomes much more soft and sticky. If the convoy can make it, we will drive all the way to Last Exit, but if not, we have lots of other options along the way. IF FOR ANY REASON YOU ALREADY KNOW YOU CANNOT MAKE THE DRIVE, PLEASE ADVISE AND LET US KNOW. THERE IS A WAIT LIST FOR THE DRIVE. Any other questions, please post them here.

Our forefathers @Rahimdad @Gaurav @Srikumar @Ale Vallecchiwill do something better that we all expect soon!

Current Waitlist: 1) @[email protected] 2) @Ranjan Das 3) @Arda Yagcioglu We are doing our best and hopeful we will find spaces for some (if not all) of you on Friday. Normally, after the drive reminder is sent we find that a few people remember they have another commitment, or some people simply cannot make it. Please continue to stay on standby as things change at the last minute. You might get a message late Thursday that a place has come up, or a message that we can take you - so please don't give up hope yet. Thanks !

Dear Waitlisted Dersert Drivers @Ranjan Das @[email protected] @Sandeep Padhi @Hardik Mody You probably read thr above post on this drive with dismay - because currently it looks like there are not going to be spaces on the drive for you. We are doing our best and hopeful we will find spaces for some (if not all) of you on Friday. Normally, after the drive reminder is sent we find that a few people remember they have another commitment, or soem people simply cannot make it. Please continue to stay on standby as things change at the last minute. You might get a message late Thursday that a place has come up, or a message that we can take you - so please don't give up hope yet. Have a great day.

A situation where only two cars entered the Desert with family and got stuck in the middle of nowhere without GPS. Could have become worse had it been close to the summer season https://m.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/10-uae-residents-get-lost-in-the-desert-at-night-heres-what-happened-next

This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: BAN POST Two Way Radio Guidelines Every Offroader brings his own radio, programmed to the frequencies described in below advice topic. We will not share spare radios or program your radio on the drive. If you need assistance in programming the radio, post a topic on the Carnity website with your questions and we will help you out. Make sure your radio is fully charged. It will be your only way of communication while driving. Before buying, please carefully read below advice so you are informed properly on which model / cost / shops... No radio = No drive. It is an essential tool and you should make sure you bring it on every drive and learn/practice how to use it. Drive Details Level: Intermediate and above When: 9 October 2020, Friday Meeting time: 6:00 AM (Sharp - without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/kn26ynFApcMYopzJ8 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 (for yourself), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM End Point: Solar Park THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPRESSOR, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS DRIVE. IF YOU ARRIVE AND HAVE NO COMPRESSOR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 9 AM. 1 Lead Marshal + 1 senior Member + 8 Members. If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR

