Gaurav

Excellent input @LewisCocks90 this small piece of information can save so many owners tons of money, time and hassle. Keep it up.

Drive in Wadi Shawka, Dam, Track, Camping, Hiking, Cycling, Weather, Location, Photos, Videos, Reviews and Feedback from the travellers who have visited before. Wadi Shawka in Ras Al Khaimah is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts, offering a diverse range of adventures all in one place. From thrilling off-road trails to engaging outdoor sports like cycling, hiking, and canyoning, there's something for everyone to enjoy. The valley, surrounded by the majestic Hajjar Mountains, features rocky terrain, farmland, refreshing water pools, abundant wildlife, and ample parking and camping spots. Families can delight in picnics, BBQs, and gatherings amidst the natural beauty of Wadi Shawka, making it an ideal destination for a day out or a weekend retreat. Conveniently located, Wadi Shawka is just an hour's drive from Dubai and Sharjah, and approximately two and a half hours from Abu Dhabi. Accessing Wadi Shawka is a breeze as you can drive any car along the flat track path, which includes a mix of tarmac road leading up to Shawka Dam. Drive to Wadi Shawka Dam: You can drive any car there as it has a flat track path with a mix of tarmac road till Shawka Dam. https://goo.gl/maps/srTTLCiZtn72 25°06'20.1"N 56°02'33.2"E - 25.105587, 56.042553 For offroad adventure, Wadi Shawka offers two levels of route: Drive in Wadi Shawka - Easy (only for 4x4 and SUV): Instead of going straight towards the Shawka Dam, you can take right towards the Canyoning parking and follow the gravel track for fun and adventurous drive to reach right behind the Shawka Dam. You can enjoy the beautiful views of the mountain and water together with plenty of shaded area for fun and picnic, bbq and games. Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/Mvx6PtcNecM2 25°05'50.7"N 56°01'57.2"E - 25.097427, 56.032552 Midway: https://goo.gl/maps/zfeDSojdmdz 25°05'42.4"N 56°02'34.6"E - 25.095115, 56.042931 Viewpoint: https://goo.gl/maps/d91KFhsBn3m 25°06'15.4"N 56°02'47.1"E - 25.104281, 56.046412 Drive in Wadi Shawka - Intermediate (only for 4x4): Perfectly bouldered and challenging track after Shawka Dam towards Wadi Esfai side, sometimes this route is inaccessible due to big rocks and deep water wading, so good ground clearance 4x4 with offroad tires are highly recommended. Proper 4x4 with good ground clearance is must from this point onward Wadi Shawka Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/3jAgDXtLxsB2 25°06'11.4"N 56°02'57.2"E - 25.103179, 56.049213 Waypoint 1: https://goo.gl/maps/EgVjapcFY4S2 25°06'18.4"N 56°03'42.2"E - 25.105111, 56.061711 Waypoint 2: https://goo.gl/maps/pkx7h5aPrVL2 25°06'11.5"N 56°04'34.8"E - 25.103180, 56.076341 Waypoint 3: https://goo.gl/maps/smFU7vDsV5Q2 25°05'54.9"N 56°06'04.0"E - 25.098587, 56.101118 Wadi Shawka Finish point: https://goo.gl/maps/Qi4T8ANNPiS2 25°05'47.9"N 56°07'20.2"E - 25.096628, 56.122282 Farmland: https://goo.gl/maps/cY8wwrTQsqk 25°06'00.4"N 56°05'04.2"E - 25.100111, 56.084500 Shawka Bicycles: https://goo.gl/maps/KkV1HkShpuS2 25°05'01.4"N 56°01'17.5"E - 25.083726, 56.021531 Shawka Cycling Starting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/Vy1UcLwtHTo 25°04'49.1"N 56°01'34.3"E - 25.080298, 56.026204 Shawka Hiking: https://goo.gl/maps/SxbJmM4Fd4z 25°06'47.1"N 56°02'01.6"E - 25.113092, 56.033769 Shawka Pools Access (easy): https://goo.gl/maps/aRigoiBv6Xw 25°06'13.8"N 56°01'37.4"E - 25.103821, 56.027067 Heritage Village: https://goo.gl/maps/hH9y2aS1Uzk 25°06'11.7"N 56°02'28.9"E - 25.103249, 56.041350 Wadi Showka Canyoning Parking: https://goo.gl/maps/6rJjHRafsfF2 25°05'51.9"N 56°01'47.1"E - 25.097745, 56.029747 Wadi Shawka Dam Aeriel View Reviews: Tripadvisor - 4 out 5 based on 25 reviews Google: 4.3 out of 5 based on 83 reviews There are very few grocery shops and restaurant around for quick bites and snacks, so it's always better to pack your food in advance, as choices here are quite limited. Cafeteria: https://goo.gl/maps/ADZ2FUZn4Lt 25°05'54.3"N 56°01'34.0"E - 25.098421, 56.026111 Grocery: https://goo.gl/maps/TfribDJmkmn 25°05'53.6"N 56°01'41.5"E - 25.098221, 56.028185 Mosque for Friday Prayers: https://goo.gl/maps/oofPYFeLDsz 25°05'50.5"N 56°01'44.3"E - 25.097347, 56.028958 Small Mosque: https://goo.gl/maps/hiLPCvV5Dvw 25°05'49.5"N 56°01'37.9"E - 25.097090, 56.027191 Best time to visit: October to May, when the weather is not too hot for outdoor. Careful during the rainy season. Wadi Shawka Weather: Wadi Shawka temperature is slightly lower than the city temperature by 2-5 degrees. Maybe a lot lower if you can find a good shade under the trees. Wadi Shawka Entrance Fees: There are no charges to visit or using public areas Timing: It is open 24/7, 365 days, but to enjoy nature daytime is better. Wadi Shawka Camping: You can camp anywhere safely, but be careful of wildlife especially after dark. Essentials: Outdoor clothing and closed footwear, Online GPS is a must for driving (offline is even better), carry plenty of water and food if you plan to stay outdoors for long hours. Keep it clean: Don't litter anywhere, because trash cans, plastic and glass kill wildlife. Emergency: If bitten by a snake or a Scorpio take a picture or remember the colour and size and rush to the nearest hospital for a specific antidote for that species. Keep yourself calm, so your blood pressure and heartbeat stay low to help you minimize the effect. Feedback: Please leave your feedback below if you have been to Wadi Shawka and like to add something more. Wadi Shawka Track: In KMZ and GPX format below Only Carnity Members Can download this complete Wadi Shawka Route Track Wadi Shawka.kmz Wadi Shawka.gpx

