Frederic

In the UAE, we have a myriad of terrains to choose from when it comes to desert driving. For many new members who might be asking themselves what the differences actually are, I wanted to compile the most known areas we drive in, and give some information about the area and what you can expect when you join a drive with us in that area. We will be focusing on the sand driving. Northern Emirates (UAQ and RAK) Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah have some very nice areas that we often explore, with plenty of vegetation, wildlife, and the mountains are never far away. On these drives, the emphasis is more on exploration than on the typical dune bashing. Scenic Score: 95% Excitement Score: 70% Versatility Score: 95% Fossil Rock - Faya - Sharjah From the moment you drive on the Sharjah - Kalba road, you'll see the majestic Fossil Rock mountain on the right hand side. It has got its name due to the ancient fossils that you can find on the rocks, and the surrounding red dunes are a delight to drive. Usually starting from Batayeh-Faya road, the dunes gradually go from small and bushy until you reach the nice open areas with "The Long Lady" as one of the most popular dunes to showcase and practice your sidesloping skills. The cherry on top is the climb on Fossil Rock itself which provides an amazing scenic view on the area and Mleiha town below. A must for every beginner level driver ! To even up the challenge you can take on the nice bowls behind Fossil Rock, or head out to Faya which is also called "The Saddle". Scenic Score: 90% Excitement Score: 70% Versatility Score: 90% Pink Rock - Big Red - Sharjah Nearby Fossil Rock, you will find Pink Rock, which got its name from the pinkish hue the rocks have. This very popular off-road area is known for the smooth gentle dunes at the start that gradually move to challenging bowls nearby the base of Pink Rock. Climbing Pink Rock is the ideal challenge for beginners and provides a fantastic view as well. From Pink Rock you can head out to Big Red which will up the challenge and entice every level of off-roader. The Big Red area is an off-roader hotspot during the season. Scenic Score: 80% Excitement Score: 70% Versatility Score: 75% Bidayer / Area 53 / Schuwaib - Sharjah This area is not for the faint of heart, and the big dunes will demand you to keep momentum at all times, while the massive hills such as Iftar Bowl and Super Bowl are ultimate play areas one can find in Sharjah. This area tends to be extremely busy during the offroad season. Scenic Score: 60% Excitement Score: 80% Versatility Score: 65% Margham / Lahbab - Dubai A little less known area, but very versatile with nice technical areas, playable bowls, and overall a terrain where any level offroader can practice and hone their skills without encountering too many cross tracks. Scenic Score: 70% Excitement Score: 70% Versatility Score: 75% Murquab - Lisaili - Faqa - Dubai This area is located on the Dubai-Al Ain road and offers so much. From technical terrain, to the arboretum in Faqa, long range dunes in both Faqa and some areas of Lisaili, and the most amazing creamy dunes below the Maktoum Solar Park which we have now called "Little Sweihan". This area never disappoints and there is a reason we have it on our weekly drives schedules ! Scenic Score: 85% Excitement Score: 80% Versatility Score: 95% Al Qudra - Dubai Al Qudra has become one of the most well known Offroad areas in Dubai, mainly due to the close vicinity to the city, but also because of its versatility, nearby facilities (Last Exit, Love Lakes), and the wildlife than can be spotted while off-roading (gazelles, oryx). This area stretches out to Murquab in the East via Al Hathmah area, on to Faqa going South below the Solar Park, and up to the Bab al Shams resort in the West. Scenic Score: 85% Excitement Score: 75% Versatility Score: 95% Sweihan - Abu Dhabi / Al Ain The Sweihan area in Abu Dhabi has to be experienced, and the proximity to Dubai brings lots of Dubai residents to Sweihan to explore the massive long range dunes and versatile area that has something in store for every off-roader. Sweihan never disappoints and the Nagrah area which alternates between monstrous dunes and deserted sabkhas will leave you hungry for more every single time. Scenic Score: 80% Excitement Score: 90% Versatility Score: 95% Al Khatim - Abu Dhabi A very popular and versatile offroader destination for Abu Dhabi residents with exhilarating dunes and technical areas that will challenge any offroader. Scenic Score: 80% Excitement Score: 90% Versatility Score: 80% Wagan / Umm Al Oash / Bu Tais - Abu Dhabi / Al Ain In search for monstruous dunes where momentum and pace are critical and where your vehicle will be pushed to its limit ? You have come to the right place as this area is spoiled with massive dunes, alternated by long flat sabkhas where you can get your bearings back before heading in again, and again ! Scenic Score: 95% Excitement Score: 100% Versatility Score: 80% Liwa Madinat Zayed - Abu Dhabi The Madinat Zayed area is famous for its Yellow Water Truck, which was left behind many years back, but no-one really knows how it got there. This area is consisting of massive dunes, and you can easily scale the level up or down in this area based on the convoy you bring there. From this place onwards and further down south into Liwa Crescent you will feel like you are on a different planet. Scenic Score: 90% Excitement Score: 100% Versatility Score: 90% Liwa Crescent - Abu Dhabi Seeing LIWA for the first time will leave you astonished, baffled, and beyond comprehension. From Himeem in the East, to Khanoor in the West, this whole area is filled with some of the biggest dunes on this planet, massive slipfaces that will make you shiver when descending, and extremely technical dunes that will require your utmost focus. This area is unforgettable and every off-roader should have this on his bucket list ! Scenic Score: 100% Excitement Score: 100% Versatility Score: 100%

It was indeed a wonderful drive and we were blessed with a group of drivers who were enthusiastic to explore this area as a team. I was delighted to be in the sweep as it allowed me to have a good look on how everyone was doing, and I liked what I saw: even in places where sometimes I thought it was going to be a little bit tougher due to the churned up tracks, everyone ploughed through it, and the technical area was the perfect exercise and cherry on top of the cake that gave them a different flavor and brought us back to our senses. You've nailed this drive, and the smiles I saw and the positive things I heard at the end of the drive confirm this too. @Goutam you were great in supporting the drive, and everyone stepped up to the plate when needed. See you all soon in the sand !

