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Trip Report The enthusiasm the trip was going to be blessed with was evident with everybody being on time and deflating, getting ready for a tough day in the desert besides zero visibility in some very dense fog. I was hoping the fog would lift to some extent as I tried to brief and advise everyone regarding what to expect from the sands in foggy conditions. But no matter how much warning you give, somethings are still better with experience and that is exactly what the day had in store for us. I was so impressed with this convoy from the start as it seemed they all wanted to learn and experience the drive and feel it. As we started to move around 7:15 am the fog was still thick but a ray of sun light had my hopes high, however the visibility was playing tricks and I ended up entering at a very wrong time which resulted in 4 cars stuck within 50 meters of entrance. At this point I decided to clear the refusals and move them all back out on the track. My second attempt to enter was much more successful, but the first part itself gave away the things in store for the rest of the day. With hard sand on top as the first few cars went over would expose the softer sand inside which made me fear the result if we tried to do some sideys and thus controlled myself with some small doable ones. The promise was to prepare everyone not on for the things to unfold at the fewbie level, but with a taste of a few things to come at the intermediate level as well. I think we managed it pretty well, We did small sideys, to some ridge riding to some very easy criss crossing while riding the top of the ridge. At the same time we were treated to all variety of challenges that this terrain had to offer us, from refusals, to stucks, to partial pop-outs from which we had to jack a car for one of those, to having to use a winch. I think this variety of experiences kept everyone engaged throughout the drive and was an amazing learning experience even for me. My heartfelt thank you to all my brothers who kept their patience levels at the highest, enthusiasm even higher and the spirit of helping and moving as a group united at the peak of all the action. I cannot thank each and everyone enough on this journey of ours, my first thanks would go out to @Ashy whom I have seen after a long time. He was my second lead and I am totally impressed with his development since I have last seen him. Not only was he handling this terrain well and responding well to all instructions given to him, but also was very intuitive while driving behind me. I say this because at one point I took a wrong line and had a bad bump, but as soon as I was reaching my radio I saw him drive around the danger. Very nicely done and the best support I could have asked for in that second lead position. @andy_macdxb who made it to the drive even with a bad back and with full enthusiasm, patience and without a simple complaint. I did not see him get into any kind of trouble throughout the drive. Although he was very quiet and patient with the numerous situations we had to deal with, whenever I approached him he was always carrying a smile and injecting me with more positive energy. @Danish Mohammad showed us that he had absorbed all the information during his previous drives and putting it well in practice. Besides driving well he has this inquisitive approach to learn and help in any way he can which was highly appreciated. Remember 10 hands are better than 2. He lend a hand in digging and I feel has a very good reasoning and understanding to the concepts of off-roading. When your pillars are strong what ever you build on these pillars will stand firm for a very long time to come. @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader was another participant who was fully engaged and always at hand when required to do the additional digging and efforts to help the convoy move. Without his help we would have been more stressed so it was amazing to have him as part of the convoy as he too rolled his sleeves and got into the thick of things. @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan brought with him tons of positive energy with a funny side to lighten things up. Really enjoyed his company and the odd remarks to keep us laughing and enjoy the digging. Although he was already far from my sight, but whenever I got a glimpse of him he was doing amazingly well and the lack of him falling into trouble tells me that he doing really well at this level. @Shaaz Sha made my day wonderful even before my day started by volunteering to help during this drive, thus I gave him the most difficult position, the Center Forward. In this position he did well to keep me aware of the challenges around him and waited for me to come back so that I could guide him through the recoveries. It helped that he had most of the equipment on board and gave me confidence to throw challenges at the convoy to learn and grow within this healthy environment. At times we could fall short of experienced support, and help from such enthusiastic members is always been our strength. @Ranjan Das was amazing throughout the drive and carried a contagious smile which was difficult to contain. We even had a @Ahab Shamaa moment in Liwa as after digging for almost an hour in a soft patch that made it difficult for recoveries, @Ranjan Das offered us the help with his winch. It was a hilarious moment for me and a relief from the digging as well as @Ranjan Das lined up his Jeep perfectly for that amazing recovery. Thank you sir as you saved us some valuable time and energy to continue digging when I got stuck. This time we were more careful though when making sure the winch cable went in properly not to destroy the cable. Sorry for your cable @Ahab Shamaa, hope you had that sorted out. @Aus Alzubaidi was the first to reach the meeting point and confused when he called me, I was only 5 minutes away at that point and I guess that confusion was soon sorted out as when I arrived most of the drivers were already there and deflating. He carried an amazingly relaxed way of driving with a very calm demeanor which brought a sense of calm to the drive. This is a welcome trait to balance the drive and I really enjoyed your company as I see a very different way of you showing your excitement with calm and relaxed way. @Niki Patel was just amazing. We met earlier on one of the drives but were on different drives, we got to finish on the same spot which we had met on earlier which was a nice note to end the drive on. He managed well and quietly but surely picked up lot of pointers during the drive. I must compliment the people who have led him earlier as he has been taught well and I had no trouble throughout the drive. After seeing his photography skills I must say I was blessed to have him as part of our convoy as he not only drives well, but has posted some wonderful shots as well. @Nihal17 was an amazing person to have as part of the convoy as well, but did not get to hear his voice much. At times I saw him struggling and he still needs some time to understand his vehicle better and trust his vehicle and himself more with certain maneuvers. Hope to catch you again soon to further coach you to learn how to trust your vehicle and yourself better. It would not be a bad idea to join a few newbie drives to gain more confidence. @N@ved was my pick to be the sweep for our convoy for a few reasons and delivered beyond my expectations. For one his Wrangler is more than capable to handle any terrain which I have seen in our previous Newbie drive. Another reason is his handling of his vehicle is very precise. He is very clear in his communication and thus the best candidate to keep me aware regarding the tail of my convoy. Finally his attention to details has even captivated me on the forum how he reads the articles with detail. He did not prove me wrong on this trip and was not only there to make sure the tail was wagging, but keep me informed at all times and always ready to help with recoveries. My first fewbie drive in 2 months and my fellow brothers on this drive really made this drive worth it for a long time to come. Keep these spirits high as we move forward together as a team which is beyond comparison to any. It was amazing driving with an amazing bunch like you and very proud of our community and the way it is shaping up to take off-roading to an absolutely top position in our near future.