Knowing Emmanuel well and driven with him for over 2 years, I think there are two possibilities for this stuck: He carefully moved slightly up to avoid the churned up patch and still slid down, so either his momentum wasn't enough to steer left and up too fast OR His rear tire pressure was more as the car slid down from the back into the churned up patch.

Welcome, @Glanz Lube to Carnity and it's a very good opening topic you picked. You should always stick to correct grade engine oil as mentioned in your car owners manual and also choose a well-trusted brand whose quality certifications meet and exceed minimum requirements. I don't rem ever I handed my car keys to change oil without checking which brand and grade of oil those guys are using. I think more than 50% of garages in UAE uses an unheard brand of engine oil to markup good profit and the moment you ask can you get me Mobil 1 or Castrol, service price shoots up by double. In today's competitive world price battle is pushing the quality down and if one garage can service 4 cylinder car in 200 dhs, then neighbour wants to beat down to 100 dhs by cutting the corner on the engine oil. In this price battle, the ultimate sufferer is the customer who thinks he walks away with a 100 dhs lesser deal, but eventually end up cooking his engine for the sake of 100 dhs without even knowing the difference between a good and bad quality engine oil. Sadly some of the car dealers are even using such inferior brand of engine oil and when you ask which brand it is then they conceal with the car brand+oil name, sir it's original "car brand" oil - I heard it twice with two different car brands and ran away.

Try one of the newbie drives with us and then judge yourself again. I was like this for the first 6 months and used to hate the desert due to constant stucks and pop out, slowly when I learn the basics, things become much easier and I started enjoying desert more than wadi's. Exactly what Sri said, I was about to say the same. Plus RTA tire passing is not on firm 5-year span, anything above 3 years above the manufacturing date will be decided by the inspection guy based on remaining tread life, cracks, missing chunks etc.

Noise and fuel saving in Geolander's are minimal and not too extreme, unlike other aggressive tread pattern tires. @syedyaseer I have never used Kumho.

ATS are better for offroad, HT stands for highway tread means it will be quite on road but not advisable for regular offroad use due to straight tread pattern and softer (probably 4 ply) side wall than the 6 or 8 ply for offroad tires.

Good to hear from you @asifali053 after 18 days. If you are only here to find a good place to get your car fixed, head to Carnity business listing. There are over 150 business listed in Car Servicing in Dubai However, Carnity actual specialization is much more than referring and pointing people to different car businesses but helping them to diagnose the car problem at first, to avoid expensive repair OR fake mechanics. If you are willing to explore this option, explain a bit more on what symptoms have you been getting and what so far you have done in the last 18 days.