This used to be my favourite story to tell in pre-Covid times. I'm sure many of you are interested but many are too shy to ask and some can't find the words or think it's inappropriate to question on that. It's not so bad a question and it's all about friends making new friends and passing on the skills we acquired in over a decade of off roading each. Thanks to Dr @Chaitanya D for asking and @Desert Dweller reminiscing those good old pre-Covid days. @Gaurav bhai is my senior and has been in the desert for maybe 14 years if I'm not mistaken. I just completed 12 years in the wilderness. For @Gaurav bhai he caught up with life and some difficult decisions trying to nurture Carnity since 2010. While I continued to learn where he left off. At one point he supported me in my initiatives and events and started coming back to off-road regularly. He hadn't lost what he had learned since we learned things the hard way. @Carnity started up thanks to his Mitsubishi Pajero which he never gave up on. In 2010 if you googled up your car issues we would just see websites from either USA or South Africa or Australia. Another thing was the Pajero never made it to USA and was known as Shogun or Montero in other places. The biggest concern was these other model specs would be built slightly differently not allowing us to understand or work on our own cars. @Carnity became the first website to share information on GCC spec cars, proudly it is the only one to date in the Middle East. Back in late 2016 when I got really interested and started sharing information about my cars and checking regularly for updates and advise for my Nissan Pathfinder R50, I saw some interest in members for off-roading. I asked @Gaurav bhai if we could start an off-road club to which he was not sure. But after several discussions and couple of months of heated arguments we came to an agreement. @Gaurav bhai proposed I post 3 drives at different locations and he would support me. If we had interested members coming out to drive we would form our club or I would never mention it again. Agreement made. Our first official drive was on 27 Jan 2017. @Srikumar was on that fist drive and never look back. This and all 3 drives went full and soon we had enthusiasts and that's how the @Carnity off-road came to existence. Initially it was all about creating awareness about the different aspects of off-roading and passing on the skills and the art to fellow off-roaders. But the only constant thing in life is change. Thanks to @Gaurav bhai who thought we needed to put the structure into words. Although it might seem that I am a man of many words, but putting the technical details to words is what @Gaurav bhai did best. Revising the structure and improving with every drive became our passion. The newly joined off-roaders seeing things from a different angle became our strength. I'm very pleased to be coming close to 500 members in the club and how each one of you have contributed and made the @Carnity off-road club a success story. Each member brings their own flavour with their experience, culture and point of view as we have over 40 nationalities coming out every week to help us grow this common passion for this ever growing sport of off-roading. We have been through many hardships and difficult decisions. But together we are proud to make the decisions best for everyone's well being. One such challenge was Covid19 which we are still all trying to deal with on a daily basis in all aspects of our lives. We at @Carnity made a decision to be the first club to introduce drives with the Covid19 restrictions in place. Our community who understands and stands by our decisions are our strength to continue doing so in the toughest of times. Love our community and love each and everyone of the members striving to wake up at 3 am for drives posted at 5 am. For taking pics and videos and sharing it on @Carnity and their social media channels and making @Carnity popular among family and friends. My sincere thanks to all of you who read it through. It's your efforts that makes us stand out among a sea of clubs.

You have to go to Dragon Mart 1 to buy radios. They are available in many shops in the BA section of the mall.

I totally agree with you @Ajiesh George Kannankara we need an other convoy

@Rahimdadyou can now start another convoy driving parallel to us...😂😂

thank you Richard for the note..I remain hopeful

Congrats @Najeeb Mohammed

Congratulations @Najeeb Mohammed

@Najeeb Mohammed Very well done! Very happy that you made it so fast.

Congratulations @sertac! Very well deserved buddy.

Congeatilations buddy @Najeeb Mohammed.. well deserved

Congrats @Najeeb Mohammed, well deserved achievement. Best of luck for the new adventure awaited 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Congrats @najeeb

Congrats @Najeeb Mohammed well done.

Congrats @Najeeb Mohammed on your promotion. You always impress on - especially when finding the convoy when you came to the meeting point late! Looking forward to seeing your continued progression now you are at this rank (ans seeing you on the exploration drive on Saturday)

Congrats @Najeeb Mohammed!!

Very well done @Najeeb Mohammed. You have progressed tremendously. Glad to have you Saturday for the Exploration drive, to celebrate your new rank.

Congrats Najeeb

Wooow awesome...feels so good and excited to take more responsibilities and learn more from knowledgeable people around in this Offroad world.. Special thanks to @Srikumar @Ale Vallecchi @Emmanuel @Gaurav @Rahimdad @Fredericwho helped me to climb the ladder. Thanks @Chaitanya D @Kalahari @Shiju Manuel it’s wonderful to drive with u guys

Dear @Emmanuel, unfortunately my car is undergoing some repairs (front bumper replacing and... yesss, cutting) and due to delays with the insurance approval they won't be finished before friday, so I won't be able to join. I therefore (and sadly so) canceled my RSVP. Enjoy the ride!

This is the longest waiting list in my history of drive posts. As a joke I need to clone myself and ask my clone to start 30 minutes ahead of me to take everybody on board. 1. @Islam Soliman 2. @Anand Nataraj 3. @Francois Germishuys 4. @marks 5. @Franco Swart 6. @luwaimn 7. @jodha singh shekhawat 8. @Luca Palanca Falsini 9. @Ali Abas Ali 10. @Sreejith Sreenivasan 11. @Mehmet Volga

Is this offroad museum UAE? I wander if this giant machine pops out or get stuck , what we do 😎?