ALL THE REASONS FOR LOVING DESERT OFF-ROADING IN A DRIVE - Full Day Drive Lahbab to Solar Park Report Sunrises and sunsets, misty mornings, sunny days, blazing dusks, yellow, red and white sand, crawling pace, fast runs, lunch with fellow members, coffee, tea, conversation, refusals, second-attempts, working together at sorting stucks, directing traffic amidst tight dunes and rolling bowls, the excitement at starting a drive, and the satisfaction at the end of it. This and more, depending on each one's sensibility, passions and expectations, are the elements that draw certain people irresistibly toward deserts, and off-roading, and which were all available for our enjoyment in yesterdays' full day drive. In terms of the drive itself, most of it had been described in its presentation, so I will not repeat myself. Suffice it to say that all terrains were available to us - sabkhas, with little or lots of vegetation, tight technical areas, long range open (more or less) dunes, play areas with sand bowls, even pylon dirt tracks and tarmac roads. We were chased by the sun, from sunrise to sunset, throughout a drive that took us a total of 6:55 hours, covered 143.2 Kms, at a total average speed of 21 KM/h, and a very impressive 27 KM/H average moving speed in the second segment. As for the most important part of the drive, the human component, my biggest thanks to all the drivers: great driving, great attitude and great company. My first thoughts (and questions) go to @Yasas Dharmadasa and @Athula Dharmadada: it's a pity you had to forfeit the drive due to mechanical issues. Please update us on your car's prognosis. A most felt thank you goes to @Kalahari, resuming his position as trusted Second Lead, often mind reading my corrections, to @Ahab Shamaa, managing the long convoy from the middle and assisting with the winch, and @Francois Germishuys, not only positioned at Sweep due to his long, big, bad truck, but also, and foremost, for his reassuring driving skills. Your support was key to managing a successful long drive such as this. Words of praise go to @Thomas Varghese and @Ken Hüüdma, debuting among Fewbies, but driving like much more experienced off-roaders. With only minor imperfections (a moment of distraction on one side, and an indecision coming off a ridge on the other), you allowed the drive to be bumped up to more than Fewbie, closer to Fewbie Plus, both in terms of skills being applied, and speed sustained. Well done also to @sri ganesh, for overcoming all challenges and perfecting his command of the Pajero (which often requires a bit more time to manage in the desert, to to its length and mechanics). @AlexPol, @VipinShetty, @Joe Biju Joseph and @Islam Soliman, you were the more established, experienced drivers, and managed with so few issues that lifted any worries from my mind, and contributed decisively to raising the bar for this drive. Thanks to all for this first Full Day drive of the season. See you soon out there, for more long treks and explorations. Enjoy the new week.

