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Always been dreaming of capturing the starry sky from the darkest spot in the UAE ? Join us for a stargazing session in Al Quoa, Abu Dhabi, and camp overnight under a beautiful night sky ! In the week of March 4 2022, we will have a new moon, which means there will be no moon visible in the sky, which is ideal for stargazing. Bring your Digital Camera, and we will help you practice to get the best results out of it. The plan is to have a meetup with max. 15 members to practice and enjoy the art of Night photography and learn from each other. Bring whatever Digital camera you have and have a look at the advisable settings in your camera's manual or ask in the forum. After the event you can publish your photos in our gallery ! Meetup Location: Al Quoa, Abu Dhabi https://goo.gl/maps/MZVv2zZP73hecPAP7 What to bring: Your camping gear and some firewood, red headlamp and/or flashlight, camping chair, Camera or Smartphone, tripod, film/memory cards, extra battery, Recommended Lens(es). A tripod is recommended for night photography. This is NOT an Off-Road Drive. For the members who are joining us, please let us know which camera/lenses you are using and in which category you would put yourself: 1- Absolute Newbie. (Interested in Photography, but mostly use the Automatic settings, and things like aperture, iso, and f-stops are a mystery to me). 2- Enthusiast. (Is not afraid of experimenting with the manual settings, and knows his way around his camera a bit). 3- Jedi Master. (Is mastering not only his own equipment, but can help out or other members during the session). You can RSVP on below Calendar:

Dear all.. happy to confirm all WL is now added to the drive. Pls check your plan and in case you can’t make it pls remove your RSVP before tomorrow morning.. thx

Three men are in the desert when their jeep breaks down... They decided to split up to find some help. One of the lads, Jack, says "I'm taking the radiator since it has water in it." Another, Mike, says "I'll take a hub cap, for shade." They see their third friend, Greg, taking the door off. "What in the hell are you doing, Greg?" "Well if it gets too hot, *I can always roll the window down*"

@Deepak 11 it’s green pass or I think PCR taken within the last 48 hours (if Al Hosn is grey)

I have a 05 discovery2, silver too, its serving as our storage now because it has no documents... I drove it first time on sand, before I had license 😛 , and also why I am here now😈

Hey Frederic, I will be in a Land Rover Discovery 2, I have been out a handful of times with friends and another club. The car has towpoints. Looking forward to it! Thanks Ben

@Karthikeyan Govindarajan @Mus_hus78 @Rob H @Hasan Wahlan @ShereenMK thank you guys for joining the drive. Checklist Reminder Make sure your spare tire is in good condition. It should be the same size as your other tires. Ensure you have the wrench that fits the wheel nuts. Ensure your 4x4 has been recently serviced and all fluids are topped up. Keep your car light and only take the essentials, you will need all the power your engine can deliver. Bring enough snacks and water (5-10l water), some snacks and light lunch are preferred. Radio should be fully charged. If you have a spare one, plz bring it along. Last ADNOC station is at LIWA city https://goo.gl/maps/m9LnNsrs1Xjnvnau6 Carry Extra 20ltr feul Bring all your offroad recovery gears (every car must carry tow rope, shackles and shovel) Please ensure everything is strapped and secured properly. My mobile number in case of emergency is 050 699 04 11

Expected and truly deserved . Congratulations @Davie Chase 👍

No worries dear Thomas

Dear @M.Seidam, Sorry I need to sign out as a meeting suddenly popped up on Saturday morning

Good morning. As excited to be in sand again, and meet you guys, below is the list of names, attendees and waitlist. Appreciating all to reconsider their situations, joining or not, considering the long list of WL. Attendees ASAD. @ASAD. Shahid Mehmood @Shahid Mehmood Joseph Raju @Joseph Raju Andrew McCarthy @Andrew McCarthy Jose Thomas @Jose Thomas Harshal @Harshal Mark D @Mark D Karthik Raptor @Karthik Raptor Nathan @Nathan Prakash Anoop @Prakash Anoop Waitlisted Attendees Simon Dawood @Simon Dawood Tareq Al Turq @Tareq Al Turq Han @Han salah2u @salah2u arjumand @arjumand KKIRAN @KKIRAN Pierre de Maigret @Pierre de Maigret Peter Hager @Peter Hager Antony Abraham @Antony Abraham Senthil Kumar @Senthil Kumar Manoj Soman @Manoj Soman

@Davie Chase Congratulations !!!