You can enjoy free drive through movies here.. Aljada Movie Night Unnamed Road - Sharjah https://maps.app.goo.gl/khQxdM3Dd68xoPhC7 VID_20200915_201024.mp4

Ready. Steady. Shoot! Calling All Carnity Shutterbugs! Get a chance to publish your best shots on Carnity social media channels, with photo credits. The shots have to be taken during the Carnity off-road drives, strictly. There is no limit for sharing the best photos, so we can share between 1 to 10 best photo captures every week or per drive. You should upload your best photos in the gallery section ASAP for the timely consideration and selection. Photos uploaded must be above 1200 pixels and below 1800 pixels maximum. All photos shared will have the photo credits with your Carnity User ID. Follow us now on Facebook and Instagram to get regular updates. Thanks, @Mels Wolf @Frederic @Chaitanya D @Veedooshee @Heisem @J J for getting selected for the first run.

100 Points awarded to @Frederic for this "Exceptional Post".

OMG, this could have been the worst disaster in summer with children and age-old diabetic patient without food and water. Of course, many people drive for few drives and think they can venture alone, of course, you can but mother nature always strikes when you are least prepared. Apart from navigational skills or software their both cars stuck and that reminds everyone to go in at least 3 or more cars and not alone or in 2 cars. Stuck tow rope between two vehicles is very common especially if you are not a seasoned offroader and plan your recovery without considering the downslope, vehicle weight, angle, and tug intensity. Slight correction from Khaleej Times statement, GPS signal was unavailable they might have meant that 4G or 3G was not there and that's why "online" GPS connection wasn't available. GPS signals are always working BEST in the desert and even if you have the most stupid offline phone app, you can make your way out without counting stars, sun, and moon in today's age. GPS signal gets lost in an area that is filled with skyscrapers like in Burj Khalifa area, but they never fail in desert or offroad. I have been driving offroad since Garmin brick GPS days that works perfectly fine, now phone apps like Motion X for iPhone and wikiloc for android have changed the face of offline navigation entirely. Secondly, every car, phone, most watches and offline google maps have a basic compass, so even if they have followed the qudra lake direction back with correct northing, they wouldn't have reached to Murquab that is way too far. Secondly, they could have gone on top of tall dune by foot and visually spot the road or street light and mark that direction in compass to follow. We see road lights from 15-20 kms very easily unless you are in Liwa, Sweihan or Wagan expansive desert. Kudos to Dubai Police for sending the helicopter for search and rescue in such situation.

Some basic navigational skills would have helped here. Most phones have a compass, head north west towards the coast and you’ll eventually come across a road. GPS isn’t the be all and end all. If you don’t even have a compass, use your brain. Everyone knows the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, this will help you in the day time. Night time is even easier and more accurate, look for the Ursa Major constellation, make a line from the 2 stars on the edge and follow them towards Polaris, the North Star. I used to hike for days at a time in the mountains at home with no electronics and minimal gear and these 2 simple things always helped me find my way. Relying on GPS for navigation and phones or radios for communication isn’t always a good thing. Batteries die, things break, it’s best to learn the basics like our ancestors did so if things do go wrong, you have a chance of finding your way out. I could go on about survivalism but I feel that would be a whole thread on its own.

Saw this video and thought I would share it with anyone interested.

Thanks for adding to the tread @desertdude. This is very informative.

I have a feeling the author of this video is pretty uninformed and most of the advantages he lists are rather due to modern systems like traction control and stability control. Most earlier AWDs like the Honda CRV RAV 4 relied on a Torsen differential to mechanically engage when it detected slippage in the rear wheela. Like a LSD diff and much like a LSD over time that got worn out effectively leaving these cars as FWDs and 99% of the owners never reall went off the beaten path to realize that. Now most decent new 4x4s are full time AWD along with the option of Selecting 4x4 or they have the option of 2wd,Auto and 4x4. with ABS, traction and stability control they work just as described in the video. AND even today most of these AWDs use Torsen Diffs to save weight and costs rather than a transfer case like 4x4s, so even with all the gadgetry eventually they will turn in to FWDs unless the diff is serviced or replaced

@RahimdadHi Rahimdad, I see I was skipped on the waitlist.