OMG, thank you so much @Niki Patel, this is marvelous. It's true, you had the force with you yesterday. Those shots are out of this world! Yesterday's drive was special indeed. New weather brought new challenges. Driving with superman @Rahimdadis always unique, with his helpfulness, contagious spirit and humur, you don't feel the time anymore. We were all humbled and remimded yet again to never ever underestimate the desert. Our own lead got stuck. That really humbled me down. Seeing my wheel fly in the air proved that I have to spend years to learn the art of offroading. Thank you everyone for the enjoyable and challenging drive.

Good morning fellow adventurers!! Today's drive will see us start at the 2nd of December Cafeteria, we will stretch our desert wheels for a few mins in the nice dunes at that side of the road before crossing over and heading towards Faya. As we do so we will find lots of lovely dunes which will provide opportunities to criss-cross and side slope. There will also be some technical areas to negotiate before we reach the promised land of the mighty Faya dunes. That's the plan! Let's see how we do as we don't know what the desert Gods have in store for us today. Whatever happens, one thing is guaranteed, we're gonna have lots of fun!! 😊 We will be using Radio Channel 1 (one) My proposed convoy list is as follows: Driver Car Level Position Angela @Foxtrot Oscar Black X-terra Expert Lead @Goutam Yellow Wrangler Intermediate 2nd Lead @Probir Mukherjee White Landcruiser Fewbie 3rd @Lucky sAm Nissan Patrol Fewbie 4th @siddharth maheshwari White Wrangler Fewbie 5th @GauravSoni Grey Pajero LWB Fewbie 6th @Tero Vallas Prado Intermediate CF @Anvar Sadath Bekal White Pajero LWB Fewbie 8th @Archibald Jurdi Red Wrangler Fewbie 9th @Ranjan Das White Wrangler Fewbie 10th @Rizwan Waheed Gold Pajero LWB Fewbie 11th @Yousef Alimadadi Pajero LWB Adv Sweep

@Wrangeld here. I am using @Jeepie log in at the moment as my computer is on vacation. This really was a drive of three halves. So much happened I think that most of you forgot about it by the time we finally reinflated rather later than planned close to last exit. Half one: Murquab to the Sand Way This was a great start to the drive. The fog made the sand deceptive. It looked hard packed, but was dangerously sift underneath which meant that quite a few got dragged in and refused or needed some assistance to get through the sand. I made the start of the drive a little more technical than usual. Firstly, because it was foggy and we could not have the convoy stretched. Secondly, I knew that gaining confidence in some technical dunes here would make the Qudra dunes less frightening. The great shame was that we lost an hour trying to fix the pop out on @Sanjay Malik car. It's not really completely preventable so don't worry, I was just disappointed that we took so much time to get it sorted which is why we agreed to extend the drive. Half Two: SandWay to Solar This is always the really fun part of this drive. Barreling through the dunes and avoiding some horrible technical dunes all the way to being able to enjoy some of the big wide and exciting dunes of Qudra. It's not often you can safely drive these speeds in the desert (unless you are on the Paris Dakar). And then arriving at the East side of Qudra and the big dunes and being able to cross dune after dune after dune. It's great and exciting stuff and a lot of fun. Everyone was fantastic and showed what we learned was being put very quickly into practice. It was a shame to say good bye to @Ben84 and @Nitin Mohan at this point. Half Three: Solar to oblivion ...and beyond There are some days things go great, others, with tired drivers we have more challenges. I was pushing the convoy to new heights - because I was confident you could handle it. I was not wrong, but the sand is fickle and the softness of the sand and the complexity of the dunes made things more difficult. Everyone was doing so, so well until the dreaded bowl of death. It's unusual to have to clear 6 stucks in one single bowl especially when they are a little complicated. We were all of 50 meters from safety when the stucks increased which was a disappointing because we really were so close to getting ourselves all the way to Last exit. But, hey! that's not always possible. Everyone was fantastic and helped and contributed and was patient and I cannot say how appreciative I am for the attitude and team work that EVERYONE showed. We really were in it together. Update is that we managed to exit @Dodi Syahdar car after the recovery guys failed. Some specifics: @imranaasghar81 - excellent 2nd lead. Great communicator. Excellent enthusiasm for everything. Great job. @Sanjay Malik - the popout was unfortunate, but apart from this you did well the whole drive. I am glad that you are happy to use the power. Hope your wife does not think that every drive will be as much fun as this. @Jen - I promise there are drives without epic recoveries. You did a fantastic job and showed incredible patience with your wheels up in the air for too long. Only your second drive - no way. @Mike Kraher - Impressed by your knowledge and enthusiasm for some real good Austrian shoveling. I think you under estimate the capabilities of the Pajero some times (but maybe I am biased and would say that) @Ben84 - your monster machine does give you some inherent advantages in the drive. The stucks were almost all due to not having enough power or momentum. Use the tool you have. Once you do, your drives will be transformed. @Nitin Mohan - while not as incredible as the Rubicon, a Prado has an incredible capability,. There are times when being a bit shy with the gas is stopping you getting through all the dunes. I am not suggesting power up everywhere, but a little more gas every now and again ... @Dodi Syahdar - It was a long day buddy, and I am delighted we managed to get you home. Not sure what went wrong with the 4x4, but it made it too challenging to have you exit with everyone else. Before that, a great drive. You understand how to handle the car to the full, but small errors in a car that big can mean that it's difficult to rectify them. @Mario Cornejo - the man with the car I want in my garage! Love the way you are getting to grips with what it offers the offroader. Your calmness really helps and your teamwork was fantastic when we had problems. @Lee Wilson - as a second drive I can see that you started understanding how much fun having that beast in your hands will be from now on. The popout was really easily sorted which was helpful considering the problems we had! I am looking forward to the next drive and my open promise remains. @Ashok chaturvedi - respect to you sir. Your first drive after your promotion to Intermediate and you bring your new motor to our drive. In the end, you have been able to play with all the toys and did a great job in understanding how it differs from your old drive... but please don't completely desert your Pajero roots @Mehmet Volga - we have been together on my two 'epic drives'. I cannot begin to thank you enough, buddy, for what you did for everyone and in supporting the drive impeccably. We are all in your debt. Welcome to being an advance rank at Carnity Truthfully, this was a newbie plus drive and you should all be extremely proud of yourselves and the drive you made. We travelled 50+km and had a top speed of 80kph. OK we also had almost three hours of dealing with stucks, but in the end, I really enjoyed the drive and have each and everyone of you to thank for that. Apologies for any afternoon plans destroyed by the late finish. See you soon in the sand.

