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Dear Desertnauts, a quick update on next Friday's drive. Even though summertime reduces the number of off-roaders, and the desert has enough time to cancel most of the tracks that have scarred it during the winter time's high-season, we are always in search of pristine areas to explore. Even though Lisaili is not the most visited area by Dubai's clubs, finding untouched sand still requires a good amount of planning and searching. Hence, we'll use its "backdoor" to access Lisaili's less beaten paths, to get away from the area closer to the pylons, directing the convoy toward Murqab, where we'll spend some time playing on its tall dunes, before re-entering Lisaili's heart through the Highway to Solar Park's sand track. The terrain will be a mix of long range dunes and technical areas. The speed will vary, from fast to slow, and all off-roading skills will be tested. @Chinthaka Ruwan, @Russ, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Niki, @Nithin Vaidir, @Werno, @Matt.T, @Lakshmi Narasimhan and @Humayun Ghias welcome to the drive. More info on Thursday evening. See you soon out there.

@Sunil Mathew @darren thompson @Charbel @Hardik Mody @Tareck @Aisha S @Abdul Rafay-S @Adhir Saxena @Zixuan Huang - Charlie @Anoop Nair Thanks for signing up for the drive. As explained in the drive post, Area 53 can be the one of the most wonderful as well as most difficult areas for Fewbie level drives. This area has got it all - a whole lot of tall dunes, sharp drops, pyramids dunes, rolling dunes soft sand, etc. Our plan is to visit as much of the pyramid and rolling dunes that time would permit and try to reach Iftar bowl before it gets too hot. For those of you who are wondering why a sand dune bowl in the middle of the desert is given a strange name as Iftar Bowl; that is because in pre-COVID era (seems like ages ago) on the 3rd Friday of Ramadan month all the offroad clubs in UAE would gather at the base of Iftar Bowl in the evening and the fasting members would break their fast. It has been an offroading tradition for more than 15 - 20 years and it was always wonderful to see as many 200 - 300 cars at the same time. Hopefully we would have the opportunity to relive this tradition during the next Ramadan. In the meanwhile, we will make do with what we can and keep practice playing on these amazing rolling dunes. If any one feels that they have hardly used their shovels so far and that its getting rusted, Area 53 is the perfect place to put them to very good use. Me and @Hisham Masaad look forward to driving with you all this Friday, and hopefully we overcome the challenge of Area 53 as a team.

Waitlist as per 27 July 2021 1) Ranjan Das 2) BipinM 3) Humayun Ghias 4) Joseph Sebastian 5) Alexander Alcala

Looks you will be sleeping most of the time, better stay back home😬

Congratulations to the top 10 HOT SHOT Photographers, based on Facebook reach. @TT_Dubai @Veedooshee @Charbel @JeromeFJ @Jeepie @Chinthaka Ruwan @M.Seidam @Mario Cornejo @Looper @Lakshmi Narasimhan

oooo I haven’t used my shovel yet. Looking forward to it!

Interesting @Ale Vallecchi, see you all soon

Sure Gautam, I’ll put you on the waitlist. Hey @Mikhail Lukichev sorry to hear you cannot make it but we will be definitely using your tips and hints and hope we can meet soon again !

As an experiment we are doing a short Fewbie drive this weekend in Khatim. Based on that result we will decide if we can expand this further.

Again @Ale Vallecchi becomes favorite for taking on nice ridge riding in rain and beautiful rainbow!!!

Thank u @Gaurav...really pleased to see how my photography skills got better..☺️ @Lakshmi Narasimhan pleasure is all mine, I try to click that super Pajero whenever I get the chance...such a beauty in the desert..👍

😂😂 i’ve done plenty of upper body workouts this week so i’m good

Hi @Ranjan Das. Let's wait until tomorrow then. Will confirm ASAP. Thanks.

Hello @Shehab Alawadhi. Thanks for signing in. Actually, there was a waiting list, so let me ask the other 2 members if they still plan to join, and then we'll decide. Thanks for understanding. Hello @Ranjan Das Are you still interested in joining the drive? Thanks for letting me know.