Bravo @Davie Chase. Keep it up 💪

Thanks @munkybizness always a pleasure to drive with you mate as we work well together, appreciate all you help and guidance as i came up through the levels

congratulations @Davie Chase. well done!

… and what a brilliant job getting here too. Congratulations on the promotion @Davie Chase. From my first drive with you, you’re not just a great driver but an excellent team player as well, ready with the shovel and to help when it gets tough for any of us. See you on the sands soon!

While offroading, we cross dunes by using different methods, based on how the dune is formed and what the drive level is. Once you have spent some time in the desert, you will slowly start to pay more attention to the dune formations and how we cross them. Once you reach Intermediate and Advance level, you'll need to start learning how to read these dunes in order to navigate and create your planned routes in the desert. As a rule of thumb, the prevailing wind in UAE is blowing from a North-Western direction to South-East direction from 10AM onwards. At night and in early morning it will be reversed and blow from the South-East to North-West. This is something you should remember and you will notice when you zoom into certain areas with your navigation app (Google Maps, Gaia, MotionX, Mytrails,...) you will notice that the wind from that side has caused the dunes to take on their shape. This is a general rule and will not always apply, as you will see that in certain areas where wind is coming from different directions, you will see for example "star" dunes appearing. There are different types of dunes which are separately described below. As you can see in below picture, a dune is formed when the prevailing wind blows on a mound of sand, where the grain will move into the wind direction and create a ridge. The sand which falls on the other side of the ridge, creates a slipface, and this sand is not compacted by the wind. This is the main reason why we generally drive on the prevailing wind side or the convex side of the dunes on the Newbie level. "A dune is a curiously dynamic creature," wrote Farouk El-Baz in National Geographic. “Once formed, a dune can grow. It can change shape and move with the wind. It can even breed new dunes. Some of these offspring may be carried on the back of the mother dune. Others are born and race downwind, outpacing their parents. [Source: Farouk El-Baz, National Geographic, February 1982] The shape of dunes is affected by things like the strength, direction and consistency of the winds; the consistency and amount of sand; the hardness of the terrain and the amount of vegetation. Below we will describe the most common dunes found in the UAE. Different Dunes Crescent or Barchan Dune This is the most common dune. It forms the shape of a crescent moon when the wind blows from one direction. We generally use the words concave and convex to describe both sides of the dune: * Concave is a shape that curves inwards. * Convex is a shape that curves outwards. Crescent-shaped mounds generally are wider than long. On the concave side you will have the slipface. These dunes form under winds that blow from one direction, and they also are known as barchans. Parabolic Dune A parabolic dune is similar in shape to a barchan, but it is just the opposite. The tips of this dune point into the wind, and its main body migrates with the wind, forming a depression between the tips. Because of this formation, parabolic dunes are also known as blowout dunes. These dunes often occur when vegetation stabilizes sediments and a U-shaped blowout forms between clumps of plants. Example of Parabolic dunes near Faya: https://goo.gl/maps/ob8xu3y8VJJvF6hk8 Longitudinal or "Seif" Dunes They are also often referred to to as "sand ridges" or "seifs". Their length can range from a few meters to many kilometers and their height from a couple meters high to a couple hundred meters high. Wind pushes the sand and forms ridges parallel to the prevailing wind direction with slip faces either side of the crest. Linear dunes are straight or slightly sinuous sand ridges typically much longer than they are wide. They may be more than 160 kilometers long. Linear dunes may occur as isolated ridges, but they generally form sets of parallel ridges separated by miles of sand, gravel, or rocky interdune corridors. Some linear dunes merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes. Many form in bidirectional wind regimes. The long axes of these dunes extend in the resultant direction of sand movement. Barchanoid Dunes These ridges are similar to Barchan dunes. They are connected in long crescentic waves as the sand supply is much greater than that which forms a Barchan Dune. Star Dunes These dunes are formed when there are several prevailing wind directions - there is a complex wind regime. Typically there are three or more slip faces, whilst the dunes do not migrate they grow in height. Star dunes are radially-symmetrical, spyramidal sand mounds with slipfaces on three or more arms that radiate from the high center of the mound. They are created when the winds blow equally from every direction, causing the sand dune to grow many extensions and resemble a star. They are rare and are fairly stable and remain in the same place. Some are landmarks with names. Example of a Star dune: https://goo.gl/maps/jRnYghQc8ACzVz6T7 With this knowledge, the next time you step into the desert, you can start looking at the different dune formations, and this will give you lots of knowledge that you'll be able to apply in the future when leading and navigating off-road drives.