Trip Report: Foggy cold morning was a perfect setting for us to explore in an area so well known among every offroader in UAE - Dubai/Sharjah. Fantastic to see everyone of you braving the fog to arrive on time to the deflation point at Big red. We waited close to an hour before it became a bit clearer as the sun rose behind the big red , nothing close to clear but just enough to see atleast 50 to 100 m. While myself was pretty sure it was safe to venture out while other convoys from other groups waited, I had to have a word with my other senior member and Sweep @Pancho who gave a heads up for starting. The first 1 hr was slow paced newbie kind of drive in foggy conditions, from big red to Tawi Nazwa. I suppose this was the most special part of the drive today as we were driving in misty conditions with an awesome weather.You all did very well to manage with the poor visibility, but however safe as I had to rely heavily on my previous GPS tracks to find a very clean path to Tawi Nazwa. From there as the sun warmed up, and fog cleared we drove to pink rock then other way around climbing from the side doing lot of climbs and sides on churned up tracks. I suppose @Craig Finlayson climbed the highest with his awesome Jeep. We then quickly went to our usual spot - Pink rock, by which time I had to check with @Nizam Deen as there was some sounds coming from his Jeep. He requested to exit out at 2nd Dec cafe, which I believe was a good decision by him. I hope it is sorted soon my friend. We crossed over the tarmac opposite 2nd dec cafe and played in this area doing some climbs, small bowls with soft sand where in we had out first refusals and stucks needing shovelling and tugs. All sorted in quick time , kudos to some fantastic socially distanced team work. It was getting pretty technical heading to Faya round about, but you all did great. As we got our cars on tarmac for 2nd time, we removed out flags while we crossed over to Faya rock and then started our off road journey again. We made it quickly to Faya where everyone climbed, ridge rode and climbed it from the center. @Craig Finlayson did it from the center , and @Mohamed Seidam ridge rode the Faya from right and left in his mighty xterra which was a treat to watch. Everyone took turns to climb and did well. We took the cheat route to the top, drove behind Faya in and out of massive bowls in quick time with some refusals and stucks , buddy managed. Heading to Fossil rock, we were on time for the route I had planned at this level to go through these terrains. We all did manage very well and exited onto tarmac near Khatim. @Kailas was a perfect 2nd lead, congratulations on your advance level. Look forward to your drives soon. @Nizam Deen drove very well till 2nd dec before exit out @Abu Muhammad always excites me with his monster V8 now winch enabled which is fantastic. @Mohamed Seidam showed us how to do a perfect safe Faya ridge climb. @Islam Soliman did very well, a fantastic team man to have on any ride. @Nabil Bishara the silent master on most of the drives. Very little on the radio but more on proper driving, fantastic. @marks did well with FJ, always smiling nature which brings positivity. @Craig Finlayson the master climber on all the climbs done today , tallest I suppose at Faya. While this is just to add some spice to the report - remember this is not a competition or a show, we all do it to enjoy safely. @Pancho was a perfect sweep, great to have for a complete peace of mind for the lead. Well done everyone, see you some time soon. Cheers

