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Ghantoot Express - Drive Report "One day, when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open, and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day." - Rumi When the drive was being planned, little did I know that moving the starting point to Qudra would provide such a beautiful and unusual start of the Ghantoot Express. Instead of the forecasted rain, a strong, almost gale force wind, blowing from the south, opposite the usual prevailing winds' direction, swept the long range dunes along the Sih Al Salam Road (a.k.a Bab al Shams Rd.). The effect of the sand streaking on the open areas, and ruffling the ridges to a fine powdery dust, lit up by a hazy, yet luminous sunrise, created a surreal Martian landscape. On this extra-terrestrial terrain, full of beauty, our train of cars floated speedily. As much as the morning's strong winds, the abundant rains of the previous week, had also had a great impact on the architecture of the dunes that we would cross. First, the pelting rain had saturated the ridge's crests, making them collapse in many places; the winds that followed, blowing from the slip-face to the hard-face, had pushed what sand remained on the ridges away from them, flattening the tops (to a width of almost a whole car) and creating a step just below the ridge on the hard face (one meter or more at times) that made crossing quite tricky (as it required finding the place on the ridge with the lowest and narrowest step). While the newly re-shaped, much more packed dunes, allowed for a faster average speed, they also became very tricky, when drivers attempted to mount the ridges from too low a line of approach, with a counter-steering maneuver: the hard-packed sand would quickly build a dangerous trench on the upward side of the car, which in at least one situation almost led to a roll, and caused an unwarranted pop-out. Having quickly learned from these small incidents, the whole convoy drove very well, in a terrain that offered a mix of challenges. Long range dunes (entering and exiting Qudra, toward Ghantoot), a couple of areas with smaller, closer, technical dunes, in the middle part of the Ghantoot stretch, open dunes and sabkhas while heading back to Qudra from our southern-most point, another set of technical dunes to access Qudra once again, and a final sprint through open long range dunes to finish back at our starting point, near Qudra's ADNOC station. Great driving by all: @Alexanderrr(thanks for the Second Lead), the newer Fewbies @Sudhanva Sonawane, @Simon Dawood, @Rob S, @Harshad Ashraf and @Karthik Raptor, the more experienced ones @Waqas Parvez, @Miamimoe, @KAMALIO, and @Reggie Landicho, with a special thanks to @Niki, who swept and supported the convoy with speed, precision and reassuring calm. At the end of a longer day than forecasted (we extended to make up for the 40 minutes that it took us to fix the pop out), we drove for 100.1 Km (Qudra to Qudra), in 3:28 hours of driving (4:40 h overall), at an average moving speed of 29 Km/h (21 Km/h overall). Thanks to all for the drive, and see you soon in drier sand.

Gone in 60 seconds..... Its so nice to see so many familiar names. Seems like an age since I drove with you guys. It has been far too long!

Thank you @Hisham Masaad for an action packed drive on Saturday! From the unexpected temporary additions to our convoy, to avoiding the high volumes of other desert dwellers, to the changeable sand conditions, there was plenty to keep us all occupied! A very capable convoy with no issues other than a few lost tracks which we quickly resolved. Good to see you and well driven @Chinthaka Ruwan (perfect 2nd lead) @Chris Wing @Charbel @Sunil Mathew @Pacific @Humayun Ghias @Matt.T @Archibald Jurdi @Amir Amiri @Abu Muhammad and @Ranjan Das with the Sweep. PS - Pics in the Gallery 📸🌵

@Hisham MasaadThanks for the drive this weekend! It's the first drive where I didn't have to use my shovel excellent group of drivers and was a pleasure seeing you all. I've never seen Badayer that packed and it was a good call to just avoid the other crazy drivers.

Hello @Ale Vallecchi thanks for a wonderful drive. I appreciate you didn’t mind extending it.🙏 Great to see again how supportive @Nikiwas in every opportunity. Brilliant as always. Good to meet again some old folks and to be on the tail of @KAMALIO and @Miamimoe. Your Jeeps rocks💪 See you all next time.