Congratulations @Davie Chase for reaching the Intermediate 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. INTERMEDIATE Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 10 Fewbie Plus drives are required within last 6 months for Intermediate promotion. What you'll learn Basic GPS and navigational skills Basic tow rope and winch recoveries Extreme side sloping and long hill climb Tall dunes ridge riding and criss crossing Precise control over technical dunes Fast pace desert driving Clear radio communication skills Advance recovery skills Self recover from dune crest Soft sand recovery Pop-out fixing Skills required Adventurous and thrill seeker but in a safe manner Level headed under stressful situations Responsible, dependable and accountable Car Worthiness Capable 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle High profile tires Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor, tool kit, rated recovery rope and 2 rated shackles, GPS. Drive teamwork Manage center forward position with Trip Lead’s permission Learn/assist recoveries under Trip Lead’s supervision Re-route convoy and coordination, when needed Learn to lead small portion of Intermediate drive under Marshal supervision Drive Joining Join Newbie, Fewbie, Intermediate and Exploration drives only Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

General Info 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 Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive details Level: Newbie and Above When: 27 Feb 2022, Sunday. Meeting time: 07:00 AM SHARP Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/LZZosc4n8rem59GD8 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: 11:00 AM THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. WE WILL ENDING THE DRIVE A POINT, WHICH IS NOT CLOSE TO AN AIR LINE. 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 12 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 3:00pm 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 below Calendar

Dear friends In the last version of this loop drive " the loop III " we will be driving in a relatively high demanding terrain which is going to be mostly technical entailing both driver/vehicle optimum synchrony. our aim is to rely on self recovery with the aid of the shovel keeping the rope as the last resort ; hence the title NRD for No Rope Drive. if you sign for this drive please its highly recommended the following points to be taken in consideration for the at most safety desired : make sure your vehicle is at its optimum condition with all fluids and lubes been checked for any leaks and topped up. please check you tow recovery points and its integrity. check your spare tyre size and its condition and make sure you have the proper tools needed specific for your spare tyre change. check your offroad gear and that its tied up not loose. please don't forget to come with two fully charged and programmed radios or a car charger available for it. this drive may induce a motion sickness to some individuals prone to that such as children and persons whom are known to experience it . so please make the safest choice for them. pleas prepare your self for some delay due to the nature of the drive. 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 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 Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie plus and above When: 26 Feb 2022, Sunday Meeting time: 07:00 (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Starting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/pJyciG2B3UvSRy1M8 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: 11:00 THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. WE WILL END THE DRIVE AT A POINT WHICH IS NOT CLOSE TO AN AIR LINE. 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 Fewbies plus and above drivers. RSVP will close on Friday 09:00 If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please add your self on the wait list option. 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 Below Calendar:

@Hisham Masaad confirmed from my side

Hi @Gaurav - any idea if we need Al Hosn Green Compulsory ( or even if not green, but all vaccines taken ) is Ok for Dubai people to Join this?

Confirmed. We are coming

Goodmorning @Faisal Patrol and @Damian Paliś! Welcome to Carnity Offroad Club ! As a small introduction, kindly inform us about the following: 1) Which 4x4 are you bringing ? 2) Do you have any prior offroad experience ? if so please specify. 3) Is your 4x4 equipped with towpoints at the front and back ? This is mandatory to join our drives. For your first drive, i would request if you can bring the following items: * Pressure gauge * Tyre deflator * Air compressor so you can inflate your tyres after the drive (petrol station is nearby but has a defective compressor). If you have more offroad equipment, you are welcome to bring it along. Do not hesitate to post your questions on this forum. See you on coming Sunday !

@Hisham Masaad Confirmed

@Hisham Masaad confirmed. Thanks

Yes Damian, you will need to join the Absolute Newbie Drive first.

I hope opportunity presents itself. With the Marshal that have led , I feel safe to try out the potential

@Davie Chase wow that was quick😃 congratulations

Congrats @Davie Chase... Enjoy your next level...

Congrats @Davie Chase...see you on IM drives too

@Vaibhav will be sure to join you bud, you wont be far behind me so i am sure you will be joining me also on the Intermediate drives very soon

Congrats @Davie Chase to reach IM level. See you in the sands wrooming in your red wrangler

Congratulations @Davie Chase😁 well deserved

Congratulations @Davie Chase on your promotion. Well done.

