Liwa Camping and Drive adventure on 2nd and 3rd of December 2015
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This trip was absolutely fabulous right from the beginning. We met at the Emarat petrol station on SZR in Dubai for 8am on Wednesday morning. The off roaders kept rolling in and we quickly overran the parking area. After some small chit chat and introductions to a few new members our convoy rolled out; 23 cars in all with most cars having between 2 to 4 people per car #:-s As we passed the Mafraq Adnoc we picked up a few Abu Dhabi joiners. It was around 10:30 or so when we reached the last Adnoc before entering the desert….and someone was not right, someone was not in place…”where’s Joe”, “he was with us”, “where did he go?” :-\ :-\ Joe, and a few followers of our usually well-guided Marshal had taken their own private route to Liwa via Saudi Arabia it seems #-o . Missing one of our key Marshals was not a good way to start but we had made contact and gave him our coordinates so he could catch up with us en route. We followed Marshal Ahmad through a wide dirt road that ran along a fence until we hit our deflation point. We had a detailed brief and we formed into one convoy.
Ahmad was leading, Ajay, was second lead, Avinash was sweeping in the rear and Abdalla, Baher, Sam, and Joe (yes, he finally caught up to us in good form giving new meaning to the term “fashionably late” :ymapplause: ). By this point I believe we had 25+ cars after adding the few Abu Dhabi folks. So we were off like a shotgun blast :ymparty: :ymparty: , out of the gate ready to run the gauntlet :drive: …and then we stopped :(( :(( …for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only an hour. Not more than two minutes into the drive we had our first stuck and popout #-o . Yes, our king of popouts Mr. Ady had one right from the get-go. Now he is trying to blame it on Deva, who he says was actually driving the car at the time but there are no witnesses to this 😕 😕 . During this time also, we had a big loss. Sasha’s check engine light came on :(( . Having just entered the desert and having this issue pop up Sasha decided to play it safe and turn back. Hopefully everything is OK with your car Sasha and sorry that you missed out on the drive.
So our drive finally got underway and yes, Joe finally caught up with us! We had a very interesting and fun time. With such a big convoy, diverse level of driving skills, and unforgiven Liwa sand and dunes, we had many challenges but the whole convoy overcame all of them with a great smile and attitude. Ajay, demonstrated, in my mind, a very cool trick. He was stuck in a bowl with all four tires buried. With the flip of a switch and a little patience his FJ gently “crawled” out for a fantastic self-recovery ^:)^ ^:)^ . You can see some demos of this from Toyota.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vizNbJY_F3U
Our afternoon drive continued on and as most everyone settled into the groove we were all relatively comfortable and having a great time. Of course we had a few stucks, second tries, re-routings, etc but nothing major that slowed the convoy. As the afternoon faded and sun began to set we stopped to setup camp. All the vehicles lined up in a row and everyone quickly set up tents, fire pits, and cooking areas under the last few beams of sunlight. For the next several hours there was a great bit of food, drinks, laughter, and excitement of reliving the fun drive of the day.
The next day came early and by 6 to 7am ~O) (-| most people started to wake, have breakfast and pack up camp. By 9am we were queued up and ready for day 2 of our drive :drive: . The sand was a bit firm in the morning from the evening’s dampness. The drive started out and carried on for the morning and into the early afternoon with a lot of exciting turns, climbs, and descents. With no major issues to slow us down we were able to make up some of the lost ground from the first day’s delayed start. At one point in time (well actually many points in time, well actually most of the trip) we were in no-man’s-land in the middle of the empty quarter and wouldn’t you know, we came across a camel farmer :-\ (on foot) tending to his 6 camels…where did they come from 😮 ?…and where are they going :-\ ? It seems like it is a long way for them wherever they came from and wherever they are going.
By early afternoon, around 1 or 2pm, the call was made to split the convoy. For those who were running low on petrol or simply had enough, they exited on a direct route to the road with Ajay. For those of us who still wanted more sand in our hair we followed Ahmed for many more dunes. About an hour later and with only 10Kms to get to our planned exit point, we decided to take a direct road route to our exit point as the sand was very soft and the dunes became quite technical. As the stucks seemed to come more and more we felt it was best to end the trip on a high note and drive out directly. We exited the dunes around 3pm where we inflated and drove to the petrol station for refueling.
All in all, we drove in the desert for about 11 hours over the two days and covered about 150 kms. It was a great trip and lots of fun for everyone. We had a very large convoy of 25+ cars and no major issues to come about. :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
A major thanks to our Marshals: Ahmad, Ajay, Joe, Abdalla, Baher, and great support of Avi and Sam for leading us on this trip and keeping us safe the whole way :thanks: . Also a big thanks to all of the convoy drivers and passengers for making the trip fun and exciting. Congrats to all of the first-timers of cutting tracks through the Empty Quarter! ^:)^ ^:)^
See you again in the sand soon!
Matt
quote Ahmad Pervez:It was a nice drive and in spite of the very large convoy, everyone drove well.
Can I request all those who drove with us in Liwa and have some photographs to post the photos on Dubai offroaders FB page?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/248053532355/I have a bunch of pics and will post them once I download them all. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s pics.
Is anyone good at making videos? I have quite a bit of video footage that I could give someone if they know how to make cool videos with music, etc??? I am not that gifted to do it.
Awesome trip! Really great time start to finish and what scenery! Thanks to our fearless marshals for getting us there and back safely and all the lovely folk taking part.
Best part (besides the entire two days):
1. Trans-versing the most amazing landscapes
2. Finding the fuse to disable my abs, eps, bas and all those heating of gearbox/killer of joy functions!
3. The dunes on the way back
4. The traditional Syrian bbq chicken at the camp fire, thanks guys!
Strangest part:
1. A random man in the middle of nowhere, on his own, looking delighted with the life.
2. That he didn’t need help?I have some pics that i’ll upload later to the FB page, but as for now, ebay, trans cooling mod:)
Thanks again all, it was a blast!
Dara
quote eric:Thanks for a great trip! I loved the big dunes and relaxed drive. Ready for new adventures soon.
I have some elastic hooks that I borrowed that I need to find the owner of.Hi Eric, it was pleasure meeting you. Hope these straps helped keeping everything secured for the rest of the trip?
It was a great trip, and big thanks for all of our Marshals, for dedicating their time to make our journey safe and enjoyable. Without them it would never be possible to enjoy Liwa!
quote matthewficco:quote Ahmad Pervez:It was a nice drive and in spite of the very large convoy, everyone drove well.
Can I request all those who drove with us in Liwa and have some photographs to post the photos on Dubai offroaders FB page?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/248053532355/I have a bunch of pics and will post them once I download them all. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s pics.
Is anyone good at making videos? I have quite a bit of video footage that I could give someone if they know how to make cool videos with music, etc??? I am not that gifted to do it.
Check out majesto. I use the free version so it can only make 1min vids, but lets face it most peoples attention span is that these days anyway.
Or if you want send some vids and a max of 10 pics to my whatsapp and I can make for you.
I wanted to join this trip, but couldn’t. Ended up do a wadi into dunes our ras way instead.
Great trip report Matt! :thanks:
Unfortunately couldn’t make it but feel like I was there now… 😀
:drive:
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