Hello dear friends for a reason out of my control , I couldn’t come today . Apology.Thank you @Shaaz Sha for taking over the lead 🙏 and thanks to all who came today . Wish you all best time good health and safe drive , always cheers Mohamed

Thank you @Gaurav @Islam Soliman @Hisham Masaad @Brette @Srikumar @sri ganesh @Felix Obst for being supportive, encouraging teaching and guiding throughout my journey from Absolute newbie when I thought this is not my sport as was stuck nearly 3 times in first half hour . But at the end of the drive which ignited the spark and turned into a passion which had to be fueled. Also thanks to my family for being supportive of my sport. will keep pushing the limits and respecting the desert and guidelines of the club whilst enjoying every drive and learning new everytime. See you soon on the sand. thank you all Bhanu Prakash

@Ale VallecchiThank you for a wonderful and WINDY drive. Very unique experience today with winds and drizzles. Also was happy you made up for lost time by extending the drive. It is never enough. @Niki Man you have some kind of arsenal in your treasure chest. I see your passion for off roading and hope to meet you on many more, atleast i know I will be equipped @Reggie LandichoGood to meet you often on the drives. Rest of the crew until next time and always a honour to drive with the Carnity Club.

Thanks @varunmehndiratta for perfect trip report and great support during the drive. @Charles Wallace @Eli Zandro Hamoy @Zulfikhar Naiyar @Udit S @Abdul Basit Khan @Shahzad Akbani @Sivakumar @Kishore Venkat @Vinod Damodaran @Andre Olivenca @Nasr.990 @hugo All of you have driven great and keep the right approach and mindset to learn off-roading basics and principals first than tinkering and modifying your 4x4. Newbie drives are designed for you to know your vehicle more, so that you can learn the basics and build the confidence required to cross every dune, even when you fail few times (it's ok). Keep that spirit tight and you will love your vehicle even more. Moving forward you all will be joining the Newbie drives and NOT an Absolute Newbie drive anymore. Drives are announced every Monday at 11 AM on WhatsApp, and they go live on Monday evening at 7 PM followed by another WhatsApp notification at 7 PM. Join the WhatsApp Broadcast List Carnity Drive Notification Due to extremely high demand, these drives get full in about 10 minutes, so please be online at 7 PM to book your spot. If you miss a spot, put your name on the waitlist asap. Generally, by Thursday with dropouts everyone does get a spot if they have waitlisted. For the next drives, please bring along a deflator, pressure gauge, flag, compressor and radio as a MANDATORY requirement. Learn to deflate your tires and checking them precisely Learn to fix a flag on your car Learn to program and fully charge your radio MUST READ: Offroad Club Structure, Levels and Rules Off roading - Everything you need to know Transfer your previous off-road experience Mandatory Safety Requirements Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities Tire pressure deflation for off road driving Dune Crossing Tutorial and Techniques Emergency details for all off-roaders Off road Club Grading Structure V.3.0 Off road Driving Etiquette's Levels of Offroad Drive Off-road Convoy Rules

Thanks for the great drive @Hisham Masaad, eventhough we had to cut it short in terms of time, the drive still ticked all boxes in terms of the excitement and thrill expected from an IM drive!! Happy to be of help to Abdelghani, and i hope it was a one off occurrence and he is going to be back with a bang on your next drive , like usual 👍 The badayer area was "particularly" interesting as me and @Charbel had to race with couple of crazy dune buggie drivers up a dune, in parallel by our sides ...man that was scary .. Many other places had me conquer my inhibitions towards long climbs , sharp turns etc while maintaining the fun factor . Kudos to all fellow drivers , especially those at the back who were brilliant driving through the churned up sand we frontrunners create. Looking forward to the next one, until then .. 🖐️🖐️