Getting there @Davie Chase well deserved. Congratulations

I'd like to thank @Gaurav@Srikumar@Frederic you for organizing such an incredible event, as well as the other crew members and support team who made this journey possible. @GauravThis is the first time I've followed your lead, and it was as good as other marshals. The reason I say that is because everyone's main goal is to have a safe drive while having some fun. Thank you for your valuable advice and assistance with recovery; it was a good learning experience. @imranaasghar81Thank you for the second lead; you were right on the money with the gap and rerouted us with your expertise. @Alphin AloorIt was a pleasure driving with you for the first time, and I was always confident in following you. @LooperThe data and statistics expert You have been an excellent CF and have assisted us in overcoming adversity. @Fabien MonleauIt was a pleasure to drive with you; you made the 76 series sail through the ocean. @munkybiznessIt was fantastic to have your experience and advice during the journey and in difficult situations, my neighbor and Trip Partner. @Zixuan Huang - CharlieIt was a pleasure driving with you because you made that Nissan partner drive like a Y62 with such confidence and control. @Ashok chaturvediThank you for the sweeping; you've been driving on the bumpy track and assisting us in navigating through a difficult situation; you've been feeding us phratha and tea like babies; it's always a pleasure having you in the convoy.

Day One (Gaia GPS Link) I covered 86 km in exactly 9 hours. with a moving speed of 15.6 kmph and moving time of 5-hour 30 min. Day two (Gaia GPS Link) I covered 59.9 k, in 4-hour 42 min at a moving speed of 20.2 kmph and in 2 hr 57 min moving time.

What an epic drive. Lot of driving and lots of fun. This drive needed a lot of planning both from marshals ( @Frederic-FB, @Gaurav-FB+, @Srikumar-IM) to organize and the participants to bring the right amount of stuff so that they can drive safely and well. After a day and a half of driving I am quite impressed by how well the drive was spread-out over two days. The majestic Liwa - empty quarter dunes are like Sirens; they invite you to ride them, but they won't let you drive over them. Often exceedingly difficult to read and extremely easy to get stuck. Half the dunes are not even drivable, but majestic and a remarkable sight. I could not even count how many times I gasped at the beauty of the mother nature here in this barren desert land. On the first day we tried to start early but covered a lot of ground and reached the 18th hole in time to set up the tent and gather around the bonfire. The first eighteen waypoints were quite easy to navigate since they were from one sabkha to another, so we wandered around and had lots of fun. Thankfully in our FB+ drive we did not face many refusals and the few that we did face - (by @Gaurav) they were masterclass in self recovery - being applauded by everyone every time he self-recovered from a seemingly impossible stuck. The camping site was one of the best I had seen. On a dried-up lake front, under the stars without any light pollution. The moonrise in the east was a sight to behold. I was tired and slept like a baby late into the morning the next day. On the second day our drive was a bit straight though the waypoints, but they were not as easy as first day's waypoints - quite challenging to be frank. But we quickly wiggled out of all the stucks and refusals and reached the end, stopping only to take a few nice photographs to commemorate our achievement on finally crossing the Liwa. This Liwa Crossing was indeed a test of endurance and grit, and I am quite happy to be a part of this first installment and looking forward to next year once again. A big thanks to all who participated and contributed to the drive. @imranaasghar81, @Alphin Aloor, @Waqas Parvez, @Fabien Monleau, @munkybizness, @Zixuan Huang - Charlie & @Ashok chaturvedi.