@Rahimdad Bhai, thanks for the kind words and trust. Honestly we all did well because we were guided by a very experienced, funny, patient leader and a great teacher. I hope to keep learning and improving from you and other Marshals/leaders and fellow off-roaders, looking forward to many more exciting weekends ahead. thanks to everyone on the drive and kind words of support, looking forward to meeting and learning from each one of you in our next drive. thanks to Carnity family, looking forward to another exciting weekend ahead.

@RahimdadSuperman to the rescue 😃 @N@ved 😃

@Thomas Varghese you shouldn’t be too worried about this my friend .. we all do mistakes the most important thing is how much learning we get out with .. maintaining sharp focus all the time is a hard skill specially in long drives like this one and in my view you did an amazing job for a first fewbie drive. thanks @Ale Vallecchi for another signature drive and looking forward for more of these and hopefully cross-country in the near future Thanks @Kalahari @Ahab Shamaa and @Francois Germishuys for supporting the drive and was pleasure meeting all follow Carnities .. hope to c u soon on the sand ..

Super drive, thanks to all. Great biryani banter. Thanks to Rahimbhai and all senior drivers. Some pics: When the general is stuck, everybody digs (unless of course you have a bad back)

As always its a real comfort having you as the lead @Chaitanya D and iv always enjoyed the awesome terrains that you lead us through. I immediately went to the garage after exiting and thankfully it was just a random metal piece clinging in the suspension and after it was removed sounds gone and all good! While i could have continued in the convoy i didnt want to risk a breakdown and slowing the convoy hence i decided to exit. Cannot wait till the next drive boys!

I am thankful to @Wrangeld for his sheer patience on the drive and how he successfully conducted the stuck rescues as General in the battlefield. My new FJ had a starting scare where the kill switch was not adapted for 2020 model and on engaging 4H it disconnected the power break and become manual plus I had a very irritating beeping that lasted the entire 6 hours of the drive. I have never seen or experienced so many stucks ever on any previous drives where nearly every car got into some trouble or other. I had pull out cars, used spade to dig and participated in 2 difficult popouts. Overall I thank my new FJ it was the smoothest drive I ever and can proudly claim that I never got stuck or refusal even once. The Pajero experience came real handy having a much more powerful car was simply awesome. Finally the garage fixed the kill switch today and I am looking to do a another newbie drive before going to F+ then intermediate. Thanks also to my other drive mates good team work overall.

Spicy drive entails a spicy report 😅 and it was. Flavor added by all drivers who really did very well and managed and enjoyed tasting such a fantastic drive on Carnity’s way safely always. @Chaitanya D a leader of excellence I would say. Today if it’s correct I would say it was all in one amazing yet challenging drive. Thank you for your continuous passion and care of your friends 🙏🏻👍 @Kailas fantastic calm second lead and can’t wait driving with you as a lead soon 👍 @Abu Muhammad it was a pleasure for me driving behind your mighty sequndra well done bro I loved watching you climbing all the way up and down feya💪🚙🙏🏻 @Pancho great meeting you and catching up definitely a pleasure. Thanks for watching our back🙏🏻 @Craig Finlayson flawless control and speed in any terrain you drive 🚙💪 @Nizam Deen good to have you today bro despite your early exist but as always better safe than sorry , great to hear that the problem was solved easily 🙏🏻 @Islam Soliman having you in any drive adds to the spice of trust, love and joy brother well done 🙏🏻 @marks and @Nabil Bishara your presence were definitely a joy to every one , hope to catch up soon with you once more well done 👍💪 last but not least I realized today two things I can’t drive anymore without doing them 😄 any one guess ? ... yes correct .. tight technical of a very churned terrain and ridge riding regardless of the inclination straight , up or down . wish you best week till next time cheers 🌷🚙💪👍

These are well known routes which have been posted by OutdoorUAE in their books as well. Most of them will involve more than one day driving and the terrain is quite challenging. Having said that we are building up our Abu Dhabi drives steadily and will definitely start organizing longer “over landing” trips in the future.

thank you @Rahimdad bhai for yet another memorable drive with miles of learning. @Shaaz Sha for your effectively managing the centre forward and @Ashy for the second lead. special mention for @N@ved for watching 'the tail'! @ fellow mates, it was indeed a pleasure driving and learning with you. looking forward to the next one! Some snaps in the gallery.