@Denizzalbayrak you had a Renault Koleos as well on your first drives, i assume you had both front and rear towpoints ?

Current Waitlist as of Tuesday 4PM: 1) Rajeshkumar Rathod (1) 2) Larry Cadden (1) 3) Humayun Ghias (1) 4) AlexPol (2) 5) Goutam (2)

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/spotstars

This is specifically related to astrophotography where you would need to use a tripod or stand, and these are just guidelines of course. They are actual seconds. For example: - Max shutter speed for a 50mm lens is 500 divided by 50 = 10 seconds.

The 500 rule is a well known rule amongst photographers to have a guideline when it comes to setting the shutter speed according to your focal length. Basically it means to avoid blurry shots, the longest shutter speed you can use is equal to 500 divided by your focal length. For example, if your focal length is 20mm, the 500 rule says that you can use a shutter speed of 500/20, or 25 seconds. Here’s a quick chart of the longest shutter speeds you can use at night for a given lens. (The numbers below are full-frame equivalents. If you have, for example, an 18mm lens on a 1.5x crop-sensor camera, you’ll need to look at 28mm on this chart): -11mm: 45.5 seconds -12mm: 41.7 seconds -14mm: 35.7 seconds -16mm: 31.3 seconds -18mm: 27.8 seconds -20mm: 25 seconds -24mm: 20.8 seconds -28mm: 17.9 seconds -35mm: 14.3 seconds -50mm: 10 seconds -85mm: 5.9 seconds The numbers keep changing because new cameras have more and more pixels, which means that they can detect smaller and smaller star movements. The chart above is a good guide, but you’ll want to test your own camera to confirm that there isn’t too much movement, particularly if you have a recent camera with an extremely high megapixel count (more than 36). night-sky-cheat-sheet-new.pdf

@Niki Patel I will totally go with what @Thomas Varghese is stating: it’s all about using what you have and making the best of it, and most of all having fun while learning new techniques and never being afraid of showcasing your photos or asking for help. The 50mm prime lens with fast aperture is indeed THE BEST BUY you can do to start getting fantastic portraits. The IPhone 12 is an amazing piece of technology, and I followed the iPhone photography online classes that taught me a lot of getting the maximum out of it. Is it a replacement for a DSLR? maybe it is, as we always have it ready in our pocket and the software that got incorporated makes it now so easy to take stunning shots. It’s not a replacement for me but a welcome addition to my gear. At one point when you become a daily user you’ll come to understand what your camera lacks to get you to your next level, but until that day comes just enjoy your gear and get the best out of it.

As I don’t have a wide angle lens with fast aperture in my bag (yet), I’ll give it a try with the IPhone 12 Pro Max. The Night mode in combination with the wide angle lens is apparently quite impressive but I need to do some testing.

I recently changed my front suspension shocks and went for KYB Excel series. They are a good OEM replacement, but not specifically seen as an upgrade when it comes to "offroading". My original plan was to import Bilstein from US, but due to time constraint i settled for the KYB. With importing from US, i was looking at ordering here: https://shop.adventuredrivendesign.com/ My Pajero is my daily driver, and with stock suspension you will be able to do almost everything when it comes to offroading.

The free version works fine but lacks good satellite imagery.

During self recovery, giving little bursts of gas up to 1500rpm (blip blip). This while turning the steering wheel full left and full right

22k for a 3.0 V6 is really steep, unless it would be in top notch condition with rebuilt engine and transmission but I highly doubt that. Don’t expect to find one for 9000kaed that will be off-road-ready as well. Most are poorly maintained and 20 years old at least. The 2003 Pathfinder is an amazing off-roader, try to find a clean 3.5 model as they are more powerful than the earlier 3.3 models. But finding a clean one will take time and lots of patience.

Congrats @Probir Mukherjee !!

Nice clicks ! Did you take the night shot at 24mm 2.8 ?

Congrats @Hisham Masaad !

Congrats @Nathan Evans!

Congrats @Harold Roberts !

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.

Have a look i saw it. It’s called Newbie Qudra 15 Jan.

This is the Montero Sport and we even have them in the club. In GCC they cannot call it Pajero Sport because the old Pajero remained in production so far. The Montero sport is a capable off-roader and with these more refined details (ultimate package) will probably replace the old Pajero entirely. Its a capable off-roader and pretty light and nimble. The 3.0 V6 is a little low on power but their 8 speed transmission keeps the car moving very well in the dunes. @Jon M did you see any differences on this model compared with yours ? Is it just the Ultimate Package or am I missing something? Btw the latest Fortuner is a very capable off-roader, especially the 4.0 TRD models

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.

@Brette will be your man