I like to keep it short but seeing different responses, it will get a little bigger. US sites are good to get the specs data like weight and road noise, but over 50% of those tires don't exist in UAE at least the same pattern and design. So they are only useful once you zero down to 2-3 exact pattern, brand, and types and then research to compare. These days I have been seeing ESMA sticker on every tire in UAE to tell the road noise and other specs, that you can use to compare wisely as those standardizations is done in UAE for tires available here. All online tire selling website is at least 100 per tire expensive than the dealers in sharjah tire market. Once you decide what you want, call a few tires shop in Sharjah and get the latest production tire from the cheapest of the shop. You will save at least 400-500 dhs. I'm buying tires from those shops for 15 years and always walk away with the best deal. Future tyre "WAS" good place to go in Ras Al Khor, but as per my and few of my friend's recent experience, they have been overcharging by 200% so I no longer recommend them but no doubt they are professionals. Coming to the tire choices now: Michelin's are my all time favorite, I have used them twice Michelin LTX and Michelin Pilot, both were amazing. LTX used to be A/T tread and very good for sand offroad being soft and lighter and very quiet on road. Michelin rubber is really superior grade but not very advisable if you venturing too much in wadi's as after a little you might cut that soft rubber with stones very easily. @Emmanuel using Michelin Primacy (If I rem correctly) and he can advise more on that specific brand and type. Yokohama Geolander A/T is my current favorite choice as Yoko's have finally figured out the best of three combinations: Road + Sand + Rocks with minimal of road noise, rem I said minimal and not no noise. Any A/T tire will be loud as hell on road due to the tread pattern to be aggressive for offroad and hence result in more road noise. So this trade-off is inevitable if you like one tire to fit both your needs. I'm using G012 version since last 6 years, as my second set running since last two years and they wear evenly too to get you some good miles on them, unlike many other A/T tires which start losing chunks and pieces after the first year of usage. BF Goodrich, has the amazing offroad capabilities but quite heavy and will limit your offroad capability if you are running on the stock engine without any power mods. Secondly, they are quite noisy on the road since I used them last but again someone I met recently said they are not noisy any longer. Either that guy had loud music system or BFG have really changed on road noise, I don't know tbh. Bridgestone dueler and Dunlop Grandtrek is good road tread and not good for regular offroad especially in wadis and rock you might damage them with regular wadi's run. In sand, if you deflate them under 15 PSI, you might pop out them very easily. I have used them both on my Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol and labeled as king of pop out on every drive.

I think this idea of having two different level drive on the same day, same timing will help a lot of newbies and fewbies at the same time. Nice thinking and good choice of area. I'm in with full support to lead or sweep newbie or fewbie drive as you advise.

Very good working spirit, hope everyone works on this aspect. Keep it up and you will shine back soon.

How many times you have taken your Range offroad? I mean proper dune bashing and not beach or katcha sand

You are not the only one, some wives have even named the cars after girl name to tease the husband

Absolutely, that's the same feeling I was about to share yesterday when I read that comment

Indeed Toyota and Lexus designers are working together to lend the lines and arches of Lexus

You did with 2 Ton Xterra on the crest in last drive I drove your car with AC while getting Engine oil for RAV4, long ago. Also sat in Sertac XJ Perfectly cooling AC and XJ doesn't come in one sentence.

Long hill climb Steep hill climb Riding the crest X - Tugging the 3-ton cars Self-recovery with a smile Crossing the sharpest crest with ease Escaping from stickiest sand pockets X - Keep me cool in 50 degrees X - Hit the highway at 140 Still, turn a lot of head after 20 years

Put your name below if you like to go and watch this movie together Gaurav

For Prado accessories, you can find plenty in naif or in Sharjah tire market next to Sahara center, before the BMW road

Congrats on your new ride, you made a good choice over a Pajero (from another topic) from comfort, luxury, power, and resale aspect by spending extra cash. Tire pressure generally should be between 30-35 PSI, 2-3 PSI more than the door sill is acceptable, as far you keep all 4 tires on the same pressure. I inflate all my cars at 35 PSI and check once a month, that gives the room to drop them to 30 PSI in a month's time. For accessories, you can find plenty in naif or in Sharjah tire market next to Sahara center, before the BMW road.

Nice find and share @Mujtaba , keep it up

Never knew summer and winter air comes in a can too, just like the elbow grease comes in a pickle jar

Except: Long hill climb Steep hill climb Riding the crest Tugging the 3-ton cars Self-recovery with a smile Crossing the sharpest crest with ease Escaping from stickiest sand pockets Keep me cool in 50 degrees Hit the highway at 140 Still, turn a lot of head after 20 years

The penalty for no show is 20 Aloo Paratha's / Belgian Chocolates / Fresh Coconut / Mexican Mezcal Just kidding. You can sign up anytime you like and show up for a drive, we aren't desert safari company. In the calendar, you can even decline or join as you please, even on Friday morning. Although it's a family drive ending with BBQ, everyone is welcome to come alone or with family - as they like. For first absolute newbie drive, you are better off alone tbh as per my experience so that you can focus on learning with undivided attention but it's completely your choice in the end.

For my on-road Range Rover - Comfort is the best thing I love. For my offroad 99' Pajero - Best "stock" hill climber, I found after 5 failed attempts.