Absolutely. There are lots of spare parts available for years to come. The Pajero you referred too is a third gen 3.0 V6, which would be a great weekend toy after a good checkup, but the Xterra is more expensive because of the size, less older, and more powerful 4.0 engine.

What a drive we had today with @Rahimdad bhai, full of fun and learning through out the day. Thank you Rahimdad bhai for your support, guidance, patience and valuable advices at the end of the drive, loved your energy today. Thank you @Shaaz Sha, @N@ved for your help, support and guidance today during recovery and special thanks to @Ranjan Das for the winch pull to get out of that horrible struck 🙏 Thank you @Ashy for being our 2nd lead today and Thank you for the rest of the team for being supportive and never losing the energy, enthusiasm inspite having so many refusals/stucks (took as a learning by all of us) 👏 See you all soon again in the sand 👍

@Rahimdad what a great first experience under your lead! So much learnt and experienced and I truly appreciated the difference the climate made for us all on this drive! A tough start but it gave us some stunning sunrise pics and clean air. Have posted some on our gallery. @Aus Alzubaidi check out some early morning silhouette shots where the lens flare made it look like 2 suns rising (you look like luke skywalker in Star Wars ). @Shaaz Sha have to call you out volunteering to CF in what was one of the trickiest drives I have experienced... amazing performance and you were always first out with the shovel every time!! @Ashy it was a really tough start but after that I kept hearing @Rahimdad call out ‘brilliant’ to you and rightly so! Thank you also @N@ved for keeping us going at the back! @Ranjan Das I promised I got some ‘glamour’ shots of your lovely cars and tires (hope that’s enough to give you the memories to go and get some lighter shoes as Rahim advised I will post later this evening the video of the magic winch and @Rahimdad doing the Superman special and flying the Pajero out of a tricky bowl! @Rahimdad thank you for never loosing patience and keeping everyone’s spirits high during the many stops and recoveries! Look forward to seeing you all on the dunes soon!

@Wrangled, @Gaurav & All, This trip was really fantastic and I would like to share my experience and the lesson learnt that's made me really proud to be a member of this excellent community. In half one trip, I experience smooth trip with no significant issue but I heard strange knocking noise from the front of my car every time I accelerate but didn't realized the problem with the front differential and I only focus to check the suspension. In the half three trip, after many car stuck in the dreaded bowl of death, we tried to help each other and after I pulled Mike's car, my car got stuck in the middle of the bowl, I tried to do self recovery but suddenly I heard strong grinding noise from the front side of my car and since then I lost power from both front wheel. After several attempt of recovery throughout great collaboration from all team, incredible technique by @Mehmet Volga and lead by @Wrangled, we could recover my car but I could not continue the trip as my car lost 4x4 drive. To make long story short, @Wrangled made decision the let the team to continue the trip and I should stay and wait for @Wrangled and @Gaurav to return and help the recovery. To be honest while waiting, I feel not comfortable and guilty with the situation that will put more burden to @Wrangled & @Gaurav to recover my car while they have been busy and tiring since morning guiding us. I made decision to contact someone on my car dealer and as they don't have desert recovery, they only could help by sending third party vendor to do recovery. I accepted the offer and I informed @Wrangled and told him that I found the solution, please take a rest and no need to come back. Surprisingly both of @Wrangled and @Gaurav came back to my position and we agreed to wait the recovery team to arrive. After waiting for nearly 2 hours, the recovery team came but unfortunately they are not the expert as what I expected. They tried to pull the car with many dangerous method that broke one of my car towing hook and suggest me the call insurance recovery team/mechanic to come in the next day. After the recovery team left, @Gaurav approach me and suggest to try quick recovery before sun down. I was tasked to deflate the tire to 6 psi while @Gaurav @Wrangled my son shovel the sand, then @Gauravpulled the car out using his car. With just only few gas power, then the car moved out of the pit and we tow the car further in reverse to the flat ground . @Gaurav then drove my car out from the desert using 2H safely next to the main road as I followed behind on @Wrangled 's car. @Gaurav & @Wrangled return back to the desert to fetch @Gaurav's Car as I inflated my tyres. All of us then met up to finish preparing to go back home safely. In summary, this was really an excellence customer experience where two of Carnity leaders has shown : 1. Great leadership by taking full responsibility and taking care for a member. 2. Professional expertise by incorporating the use of technique and strategy during the recovery. 3. Passionate, highly motivated and confidence on the difficult situation. With this experience, I truly believe that Carnity is an excellent community led by professional leader and marshals. I also have learnt the following lesson's from this trip : 1. Strategy and Technique is the key of off-roading and I have enrolled my self to desert driving masterclass as I want to gain deeper understanding to overcome the challenges I will face in the desert. 2. Every member should wait the instruction from the convoy lead before taking any action. 3. Checking the Car condition and being alert with some abnormal car behavior is important because my car issue caused by small leak from Car front differential seal that trigger lack of lubrication and worn out some front differential gears. Lastly, I would like to express my regards and appreciation to @Wrangled, @Gaurav & @Mehmet Volga as well as the rest of the convoy team for great team work and collaboration and I deeply apologize for problem that cause the delay to the convoy and consume extra effort and time to @Gaurav & @Wrangled.

