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Thanks Sailors for joining in on drive today. Had been a year I was here on this side of Badayer and what a beautiful day it turned out to be - great set of drivers, awesome weather and amazing terrain. Honestly after 1st hour, I had my chin hanging down to my belly. Bushes all over the places reminded me of our last week drive to Faqa and had almost killed my enthusiasm for the day. However, as it turned out - it was just a initial hiccup as once we reached the real play areas - it was just superb . And we made the most of it - side slipping through super soft sand, criss crossing and switching over those awesome ridges - the whole convoy just rocked it. No stucks, no ropes and not even a shovel used - brilliant all. @Bashar Beasha - you were the perfect Sl for the drive. Scarred with all those bushes we had transverse, I was reluctant at multiple points but you responded well to all challenges and adapted beautifully. Thanks @Gary F and @Jaro Tuzinsky for helping out with all refusals in the middle and thanks @Beide Worku for keeping the convoy together. With you and @Mark B at end I was always confident - alls good with the convoy. @Hugo for the first fb+, was a really good outing for you, don’t think you had any major challenge other than couple of refusals. Welcome to next level of off roading - it only gets better from here. @Salim Akhtar and @Gertjan another perfect outing for you two. @Zulfikhar Naiyar had moments of doubts on his car, however once the flow started - it was really rocking the climbs and switches. Right approach can make a big diff even if car is having some niggles. The fact we had not so happy faces when I announced the end of drive is testament to the fun we had together. Thanks again for your company today morning, looking forward to catch up with you all sometime soon.

Thanks @Hisham Masaad Had a wonderful off road experience today. First time I'm seeing this pink rock. Despite living in Dubai for over 10 years, I had never come across such a place before. Now I feel a bit guilty that I didn't start this off-road journey earlier. Once again thanks to our marshal @Hisham Masaad and @Carnity to give this opportunity. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to @Looper and @Benjamin for their invaluable support throughout the drive and for being our 360 camera . Thanks to all the visitors, and we look forward to meeting again soon...

The Short Wheel Base 3.8 Pajero is a fantastic desert toy, @Stumpy Paj and many others rock it on any level, we even have the 5 door models on high level drives. The 3.5 would do fine as well but is slightly more underpowered. Of course there will always be personal preferences, but if I am correct I think the Pajero is in our Top3 of most used 4x4’s here in the club. @Looperran some numbers on that recently.

@Varun Mehndiratta fantastic drive today , so smooth flowing, great to have the return of vegetation free routes.

Congratulations to @Fabien Monleau, @Bashar Beasha and @salah2u for completing the most technical drive I ever managed to lead. From start to finish, all 40 kilometers, except perhaps the last few hundred meters prior to the exit, nothing else but tight dunes and very soft, powdery sand. Great concentration throughout the two toughest stretches. Just a couple of tricky spots produced a total of 4 tugs, twice with double ropes to allow pulling from the most advantages place. One key take away has been the need to find the optimal, most effective deflation point, to suite the warm hours and the super soft surface (somewhere around 10 PSI or a bit below, based on your type of tires). One more footnote: in the end, the track, navigated mostly without maps, using visual landmarks, ended up matching the drawing of Isengard posted with the drive (The Eye of Sauron marked by the white Waypoint).

Nice drive everyone. Hope you made it home okay and settled into a nice weekend. Threw in some pic in the gallery. See you next time.

I would approach it from the angle of whether you want a great car out of the box and leave it be or if you want to play with it, make modifications and customize it. Some cars are easier to modify then others based on supplier availability so if it is the later stick towards a car that is popular in the region with many options. Everyone has their own driving style so whether you want solid axle, IFS, etc will be dictated on your own personal preference. At the end of the day if you can’t decide just buy a Nissan Patrol and you’ll never look back 😜

Thanks @Varun Mehndiratta and fellow sand surfers! I had a great time out with you all. Great area, great drive and great team. Got a bit trigger happy with the pic's. Hope you enjoy! See you all soon on the sand!

Amazing drive @Varun Mehndiratta Thank you. I really hope we see more drives organized in that area.