Thanks @Gaurav for lovely drive today and congratulations all for completing your first drive with Carnity and for many their first drive in desert - first ones are always special and i am sure you will remember this for long time. The terrain, the beautiful weather and the whole experience was worthy of Dubai's tag line "The Coolest Winter". Overall we travelled around 32Km covering a basic intro to various aspects of desert driving - side sloping, climbing up and down the dunes and @Gaurav ensured that even on Absolute Newbies drive we had a chance to experience some steep climbs through soft patches as well as Criss crossing - my fav element of desert driving. Despite the rain and windy weather, we travelled at a decent average moving speed of 13Km/hr, a reflection of how well you all handled your vehicle. From the CF position i could see a good mix of happy and at times nervous faces and that's what the experience and learning is all about - and in the end this mixed feeling is what leads to a sense of accomplishment at end of every drive. @Charles Wallace though you missed the fun of driving without roof 😂😂 you were a perfect SL and had a perfect drive. @Eli Zandro Hamoy @Zulfikhar Naiyar @Abdul Basit Khan you have powerful Nissans with you and you handled them very well. @Udit S check some videos and try using your deflator before the next drive, i think the deflator is fine - just need some handling tips and if you plan to go for Valve core extractor look for magnetic tip one - will ensure you will not lose the core. For the first desert drive you managed it really well - i could see the excitement through the drive and i am sure you will love exploring the Newbies drive on your Prado. @Shahzad Akbani for someone driving the FJ for less than a week you did really well, surely takes some time getting used to vehicle. You had couple of refusals, however i am sure as you would have noticed during reattempts it's just about approaching with the right momentum. Looking forward to see you on NB drives. @Sivakumar the relationship between you and your flag was on rocky terrain since the word go and wasn't meant to last long 😂 get a new one prior to the next drive and you are good to go @Kishore Venkat crests and stucks are integral part of offroading, you handled your Patrol really well. Reg your compressor, i believe it's the fuse issue and should be an easy fix. @Vinod Damodaran jeep on lift looks majestic and you handled it really well. 👍👍 @Andre Olivenca @Nasr.990 @hugo you three were simply awesome and had impecable drives. Thanks Hugo for being a perfect sweep and keeping the long convoy togather. Looking forward to see you all soon. As @Gaurav mentioned drive schedule is released at 11am every Monday and rsvp opens at 7pm. Watch out for it and as a general advice don't be late to RSVP, some of the drives get full within couple of minutes. Thanks for the lovely company on a beautiful day. Have a nice week ahead and hopefully we catch up again soon.

S@Hisham Masaad thanks for today's drive was great fun, challenging and well paced. Though we have driven together many times it was the first time we have been out with you as the lead and it disappoint, excellent fun, good calm support from @Russ and @Ranjan Das and a competent convey made for a good afternoon out.

Fortuners are often driven by various service companies ... so driving it is like buying yourself a Lexus ES :)))

Yalla Yalla...Ready Ready...Eveready!! Bring it on!!!!

Didn't even take a minute to fill up! But expected for an Angela's @Foxtrot Oscar drive. Look forward to driving with you after a long time.

WL @Foxtrot Oscar please

It's so great to do a drive in AD. Great views, always nice terrain to explore, and good team mates to have some laughs with ! @Josh T.and @Zed, thanks to your support and help it was a breeze, and @Mus_hus78 his second lead made it perfect. Sorry you could not make it on time @Adnan Halepota, hope to see you soon again in the sand. We started the drive with the long climb, parallel to the fence, and already i could feel the sand was very compact. The area north of the Remah Camel race track was very inviting, with some nice dunes and large bowls, and unfortunately some bulldozer tracks but that did not bother us too much. From there we looped back to the West, with the plan of going towards Faya. The terrain became more technical, bushy, and whatever stuff was loose in the car was now flying around. Perhaps next time we keep going North a bit further before going West, but the many fences we came across made it a bit more difficult to find clean patches and playable dunes. Anyways as i mentioned at the start of the drive, exploring an area and fine tuning it for later is what i love doing, so i had a blast and hope you all had a good morning too. We covered around 88km without any issues. @Salim Akhtarwas on his first FB drive and after the first minor apprehension from seeing the big bowls (i know the feeling) he got his bearings and drove fantastic for the rest of the drive. @Derius Olivier who is contemplating how far the LR3 will take him proved us that it can do a lot, but i agree these 4x4's are difficult to tame. @Pascal and @Julian Patterson who got their promotion the evening prior, took on the FB challenge effortlessly. Well done guys ! @Santoso Marjuki it was probably the first time we drove together and you really impressed me. Yes of course your 4x4 is super capable but clearly its also in the right hands ! @Anoop Nairwho loves his dose of AD terrain on a regular basis, i hope you had fun in the back. You drove superb. I think we can definitely explore this track further, and optimize for future use. With Sweihan still being wounded, we need to scout more AD terrain, if you guys have any suggestions please let me know, i will be happy to cross the border (Green pass in hand) to explore it with you !