Definitely an exhausting drive from 8 am to almost 6 pm. But truly truly TRULY exhilarating and worth the time. Cheers to @Ale Vallecchi for a beautiful drive through the deserts. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I honestly learn so much more about my car by letting my car engine "sing" as @Ale Vallecchi so rightly says it 😂 Quick inquiry though, does the full day drive count as 2 fewbie drives towards level promotions? Cheers! Joe

@Ale Vallecchi I hope yesterday's drive was a successful one and I'm sure it was by the looks of it. Just wanted to apologize for the inconvenience my Jeep caused during the drive even after repairing the power steering system the night before the drive. After further evaluation, it has come to my attention that the hose associated with circulating the power steering oil had burst, much to my surprise. From what I observed, this may have happened when my Jeep began to vibrate aggressively for atleast a few minutes straight which was when @VipinShetty saw the smoke coming through my hood. As of now, my Jeep's still undergoing further inspection and repairs but I will make sure I get a second opinion on its funtionality on dunes to avoid having to go through this unfortunate event again. Big thanks to everyone yesterday for being cooperative and patient.

@Irshad Alam this black plastic mud guard is a bit too low on the Pajero and in turn would cause a bigger damage to the rest of the bumper. If you intend to off-road with this car as a first step I would strongly advise to remove this black mud guard on both sides. And as a second step to trim the bumper to give it a better approach angle. Regarding the musical noise on the rear right tyre, could you describe it further? Regarding insurance as long as you have comprehensive insurance, with a police report you can get the damage repaired through insurance. However the police report would cost you between AED 400-600 plus the excess charge of the insurance would be between AED250-400. So for small dents it's best to get it fixed from yourside. For all Pajeros it's important to do the following : 1. Remove the front black mud guard on both sides 2. Put a skid plate on the back to prevent the aluminum lip from breaking off.

@Ale Vallecchi thank for the awesome drive, lets do an intermediate one next! ✌🏼

@Jeepie, the drive was great and as a first fewbie for me, I liked the pace. It was scary at times but everybody was patient and supportive. Thanks a lot, great start of the weekend and awesome experience, like always, with you guys. special thanks for @Tamas Hoffmann for his patience and guidance at times 🎩

Thank you @Srikumar @Brette I’ve got 2017 JGC Night Eagle Is my car ok for trying out a Newbie ride without modifications? I’m a bit concerned for paint, front bumper and rims. Front bumper sits pretty low as you know (lower fascia/air dam). Rims are black shiny coat and 20” diameter. What are the chances to damage the bumper and scratch/damage the rims and overall paint? Thank you