A nice article to get introduced to Astrophotography and Time lapse recording: https://www.canon.com.au/explore/astrophotography-timelapse-tips-from-matthew-vandeputte

@Dwain FernandesCongratulations!

Thanks @Gaurav . I really enjoy the drives also the beautiful landscape and vehicles with us. My favourite @Ale Vallecchi in action.

would be good to see AUH local drives while we are in lockdown.. do all marshals live in Dubai? maybe it is possible to move start to 6am, make drive shorter to exit 9am, or exit at 10am even?

Thank you @Gaurav This is one of my own favourite ones

A ‘mattress’!!!!! Okay I may try and beat Gaurav’s recliner by bringing my camping Cot and a pillow!

Hello! Long time no see! Was out of the country for some time. Perseids Meteor Shower should be nice! As you can see on the picture below, it peaks at 04:31AM 13Aug21 with 83 meteors per hour. That means, that you can see, well, one meteor every 5-10 minutes 😃 Because the rest are so small and fast that it is very hard to catch them by a naked eye. At midnight you can expect 36 meteors/hour, at 02:00AM around 60 meteors/hour. So, definitely, you will see them! Gray shape indicates a number of meteors per hour, gray line is elevation of Perseids, blue line is Moon. It's a bit of a challenge to take a photo of meteors though. Even though meteors should come from azimuth 25-35deg and elevation 18-48deg, I can tell from my experience that you will notice them almost everywhere, all the directions and elevations. I believe that it is because we are located very close to equator (not sure though). Anyway, to take a photo of them you need to have sterile conditions 😃 Set your tripod, camera, settings, enable time-lapse shooting for a few hours and wait. Refrain from touching the camera and using flashlights. At the end of the session, check your photos (could be around 100-300 photos) and try to find ones with meteors. You can find 5-10-15 shots with them, depends on your luck. Later, if you want, you can compile everything in one photo. My best advise is to bring a comfy chair or a mattress, sit back and relax. Just enjoy the silence, stars and meteors (from time to time). Unfortunately, this time I will no be able to join you as I work all these days. If some of you are missing this event, be sure to check Geminids Meteor Shower on 14th of December with 95 meteors/hour! It is even more bright and cool than Perseids. Hope it helps a bit 😃

Ramandbx @Ramandbx jerzen @jerzen Damien Ranjit @Damien Ranjit Shama Zamora @Shama Zamora FARAZ MOHAMMED @FARAZ MOHAMMED Veedooshee @Veedooshee Alex Hollands @Alex Hollands Alexander Holodny @Alexander Holodny Pieter Potgieter @Pieter Potgieter Joji varghese @Joji varghese Rsjiv Samuel @Rsjiv Samuel Adam James @Adam James Congratulations, you successfully signed up for the Newbie Murauab drive on Friday. Myself and @Lorenzo Candelpergher will be delighted to see you and we look forward to a fun and exhilarating drive together, supported by @Veedooshee. Our plan is to see if we can take a Newbie convoy all the way from Murquab through to Last Exit. That's a challenge even for more experienced drivers, so we will see how far we can get in that plan. It's always good to set expectations high, but accept that it might not end up the way we planned; perhaps that can be the motto for Off Roading. If anyone is a doubt for the drive, please sign out early. We already have a waitlist for the drive and if you cannot come, it's a shame to deny the chance to someone else. For me, one of the exciting things about this drive is the chance to meet so many new faces with whom I never drove before and the chance to see the develpment of one or two where I led their absolute newbie. Expect all your newly learned skills to be challenged on this drive. We will have a few descents, some baja running, a little technical section and some big wide dunes on which to play - basically, this drive has it all. See you soon in the sand.

Congrats @Dwain Fernandes!