Liwa Crossing IM Convoy Trip Report I Had a Dream by Martin Luther King. For many of the senior members at Carnity @Gaurav @Frederic @Asif Hussain and myself included, always dreamt of doing a crossing through the empty quarter. It's been on our agenda for more than few years, but every previous attempt ended in some sort of disappointment as we would encounter numerous oilfield and military fences. This time with some help from the AD Tourism Department and a lot of background research over the past 3 weeks a route was decided that would make us all Live our Dream. Liwa is the ultimate challenge for any UAE offroader, and those who participated in the crossing witnessed the most amazing terrain in it's majestic glory. Thanks to the detailed planning of @Frederic we had divided the entire track over 25 waypoints (WP) with plenty of scope to scale the level of the drive depending on the convoy response. After a thorough combined briefing of all the convoys, we set of in an Eastward direction. As soon as we reached between WP2 and 3, @Mus_hus78 unfortunately had a gear issue which was too much of a risk to continue in this terrain. Wisely, he decided that it's better to exit out. After exiting him, we again went back to the starting point and re-entered the sand. We made our way through the sabkha to WP3, from where we started making our way through the dunes. We made it close to WP 10 by around 1 pm when we took a break for lunch along with the FB+ convoy. The brief lapse in concentration after lunch showed as we had a few stucks and a difficult popout. We then encountered some beautiful spaced out dunes between WP 11 and 12 with lots of smooth bowls that allowed us to ride them and cross them at will. However the exit from this section proved to be the biggest challenge of the day. With only a narrow route available for exiting the going became exceedingly tough for the cars in the second half of the convoy. With some good inputs from some of the team members we tried some alternate routes and finally after struggling for more than 90 mins we finally found a way out. By then it was 4:30 PM, so we raced through the sabkhas clocking speeds of more than 110 km/h to WP18 where the FB and FB+ convoy had already arrived for the overnight camp. Camping in the desert under the beautiful stars is a wonderful experience, and with some great friends and wonderful stories we had a perfect evening. With still about 7 WPs to go, to hit the final exit track, we started off Day 2 at around 8 AM. The experience that we had gained from the first day showed during the second day drive as we all took better angles, kept the right momentum resulting in lesser number of refusals and stucks. By 12 PM we reached the road having completed a total distance of 203 km over a driving time of just above 13 hours. The entire course was pretty tough with sudden dips, powder soft sand, razor sharp ridges and insanely steep drops that required 100% concentration at all times. There were places that we could race up the dunes at 70 km/h and there were sections that we had to meticulously crawl ourselves through at 10km/h. As @Mario Cornejo mentioned at the end of the drive, this was a drive where all our recovery skills were put to the test. The drive also brought out an equally important point, that in these kind of drives your main strength is the team. There were numerous occasions when the entire team got together to find a way out of the situation To the entire IM Convoy of @Ranjan Das @Xavier Treasurer @Mario Cornejo @varunmehndiratta @Jorge Stepniak Felippe @Amir Amiri and @Ahab Shamaa you guys deserve a huge round of applause for some excellent driving in a very challenging terrain. There are only a handful of off-roaders that can state that they succefully completed a Liwa crossing and you are amongst them. A big shout out to the FB and FB+ convoys as well who were brilliantly led by @Frederic and @Gaurav for completing the entire crossing succesfully. A special mention to our AD expert @Asif Hussainfor all the help in the planning of this route. You were truly missed, but we look forward to doing this route once again together. Till we meet on the sands again, take care.

It was another amazing drive with Team Carnity. As always it’s a pleasure driving with @Brette. Thanks a ton for @Vanessa8580 for all the support and guidance. I did go to the tire shop and got my tire and rim cleaned Apart from that bummer I really enjoyed drive. Thanks to all the fellow convoy member for the company. Got some pics which I will save to the album.

Thank you team for the enjoyable drive and I'm looking forward to driving with you again soon! 🙏 Special thank you @Brette for reaching out last minute for the extra radio. Really grateful 🙏

Good morning everyone. Thank you @Brette, @Vanessa8580 and @Alfred Alinazar for a good drive and all the assistance provided. It was a bit of a challenging drive with all the churned up soft sand in parts closer to Pink Rock. Picked up some more good tips, which are all appreciated. Have a great week ahead.

Thank You @Brette @Vanessa8580 for routing us through some good and amazing dunes. whole team was fantastic and cooperative. We got some refusals and STUCK today but i didn’t see anything @Vanessa8580 🤦‍♂️.. 😁 Another great experience with some soft sands and tricky dunes. tested X-terra for these conditions. Thank you Guys. Will see you in next drive. 👍

Hi @hugo There are the known places like Qudra: https://goo.gl/maps/MGTbmawgUkw2cCkz7 https://goo.gl/maps/X8H9YPDYBURMz8Mo8 https://goo.gl/maps/cNAha6wuBTQTEfzH8 Mahafiz area (you can use the pylon track to access): https://goo.gl/maps/GBEn99M9KLZASz2eA Overall i would recommend you join us for drives in the several areas in UAE, and keep your GPS device on (Phone with GaiaGPS app). If you see a nice area that is not too crowded, just save it as a waypoint in your GPS to visit later with friends. Focus on finding something that is not too deep inside the desert (in case you have friends without offroading experience), close to an exit track, and not an area where you would be constantly disturbed by cars zooming around.