Thank you @Thomas Varghese for the detailed write up.😄👍 What a day guys!!!.perfect....chilling weather, light shower, and an incredible convoy...what more could you want for? After the radio check and briefing, we started 20 minutes late, waiting for the sunrise. We had a surprising member in the convoy, @Ashok chaturvedi, who ended up in the wrong meeting point today, trying to join @Frederic on the Batayah Drive. As we got started, the rain became a little heavier, and we had a mix of terrains...except rock. It was muddy in some spots, incredibly soft on the dunes' top, and hard at some places. But the convoy was ready for anything, and we had a thrilling and beautiful drive. With some drizzle , some greenery, Sand Gazelles, Oryxes, and Camels, the landscape was breathtaking.Though we didnt expected any stucks today..we had to deal with a few and couple of pop outs towards the end of the drive. Every driver in the convoy were incredible today and Thank you @Thomas Varghese for a superb second lead. you did a great job today considering the diversities in the track. Thanks to @Joji varghese, @Rsjiv Samuel, @Fabien Monleau, @Mohamad Anwer, @Gilbert Khalil, @MMansoor, @munkybizness, @Javier Lucero, @Gok Krish and @Ashok chaturvedi for signing up and joining the drive. It was an unforgettable day and was great to be with you Guys.Every one of you were up to the mark today👏👏👏👏 Thanks to @Rizwanm2 and @GauravSoni.. the real heroes today for those wonderful recoveries and great support. Good work guys and it was a blessing to have you today in the convoy. Some pics in the gallery As @Thomas Varghese said .. cant find the gallery..😊

Amazing, however was hoping to have more. Thank you every one for joining. Every one made the right time, deflated, quick briefing, and started. As soon as we started, and with the tempting of Shuweib dunes, we didn’t even have enough time to warm up. Started climbing, and found dunes of shuweib totally different from last time visited. Most of them soft, so much disturbed with the last rain and wind. Somehow, we had good time, and decided to move to Bidayer area to spend the balance time. Unfortunately, found Bidayer too busy with many off-roaders groups, all types of vehicles can enter the desert. Adding to it, Abdelghani was not feeling well. Thank you @Sunil Mathew for the motion sickness tablet, which made him feeling better. Amazing support @Russ linking the convoy together, @Ranjan Das thank you for sweeping us, and great SL @Chinthaka Ruwan. @Chris Wing you done fantastic in your first I’m drive, @Charbel @Sunil Mathew @Pacific @Humayun Ghias @Matt.T @Archibald Jurdi @Amir Amiri @Abu Muhammad pleasure having you in the drive yesterday. Below is the summary of the drive. See you soon in sand nice weekend Hisham

Thank you @Hisham Masaad for leading us through a memorable drive this afternoon, one of the best I have had in the area. Hope your son is now fully recovered, maybe it was not the motion sickness but the anxiety of getting his driving license that got him excited. Wish him all the very best. A pity that most coveted dunes have been made out of bound. This and notwithstanding the vigilante three car convoy that decided to tag along, you made sure that we had absolute fun. I had two firsts todays, first - my first under your lead; second, shovel/rope free drive through this area. Everyone drove beautifully. Thank you everyone for the company and make it a wonderful afternoon. Hope to see you guys soon

Congratulations @Waqas Parvez for reaching the Fewbie Plus 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. FEWBIE PLUS Drives Attended (Indicative) Minimum 10 Fewbie drives are required within last 6 months for Fewbie Plus promotion. What you'll learn Advance dune and sand reading Advance recovery techniques Rocking and crawling to make path Learn to flatten/compact soft sand patch Self recovery from crest Advance side sloping and long hill climb Advance ridge riding and criss crossing Advance control over technical dunes Slightly faster pace desert driving FULLY control and avoid fishtailing Never fight or challenge gravity Skills required Enthusiastic and positive attitude Willingness to learn and help others Extremely attentive and focused while driving Car Worthiness Any 4x4 vehicle with low range gearing Suitable approach and departure angle Bash plate and skid plate protected Off-road gear required Safety flag, tire deflator, tire pressure gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio (walkie-talkie), air compressor. Drive teamwork Manage second lead and sweep positions upon request Intuitive and proactive to support Trip Lead Observe recoveries and offer help, when needed Drive Joining Join Newbie, Fewbie and Fewbie Plus drives Forum participation Active participation on the forum Share drive experience + feedback Share drive pictures in the gallery Post trip report after the drive