Trip Update: Date: 27 July 2023 Country: Oman Region: Duqm to Sur On the road to Sur, we had 2 well-known points we wanted to visit: Sugar Dunes Bar Al Hikmann beach Sugar Dunes: https://goo.gl/maps/HMHEsg6KQdzoXN6s6 They can be reached by entering from here: https://goo.gl/maps/wLVe8rvExhFAxUr88 It's about 25mins on a regular gatch track, even in 2WD and inflated it was fine to do, as this is the road to the Duqm Salt Factory nearby. The catch track continues to run parallel to the beach at about 20m from the actual shore. The sugar dunes are called because they are actually white as snow, and the contrast with the blue sky and ocean was stunning ! Nice Google Photos: We didn't feel like going back on the same track where we came from so we kept following that same track which goes towards Al Khaluf and here it became tricky as at one point we had to deflate to 15psi, engage 4x4, and drive on the beach itself (mostly over litter that washed ashore). It was compact and no issue, but when you are alone it is a bit nerve wrecking and I was glad to be back on the regular gatch track later on. (gpx track attached). However beautiful the sugar dunes are, the moment you get closer to Al Khaluf you will see tons of litter / plastic that washed ashore. It's a shocking realization that somehow all of us are partially responsible for this and I hope in the future we can see this reducing by all doing our best. Barr Al Hikman: https://goo.gl/maps/q1UdTzMTWEiLSuML7 Entry from here: https://goo.gl/maps/KF2hEPiD4JRReJJYA In 2021 I read this article: https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/oman/2021/10/29/a-delightful-adventure-why-retired-omanis-are-heading-to-barr-al-hikman-beach/ it immediately made me put Bar Al Hikman on my Oman wishlist, but as soon as I started doing some research I read countless contradicting stories going from "totally fine with any SUV", to "extremely difficult due to salt-flats and sinking risks !! take multiple vehicles !!!" Evidently I wasn't planning on taking risks being one car only so it was on my mind for the last couple of days and after doing a lot zoom-zoom on Gaia to try to find existing tracks, I noticed a few tracks running parallel to each other, and ending up at the beach. The distance is about 40km but a big chunk of it is on salt flats which can be extremely deceiving to navigate. I drafted one track in Gaia and wanted to decide once we reached the entry point that day. The moment we reached the entry point next to the road, I was like "this looks totally fine, as it contained lots of gravel and bushes, and felt very hard. We discussed amongst ourselves and agreed to go in on moderate speed with 4x4 engaged and to keep an eye in the rear-view mirror to see if the car actually sinks in. If it did we would immediately retreat without second try. We started heading in cautiously and the first 10-15 mins were extremely easy. I followed my planned route religiously and there was indeed a nice hard gatch track on that salt flat, which looked like this was the regular route for the ones who come here often. After about 20 km, the terrain opened up and all around us we could see only endless sabkha, and to our biggest shock we track we drove on remained perfectly compact, but just on the left or right of the track you could see tracks of cars that immediately sunk in and retreated back to the compact part. This meant we had no other option than to continue on that compacted sand and not stray away from it at whatever cost. It became drop-dead silent in the car and kept going at 50-60 km/h and Alhamdullilah that track was a blessed one as it took us straight to the beach where we only saw one other visitor. I have attached the GPX file here but take note of the following: - I would NOT recommend doing this alone. I was experienced but all this means nothing if you sink into sabkha mud. It would have been a serious stuck and only on our way back 1,5hrs later we noticed some cars entering that could have potentially offered us help. - Even if you enter with a couple of 4x4s, following the track STRICTLY and do not deviate from it. If you see someone else stuck who has deviated from the track, the only option would be to join several ropes together and give a pull from the hard track, as you really do not want to venture into the mud yourselves. Luckily the end destination was worth it: a beautiful beach but unfortunately again a lot of litter and plastic that washed ashore. My son took a quick dip and soon we made our way back on the same track, this time we sped up to 80-90kmh without issue as we knew the track was fine. I now understood the big contrast in comments about driving to Barr Al Hikman. If you are not comfortable and experienced to follow your GPS compass heading exactly, you are in big trouble as sometimes that hard patch became difficult to see and we had to rely on the gps solely. Secondly even experienced off-roaders have been caught off guard as the salt flats shift and move as per the season, tide, and overall temperatures, so what was fine and compact today could be slushy mud the next day. We walked out of there unscathed but with sweaty palms and the acknowledgement we should always respect nature and abide by its rules. We booked a small cosy bungalow in the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve area (SAMA Ras Al Jinz) which was extremely quiet, dark, and they offered delicious dinner and breakfast. Would be a great spot for stargazing ! We drove back to Dubai today, and this closes our trip. I am honestly already planning so many things for the next time we head to Oman. We have completely fallen in love with this gem of a country, its people, and the adventures it has to offer. For anyone who likes a road trip, sunny desolate pristine beaches, majestic and sometimes lush green mountains, super nice hiking/swimming in wadis, fantastic scenic dunes, and so much more, I would say GO NOW before this country becomes too well known. bar-al-hikman-track.gpx sugar-dunes.gpx

What to add to @Ale Vallecchipost ? After a month of break, back in Al Faqa… Heat and soft sand we’re waiting for us under the watch of Sauron… Deflete, deflete and deflete again to get the right grip… But defletion did not avoid to get stucked… Every recovery consuming your energy left… Happy to be back home… A big thanks to @Ale Vallecchifor his great lead, in this very challenging terrain… Very nice to drive with @Bashar Beashaand @salah2u I wish you a nice week I hope to drive with you again next weekend 😉