Everything you need to know about Off-roading in UAE from Desert, Mountain, Wadi and Camping As simple literal meaning off-roading means any terrain off the road, but it gets way too confusing as per so many people different understanding with not enough clarity. After spending 12 years in UAE off-road scene, I feel this write up will help many offroaders clear their doubts and explain a lot of intrigue details to other aspiring offroaders. Off roading is a way of life For a vast majority of UAE population venturing offroad over the weekend is a way of life, that you sneak away from your busy lifestyle and enjoy the adrenaline rush to forget all your worries and recharge yourself. Why and how do you forget your worries? While off road driving your brain has to process hundreds of instructions per seconds that you will eventually forget all you were thinking in the first 5 minutes. And this process continues for the whole offroad drives and keeping you super alert at all times to have the best experience every time. Offroading is an act of driving a standard, stock or modified vehicle on any surface other than the tarmac road. It can be on loose gravel track, beach sand, desert, dunes, mountains or in wadi's (riverbeds). There are several different ways of off-roading in UAE based on your adventure appetite from leisure drives with stock (unmodified) vehicles to slightly modified vehicles to competition level with highly modified vehicles. Off road drive Sand Driving This is the most basic and first step towards an offroading. This requires your standard road 4x4 vehicle with proper 4x4 and LO gearing or even AWD vehicle is acceptable to a certain extent, but not an SUV. All you need to do is deflate your tires to 14-15 PSI to gain more traction and increase the footprint of your tire to spread the vehicle pressure on a greater surface area. At first, learn some basics of offroading in the sand in UAE. Plan your entry and exit points carefully either by following offroad books available in UAE or by existing trails from wikiloc. This level of a drive can be done on the beach, desert or any place close to the habitat territories. In the desert, it's usually restricted to either flat tracks (sabka's) or easily passable tracks on the broad dunes. Dune Bashing This is the most common level of offroading in the UAE, where the group of offroaders get together and venture in desert dunes and explore the uncharted and uninhabited territories. This requires a proper 4x4 with minimum 8-10 inches of ground clearance and deflation of 10-15 PSI depending on the tire and vehicle load. This level of drive organizes in the desert having plenty of dunes to make your own path on virgin sand dunes. This challenge requires special skills of reading the sand and riding the 4x4 with precise control to continue moving without getting stuck. Self-recovery in the sand is the most important skill that every offroader should learn after the first few drives. If you are stuck in the sand, then listen to the instructions very carefully without getting panic. Get out of the car to analyze the situation and also to help the person who is helping you either by shoveling or by fixing the tow rope to your car in the proper recovery point (tow hook). Once you are out of the stuck, do remember to get out of the car for removing the rope and thanking the person. In dune bashing chances of getting stuck are very high and that's why most of the offroaders venture in groups to help each other with proper offroad recovery gears. You can join the like-minded offroad club freely available over Websites, Facebook, Meetups and Whatsapp groups. All you need to do is join a couple of few to find where do you fit the best, as every offroad club and groups are different and unique in their own ways. Some people do prefer private drives over the club and vice versa, check out the reasons here. Mountain Driving This is the second most common level of offroading in the UAE, where offroaders get together to explore beautiful mountains, wadis, and gorgeous camping spots. This requires a proper 4x4 with minimum 8-10 inches of ground clearance and deflation of 22-25 PSI depending on the tire and vehicle load. This level of drive organizes in scenic mountains either accessible by gravel track or by tarmac road to a partial extent. Traversing through rocky mountains or riverbed, do require a special skill that is easier to learn with capable offroaders. Similar to dune bashing, you can join any offroad club for quickly gaining the right experience with safety. These are the Top 3 off-road mistakes in Desert & Mountain that you can learn and avoid. Off road cars Depending on the level of off-road adventure you seek, you need a capable off road vehicle to make you a good offroader. Not all 4x4 and SUV are made equally capable and some are better, stronger and more reliable than others. To begin your offroading journey you can take your regular road vehicle if it's equipped with 4x4 gearing and LO gear option and also have 8-10 inches of ground clearance. Once you get a hang of this new offroading hobby it's always better to invest on a separate dedicated offroad vehicle because of several reasons: You can enjoy the best of both worlds: a comfortable vehicle for road and stronger vehicle for regular off road use An offroad vehicle will be limited to weekend bashing to prolong it's offroad usable life, as every offroad car require more frequent maintenance than the road car. If your offroad vehicle is under repair, you can still safely use your road car for daily commute. You can freely modify your offroad car by trimming bumpers, lifting the suspension, additional lights etc. You will be more comfortable in pushing the rev limiter in 20-40K dhs offroad vehicle than in 200K road car. Here is the list of best offroad 4x4 cars under 10K and 20K dhs in UAE, if you really get serious for offroading. After every offroad drive, you need to check your vehicle before hitting the road again with these post offroad drive car care checklist to make sure if your vehicle is safe for the road again or not. For more serious and regular dune basher, you should learn from other offroaders mistake to know what went wrong just before the accident. These discussions and feedback from seasoned offroaders will help you avoid the disaster and save your life and vehicle. Last but not least wherever you venture, please do not throw your trash or anything as it's a house of beautiful wildlife who get killed by eating plastic, tins, glasses and even metal threw as garbage. If you spot anyone doing it, please explain this to them as many people think that desert is an abandoned area and they can throw anything there. Due to this inconsiderate approach authorities are fencing lot of conservation area and also issuing hefty fines for offroaders littering in the desert or mountains. Feel free to ask me any question for more details or suggest me to add more valuable points for offroading in the UAE.