Hello..Thank you @M.Seidam for the opportunity to take over your drive and it was a fantastic drive. Every one in the convoy were deflated and ready when I reached the meeting point. After the briefing, we started slowly and cautiously since some changes in the dune formation, which was already informed to me by @Ale Vallecchi and @M.Seidam. After a few minutes of drive we were all set with the nature of the terrain and every one drove to perfection. We had to deal with a couple of stucks and thanks to @Ashok chaturvedi for the tugs and helps in recoveries and for sweeping the convoy to safety . Great job sir. Thank you @Santoso Marjuki for a perfect second lead. It was a pleasure meeting you after long time.You did a great job today buddy. . @FARAZ MOHAMMED did well today with his pajero and could see you ready for all the challenges. 👏👏. @Alfred Alinazar..struggled a little bit at the beginning especially on the climbs and did great towards the end of the drive. Good job bro.👍. @Tom B man.. You were amazing today with you LC. Didn't seem to have any issues in conquering the track. 👏👏. @Harshad Ashraf it seems like you are not completely in sync with your beast. You struggled at some points and had to re route...but its all ok and a few more drives with your LC will definitely give you more comfy drives. Keep up the spirit buddy 👍. @Felix Obst..man you were incredible.. Did soo well on the side slops and it was a treat for the eyes.👏👏👍. @Waqas Parvez.. The prado boy. You did amazing today buddy. It was all churned up track for you..but drove brilliantly, Did excellent 🤐🤐👍. It was a pleasure driving with all of you and hope to see you soon in the sand

More than joining the drive i wish @Carnity club ease out the bugs. As a member of more than an year now I'm proud of what Carnity club has achieved in documenting offroading of the drivers. Hope @Gaurav will solve this issue too. The new waitlist system itself is a great technological achievement.

Congratulations @BHANU PRAKASH VISHWANATH

Waitlist please. First drive.

Congratulations @Waqas Parvez! Enjoy the new level

Congratulations @BHANU PRAKASH VISHWANATH!

@Gauravcan you check ?

This drive is at 2 pm and the drive I joined is for morning. WL option is not allowing me to waitlist

Wl please. 2nd drive

Thanks @Gaurav and @Vaibhav looking fwd to seeing you soon

Congratulations @BHANU PRAKASH VISHWANATH

@Waqas Parvez congratulations

@Waqas Parvez Congratulations 👏👏

Oh no, on the contrary ! The Pajero is not the easiest car to learn with, and you mastered it with ease !

That was my initial plan, but as time was slowly running out, i decided to keep heading West, due to the main reason that we were going to lose more time going up North, which is against the slipfaces of the dunes. Ideally, we should start at Faya next time and work our way down towards Remah, which would be a lot easier (no slipfaces). Then close it off with a coffee at the Tilal resort

Dear Friends @Ashok chaturvedi @Felix Obst @Alfred Alinazar @Tom B @Harshad Ashraf @Waqas Parvez @Santoso Marjuki @FARAZ MOHAMMED Good morning Please find below the convoy list . see you all at 16:45 . we will use radio channel 1 RSVP closed

Great drive yesterday - appreciate that @Mehmet Volga Thanks to @Dodi Syahdar @marksand @Werno for the general support, and assistance with my (first) pop-out, which was promptly sorted so the convoy could get moving again. Until the next time..

superb drive Hisham, enjoyed every minute this afternoon with this lovely group of experienced drivers. 🤘

@Waqas ParvezCongratulations 👏

Congratulations @Joseph Raju! Enjoy the new level

Hi @Frederic , for next time we can start from same track but mid-way cross North instead of West like you mentioned; see the Yellow Arrow below. Where the Green, Cyan and Blue tracks converge, there's a nice play area for high side-sloping 😊 It'd be minimum Fewbie tho as plenty of technical ups & downs and straight-crossings needed.

Take into account that the big majority of recoveries is being done from the front. For the simple reason that it gives you much better visibility to the situation at hand.

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie Congratulations. See you soon. 👋

You’ll rarely run out of juice on a drive if your radio was charged even half way through. In most cases, if it’s a great drive, the convoy just gets really silent and you have to force people to respond 😂😂 You can always get a cigarette socket lighter for your radio.