Great to know that Nizam. See you soon on the sand

@Szymon Stankiewicz @Arda Yagcioglu @RaYan E @Aravind Padmaraju @Tamas Hoffmann @Andrei @Luca Bregni @Tariq Carrimjee @Christian Andras Hi guys, Thank you all for turning up even though the fog made it quite hard to get there on time! After allowing a bit of extra time for the fog to clear we were on our way and I think the whole convoy was doing well. The whole drive was quite smooth with only a few refusals and stucks. After practicing some ridge riding on the lower dunes near 2nd of december cafe, we went to the slightly bigger ones around Pink Rock and as everybody was coping very well, we moved on to Big Red and the other tall dunes next to it. @Szymon Stankiewicz so nice to see you after a very long time, and you did a great job as second lead. @Arda Yagcioglu and @RaYan E you both seemed to be doing great without any issues. @Tamas Hoffmannyou handled the few recoveries very well, with the right amount of pull in a safe way. @Andrei and @Luca Bregni great job, even though you had to hold in difficult spots sometimes because the convoy stopped moving, you managed really well. @Tariq Carrimjee I hardly noticed you were on my drive, so I guess you didn't have any issues either. @Christian Andras thank you for keeping everyone together and choosing positions where I could see you most of the time whenever we were waiting for a refusal or a stuck. That makes life a lot easier for the lead. @Aravind Padmaraju where were you? To the whole convoy, what I really liked is : you were holding your position whenever there was a refusal rather than moving forward as far as you could, which meant the person behind you was still able to follow the track. You were all patient and very much a team. @Szymon Stankiewicz I am sorry you damaged your skid plate and I hope you will get it fixed soon, but it was nice of you to do it right at the end of the drive. Hope to see you again soon

Greetings! Abu Dhabi Tourism released 6 self-driving routes in Abu Dhabi! I'm sure it is not something new for our senior off-roaders. It would be great to hear your opinion about these routes! Maybe, Carnity will be interested in organizing the drives following the routes? https://visitabudhabi.ae/en/things-to-do/desert-and-outdoor-activities/off-road-desert-driving 1. Al Remah Route 2. Al Ain To White Sands Route 3. Hameem Loop Route 4. Umm Al Oush Route 5. Liwa Crossing Route 6. Al Khazna Route Thanks!

@Alex Sidorov as we discussed yesterday, @Brette is the Marshal I was referring to who drives and has excelled in a JGC 2018 model. You can direct your queries to him on what basic stuff needs to be done interms of front bumper protection, Airbag, TC, etc.

@ZakWarah The selec terrain system is pretty good and does exactly what it's supposed to. On the other hand all the safety features the JGC come with are brilliant on tarmac but can be a real pain in the sand. When you use the sand mode, although the system shows traction is off, it is not off 100% and if it senses extra wheel spin it will overwrite the select terrain system and kick in. The only way to completely kill the traction ESC and ABS would be to install a kill switch. Also note that the transmission on the JGC is adaptive and if you have been driving on tarmac only it recognizes your driving style and you would notice the upshifts happen very fast. The more you start driving in the desert the more the DTCM will learn and it does get better over time with the upshifting. For this in particular, there is no work around, you give it time to learn or you use the manual or paddle shift. Whenever you go off-road, please remember to pull the airbag fuse. It is very sensitive and can just go off if the sensors detect a 90 degree tilt which is very often when riding dunes.

Good morning @Thomas Varghese. You have nothing to be sorry about. You did great for your first Fewbie drive, which considering the strength of the convoy, I pushed up to a little more than an introduction to Fewbie, and closer to a Fewbie Plus. All drivers, even the less experienced ones, performed admirably, with minimal issues for such a long drive. As mentioned in the drive's presentation, concentration tends to drop toward the end of any drive (usually after 3 hours on the sand), so I am not surprised that a few more refusals and stucks (all solved brilliantly) took place at the end of the long day. The only word of advice, as I gave you yesterday, is to tend to any issues with objects in the car after having reached a safe position, and while stopped. Distraction on the way to a side slope and the following ridge crossing could have led to worse endings than just a small detour and a little delay (both of which are factored into every drive, so no harm done in this). Congrast on your brilliant induction to Fewbie. See you soon out there.

Thanks for the kind words @Islam Soliman

Thank you @Vanessa8580 for leading us through a challenging terrain today morning, Even though desert throwed us every possible challenge towards us, it was a piece of cake for the whole convoy with very good team spirit. at last we had very good long rage dunes for some sideys and action which was cherry on top of the cake. it was an eventful drive even before it start till the end. hope everyone had a very good experience, Cheers, See u all next time...

The best fast paced drive I had till date. @Ale Vallecchi u organized a superb drive. Lucky not to be stuck on my 1st fewbie drive but lost concentration for a second as my glove box popped open on a ridge crisscross and all things inside jumped out. By the time I realized I have to cross my momentum was more and I had no choice but continue the slide sloping. Sorry everybody for holding you all up for my mistake. I rarely lose concentration while driving but when I take my eyes off the road which happened only few times in my 41 years of driving I made serious accidents. This time I escaped without any harm but apologize for the delay. I hope I did good for my 1st fewbie drive vouched by @Ale Vallecchi. Would love to hear the comments of fellow desertnauts on my performance.