No Man's Land: To Ganthoot and Back - Drive's Report "What you seek is seeking you" - Rumi As soon as we passed a dirt track that cuts through the desert close to the Dubai/Abu Dhabi border, I started looking for the large herd of oryx that usually roams this area. It usually requires a patient zig-zagging exercise, driving around the dunes, using some beautiful, lonely, palm trees pushing through the sand, as visual waypoints. It may take some time, and the oryx may not be gathered together, to offer the spectacle we hoped to find. This time, what we were seeking was seeking us. In fact, as soon as we started looking for them, the oryx materialized walking their own dusty trail, across the dunes in front if the convoy. We followed for a while half of the herd, while a few minutes later we reached the watering hole where the rest of the oryx were resting, only to see them move away toward the blazing sun. Always a great sight, the families of this bovines, calmly trotting away with their little ones, the males turning toward the convoy, stopping often, as if asking "are you done looking at us?" We had reached the "zenith" of our drive after an adventurous itinerary, through the entry technical area, past the first massive dune we used as our first beacon, and on crossing a few sets of tighter cordons alternating with smoother, more open canyons and sand bowls. Along the way we met with a few unplanned situations: a lost phone and its miraculous recovery, two back-to-back pop outs, a coupe of cars with leaking tires. Nonetheless, all drove very well, on a track that I was hoping may prove accommodating to Fewbies, but likely will have to remain a Fewbie Plus drive. Looking back on the drive's management, I would like to thank the whole convoy for a great handling of the soft sand, the tight dunes, the string of sand bowls, and the tricky criss-crossing into repeated rocky areas. Everybody responded with skills and control, making the drive as smooth and as safe as possible, and contributing to extend it through the last cordons separating the military shooting ground and Solar Park, where we were able to witness a stunning sunset. Invaluable help and support were provided by @Chaitanya D (record holder for the quickest pop-out fix),@Foxtrot Oscar (welcome back, from snow to sand), and @GauravSoni with a well executed Second Lead. Great driving by the "younger" members - @Ranjan Das the only Fewbie + of the convoy, and @Watteaudebuting at Intermediate. @imranaasghar81 you had more trouble with your phone than with your FJ (well done). @Shehab Alawadhi hats off for your ever more expert handling of your big truck: did you find out why your tire was leaking? @Thomas Varghese thanks for the assured drive, as well as for the beautiful photos you posted. @jodha singh shekhawat, well done with your new mount: the more you drive, the more you two will become a perfectly coordinated unit. As for @Arda Yagcioglu, @AlexPol and @Ali Abas I rarely heard from you, which means you were enjoying a smooth, relaxing and well done drive. Thanks everybody for driving 69.5 Km, in 2:36 hours of moving time (for a total of 3:32 hours), at a moving average speed of 27 Km/h (20 Km/h total). See you soon in the sand. It was only part of the herd, which we followed for a short while, before going to search for the other half, still visible on the left of the convoy.

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