Nice initiative @Enrico Biscaro ....i am intrigued by while how diff the stories they all seem so similar. So here's my story - hv always hated driving for as long as I can recall.. Was always happy to allow my brother or friends drive me around - who can complain about a chauffer driven ride. Been in UAE since 2007 ( @Niki like your golden cage metaphor 🙂 just I prefer to call it an amusement park) and just like @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil always stayed close to the office - ..have always spent more time taking car in and out of home/office parking then on road....For last 12 years drove a Lexus IS - nice vehicle however stuck to it not for love of it but just to avoid searching around for the next ride and then Who Cares.. Couple of years back, bored of usual outings to restaurants, staycations, home parties, my wife cajoled me into a camping trip to fujairah beach and somehow next I know we were driving all the way to Salalah. One thing led to another and demand for a SUV started to rise at home and somehow my 8yo was adamant that it has to be one with a Spare wheel at back...don't ask why as I am still looking for answer. As soon as I sought some help at work, a friend took me to Jeepers and next I know 2 months later - we had a Jeep at home - again while being a nerd I did all the research deep inside, got to know about all jargons however was sure I wasn't going to use any of the features - I mean I had never even parked my car on a kerb, expecting me to hit the desert or off road was beyond my humble imaginations. And demands continued to grow as after a month I garnered some courage to visit Qudra lakes (yeah not the desert but just the trip to these love lakes etc itself needed a lot of determination). Story of how I shifted to 4H and even 4Lo to reach Qudra lakes became the office banter when a friend pushed me to join a drive to Pink rock with another club around Oct last year. And the bug had it's laugh, as soon exploring clubs I ended up with Carnity in Nov20. And now those 100km drive early in morning (or late night) to reach the meeting point seem like a fun drive and missing out on a weekend drive makes the whole week seem incomplete. 6:55pm on Sunday doesn't need any alarm. For a guy who would hire a handyman to fix bulbs in lamp to someone who is cleaning car filter every weekend I have come a long way and I thank team @Carnity for the same. Thanks all

GPP also do a Fujifilm loaner where you can book out a body + lens or just lens. There's a sizeable security deposit but you can get the X-T3 or X-T4 which are both excellent low-light performers if you're just getting your feet wet. https://gulfphotoplus.com/blog/905/The-Fujifilm-Loan-Program

Are you shortlisting for 1st drive?

Thanks Nivin

please add me to waitlist...

Excellent ! Thank you!! I’ll be there !

Jason, you made it to the drive, we had a drop out.

@Zixuan Huang - CharlieCongratulations Charlie!

Wowwww, thanks @Gauravfor sharing this. Excited to see my car featuring twice. Thx @Veedooshee for the nice pics!!!

I've always believed that sharing stories is a great way to connect and make new friends. After all, we humans evolved around campfires all around the world. The Desert is a story in itself and I can imagine thousands of place I'd love to set camp and start a fire followed by YOUR stories and adventures. A good meal and a drink also always help to overcome the little differences that makes each of us unique and special. In the link below my 1st Story. Thanks @Frederic for sharing your expertise with me. P.S. Trust me, I am geologist.

If not for the drive but can I join for the photography part of the drive? I meant to drive on one of the previous occasions but had to skip as I had to travel.

Please add me to the waitlist too - as a second drive.

Having been in an and out of Dubai since 1980 when I was born, (in the Uk they where giving away free passports then 👍🏾)and I have seen the place change. We where a Lebanese family living in Mirdiff and starting business here . Everywhere was quite in the 80’s in Dubai SZH road being two lanes and jebel Ali beach being in the desert 😂. Al Ghurair Centre wasthe first mall we visited with shops , visiting Sindebads as a child , we were frequenting there a lot. We lived on the edge of Mushriff park ……my playground then a complete desert being watered into what it is now, my father when I was 5 came home with my first desert toy. I remember the day clearly when my mother freaked out at him and he opened the doors of his red 84” Range Rover Classic and there was freedom. My first desert toy a 50cc Suzuki quad. Soon as it hit the ground I was on it, hit a corner on tarmac full pelt and realized straight away how to drive on two wheels on a 4x4 before crashing obviously in the first 5 mins. But that was the start of my desert love, gradually through the years the engines got bigger, the wheels got less. Driving the cars was a part of the learning curve, driving when I 6 years old for the first time in dads lap while he accelerated for me ! I never wanted to live here full time though. Was just here on holidays, 3x a year, job offer after job offer turned down when I was older. Till now and COVID trapped me here , lucky though I was here when the country locked up. The funny thing is before lock down I spent 8 years at sea, crossing the Atlantic multiple times, Indian Ocean , Red Sea everywhere traveling the world cooking as a chef for people with more money then sense and ridiculous toys! Till COVID and a lock down and a fiancé who put her foot down and said enough traveling the world and now I’m here again. Traded in my addiction of the sea back for the desert as a child but in an adult toy this time, my patrol, I always loved that car seeing the locals go anywhere and everywhere in it when was younger. Funny though as a child how I used to cross the desert alone no worries, not getting lost, water bottles of petrol tied to the back , granny’s food packages and friends in tow. We could draw you a map of the tracks we used in mushriff park and the canyon that was there! How different driving in the desert is now and what we consider safe rules to not go alone and what was the norm before. But here we are today spending every non working moment driving again with friends or with carnity when possible, making new friends and back to bringing the desert home to my living room too annoy a woman I love . First my mother now my future wife! 😂 Desert or ocean once you are deep in and at the mercy of Mother Nature there is something beautiful about it’s simplicity and I often find those who love being at sea for different and similar reasons love traveling in the desert too. See you in the sand all.

Hi @ShereenMK unfortunately due to the curfew imposed we are severely limited with options for AD drives. We will first experiment this weekend with a short Fewbie drive to see how this goes. As you are aware the curfew is until 5AM in the morning, and with the summer heat we need to be able to exit by 09:00, so that limits the timing and no marshals can be on the road in Abu Dhabi before 5AM. Stay tuned and bear with us while we are looking for solutions and hope this curfew will be lifted soon.

Thanks! Looking forward to share a drive with you although is going to take time fo Rome to catch up with you

Well done @darren thompson!!

Congrats @Dwain Fernandes, well done

My off-roading sojourn began in 2011 when at my best friend's engagement brunch (under the influence), I stupidly boasted that I would take the couple out for a drive. I'd never driven in the desert before. I was hoping nobody would pick up on it until he did. Little did I know that his neighbour was a marshal in an off-road club. And suddenly, my ill-conceived boast had blown into a drive the next morning. I immediately proceeded to head home, to sober up, and watch as many videos as I could find on "how to drive off-road". The morning after, with sweaty palms clutching onto the wheel of a borrowed 2002 LC, I reached my friend's house to find that three of his ten year old cousins were also being bundled into this "fun trip". I should have come clean at this point. I didn't. At the meeting point for deflation, my story began to unravel. As I bobbed around like a confused munky, another driver came to my rescue and that's when I came clean. He quickly gave me the low-down (pun intended). The loud blaring music was turned down, the radio now chirping, three kids in the back, a half-nervous couple who were getting an Arabian Adventure for free, and me, trying to cram like I did ten minutes before exams in high-school into my short-term memory. H comes before L, Diff after L, L only if you're stuck, radio confirmations, something about gravity... And then we were off. Nervously overbearing on the pedal sometimes, and then backing off, I was quite the erratic driver. But as soon as we hit our first small dune, the crest and trough melted all of those fears away. And then another, and another, and another. Everything came together. The storm inside (my mind) was finally calm. The backseats not so much. This is the first pivotal moment when I caught the proverbial bug. It was all was very smooth sailing until we hit our final "playground" Iftar Bowl, where my short-term knowledge broke the cardinal rule - "never fight gravity". I did that at the tip of the bowl, nose pointing twenty degrees upwards, in a car full of screaming children, a couple planning their happily-ever-afters, and the car itself contorting to the side of the slope creaking and croaking with sound effects straight out of a horror movie. I remember the next thirty odd minutes like it was a day. But with tons of guidance, I managed to get it unstuck. Back at the base of bowl, our car was eerily quiet going back to the exit. However, inside my mind, I wanted to go back there, and figure out how to do it safely, and right. This was the moment when I truly appreciated the happy fear that comes from taking on something big. The kind of fear that forces you to learn and scale yourself up. I wanted to get that feeling again, but more so I wanted to learn to do it correctly. It would take 10 years for me to finally commit to driving off-road. The two drives I've had with Carnity so far have been transcendent 🐵 This topic (thanks @Enrico Biscaro) and the amazing response I've seen in the past two weeks makes me feel like I've finally found the right place to do this.

Thank you @Enrico Biscaro for initiating the topic. I ve driving 4x4 cars since 1997, and never thought to go off-road. I am a person of work and home only, and if I go out, I go Fridays and holiday with the family. Sometime about 2015, was on one of sites in Nad Al Shiba, and upon leaving thought will make a short cut, and cross a small sand island to the road. Was driving Nissan safari, and got stuck. Was summer noon time, and had to call one of the drivers with 3 tons pickup to pull me out 😅. I was the joke of all whom he heard. In 2016 decided to take a one course with one of the driving institutes. Did not go much in the desert, since was driving Y62, and second drive with Nissan guys, all bumpers got damaged me and all others similar. Decided to stop again, till I bought the FJ from one of my friend in Oct 2020, where I joined @Carnity, and turned out to be a different person now.... 😃

Hi @Lorenzo Candelpergher Please waitlist me first drive of the week. Thank you.

@Niki I love your definition of Dubai. About the GLS. I love it. It drives beautifully also in the desert. Look at the GoPro 6 footage (not stabilised) and you will notice how smooth the ride is. I wish I bought the off road edition with an extra inch of clearance and even lower gear ratio. Alas when shopping for used car you might not have the choice. Now, I will probably regret this ride as my car is at the mechanic...something happened on the ridge where I got stuck. Talking about feeling stupid and being laughed at, I am sure I will be joined the club very soon... I love this! I am sure we can apply this not just when off-roading, but in everything we do in life. Thank you so much for sharing openly your story, It is a lesson for all of us.

Excellent idea @Enrico Biscaro My story started in November 2020, when me and my friends planned a trip to Qudra to burst firecrackers on the occasion of Diwali (festival of light) at around midnight. We were 2 cars (prado and LC) and the plan was to go only 500 meters in the desert and burst firecrackers. Since we were all rookies, and did not deflate tyres, the land cruiser first got stuck and the prado got stuck when trying to pull out the land cruiser. We were then helped by a police patrol car around 4 am, after trying to dig out sands with our hands (we did not have a shovel) for 3 hours. This is when i got my offroad bug and i joined carnity in Jan 2021. Ever since, i have not looked back and make every attempt to join weekly drives which gives me a break from all the work related stress, city noise etc. I was never an early morning starter but my Friday and Thursday night routines have changed after being part of the @Carnity family Cheers and see you all in the sand!

Congrats @Dwain Fernandes!

Heartiest congratulations @Dwain Fernandes; great going, keep it up

Excellent idea. Made me think of how i got the offroad driving bug. I moved to Saudi Arabia in 2012 and wanted to explore the deserts a bit, but had absolutely no clue on how/where to start. I fell in love with a big blue 2007 FJ Cruiser which i found secondhand in Dammam, and was imported from the US. It looked immaculate, and i was even able to trace back the original US owner. On a lonely weekend, i deflated my tyres a bit and went offroad. Soon i found myself stuck and was approached by a friendly Saudi national who came camping with this family. His two young kids who were perhaps only 6-7 years old started to deflate my tyres further to try to help the self recovery, but nothing worked. He called up a friend that arrived 20 mins later with a heavy modified Chevy Blazer. He pulled me out of the sand and as we were talking the guy kept asking "Did you engage the 4x4 ?" To which i replied "i assumed the FJ is an all time 4x4" ? and a few moments later we realized this was actually a 4x2 model from US. (two wheel driven only). I felt super embarassed but we had a good laugh about it. I decided not to give up, and to practice a bit more before selling the FJ. At 10psi i was actually able to reach some nice camping spots and enjoy my weekend outings. But by then i realized if this is so much fun in 2WD how much fun 4WD would be Eventually i ended up selling the FJ, and ended up meeting the wonderful Carnity family which taught me everything about offroading and so much more.

Beautiful video @Enrico Biscaro and a good way to connect with stories, always work wonder. Lemme start with my favorite story of how I started off-roading, as many might not know this hilarious bit. My girlfriend (wife now) company invited us to a gathering in the desert on a safari tour. Saw how my wife enjoyed and scream during that ride motivated me to sell my Lexus GS430 (I used to be a sports car guy, before off-roader) and changed to Land Cruiser. She joined me for three drives and got bored, and I got this offroad bug for my life.