Seven Shades of Sand

[Loca]

Seven Shades of Sand

Dear Almosters

everything started a few weeks ago when [mention]Haani[/mention] , [mention]thiago[/mention] , [mention]James[/mention] and me volunteered to support VW Parade in Abu Dhabi. The reward for supporting the parade was a seat to "Seven Shades of Sand" Liwa drive. The wait was long but the feeling of the booked seat with no need to fight hunting was soooo sweeeeet grin

The weather forecast was the only concern and unfortunately the predicted strong wind was true and made our experience a bit less enjoyable. However it was Liwa and nothing can affect the breathtaking landscape of that magic place in love

This time I wanted to enjoy the experience from the very beginning and I went for the camp. I rushed away from my work earlier than usual and at 6pm I met [mention]James[/mention] and [mention]amirrophail[/mention] at the petrol station in Jabel Ali. The transfer was long and boring, particularly the last 70Kms on the straight road where speed limit is 100Km/h (sorry guys I'm not sharing more about the location) Psmiley

We reached the last petrol station at around 8.30pm. The refueling took a bit longer due to the jerry cans and [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] , [mention]Booy[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] and [mention]aminemac[/mention] also reached the petrol station at the same time so we moved to the camp spot all together

Given the time on the clock and the tiring transfer we lighted the fire and had dinner. I shared some pizza and "frittata di pasta" which was renamed into pizzapasta. James grilled some lamb chops. The temperature was warm and wind still soft. But picking up. Weather was quite nice and different than what we're used in Dubai. [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] explained the 3 different weathers sometime concurrent in the UAE: one influenced by the mountains, the other influenced by the sea and finally the one influenced by the desert. The sky was clear and we enjoyed stars view and constellations.

A few others Almosters reached the camp and joined chit chat and food. At midnight I left the fireplace and went to sleep. I had to fight to nail the tent down to the ground as wind had grown strong. Night was noisy as the tent was slapped hard by the wind. Plus a locus decided to demonstrate her talent as a singer ... anyway I managed to sleep a few hours and at around 6am was awaken by car engine roaring. The early morning drivers reaching the camp.
When I opened the zip of my tent and put my head out I realized what a beautiful place it was. Bu Salem warned us the night before: dark of the night is not paying justice to the beauty of this place thumbsup

At 8.45am [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] delivered the briefing and the drive started. AlShamsi leading, [mention]Phoenix[/mention] 2nd lead then @Waseem and I was car n.4. The Intermidiates have been positioned after every few newbies, [mention]James[/mention] sweeping and [mention]Booy[/mention] floating.

The drive was mostly Safary style and smooth. Most of the drivers had less than 10 drives and a few at very early stage of their experience with Almost 4x4. However everybody did a great job. Of course we had 2nd tries, stucks, pop-outs in other words the full menu but what else to expect, it's Liwa ..

We finished our drive at around 3pm, after 6hrs and 74Km with many breaks in the middle to enjoy a landscape that only Liwa can offer. The height of the Dunes, the different colors of the sand, the vastity of the landscape. Something I'll never forget

That's all folks, see you soon on the sand

[aminemac]

Hello everyone !

This was my first newbie drive and I was lucky enough to make it to Liwa thumbsup and back XD !

I joined [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] [mention]Booy[/mention] [mention]Loca[/mention] [mention]James[/mention] and [mention]amirrophail[/mention] in the last gas station. Then, we drove together to the camp where we started the fire .

I set up my tent around midnight but I barely slept due to the sand pouring into our tent the entire night XD

The next day after the briefing, we started the drive. I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot ! I got stuck twice and was rescued by [mention]KIMOz[/mention] (thanks again!).
I lost air in two tires as well.

I would like to thank everyone for the trip!
Thanks [mention]James[/mention] , [mention]Loca[/mention] and [mention]amirrophail[/mention] for sharing your food with us!
Thanks [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for the tyre caps and the valuable tips.
Finally, I would like to thank [mention]Loca[/mention] , [mention]rapailo[/mention] and [mention]Johanna[/mention] for the tips about Pajero !

Here are few pictures from the drive









See you again soon in another adventure

Amine
Black Pajero LWB

[Loca]

Hello everyone !

This was my first newbie drive and I was lucky enough to make it to Liwa thumbsup and back XD !

I joined @alshamsi_m @Booy @Loca @James and @amirrophail in the last gas station. Then, we drove together to the camp where we started the fire .

I set up my tent around midnight but I barely slept due to the sand pouring into our tent the entire night XD

The next day after the briefing, we started the drive. I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot ! I got stuck twice and was rescued by @KIMOz (thanks again!).
I lost air in two tires as well.

I would like to thank everyone for the trip!
Thanks @James , @Loca and @amirrophail for sharing your food with us!
Thanks @alshamsi_m for the tyre caps and the valuable tips.
Finally, I would like to thank @Loca , @rapailo and @Johanna for the tips about Pajero !

Here are few pictures from the drive



See you again soon in another adventure

Amine
Black Pajero LWB

I just realized the mess I made with @aminemac and @amirrophail names during the drive .. as I kept on swapping between the two wtfsmilie

I'm really sorry guys, it will not happen again ... I hope brigade.baka-wolf.com

[Johanna]

Hello everybody,

this was an interesting trip. First of all I was passenger in my own car - @Booy was driving my patrol so we had to squeeze camping gear, jerry cans, firewood and food+drinks in the car cool
When we arrived at the camp site it was already windy but this was nothing compared to what was waiting for us the night and the next day wtfsmilie
We enjoyed amazing italian food from @Loca and lamb chops from @James and went to bed with a full stomach - thanks guys for feeding us.

The night was super windy I slept only 3 hours after I figured out the best sleeping position to escape sand showers IN the tent. wtfsmilie

We started with a good breakfast and in the briefing @alshamsi promised the first one will be in trouble after 300 metres. I think it was only 250 metres when 2 cars piled up in a soft sand ditch.
Distance was super important in this drive as this area had a lot of soft sand so you might get in trouble if you are too close to the car in front of you.
We had a tricky rescue situation with a car stuck sideways in soft sand- this situation needed marshals experience and they managed to get the car out safely.
The wind speed up during the day and it was nearly impossible to leave the car without a mask, so we all looked like aliens exploring another planet. It is fascinating how different the desert looks in different weather conditions and it was another unique Liwa experience.
We had a great time and the convoy did very well, good job guys thumbsup

Thanks all for the drive and the food, see you hopefully soon in the sand.

[Christiaan]

The name says it all. Seven shades of sand . . . . everywhere. Your nose, ears, eyes. hair, face, arms and ………

We arrived early Friday morning to the camping spot just to find all the campers covered in sand and looking a bit tired. They did not have the best night of rest according to them as the wind was howling.

[mention]Booy[/mention] was trying to get the fire started in the wind but it took some time. After having the most crunchy sandwich (extra serving of sand on it) we could see today is gonna be a very windy day. The other members arrived and everyone was ready to go.

[mention]alshamsi[/mention] i explained the terrain and how the day is going to work. We had a wonderful time in Liwa even though the wind was howling. Liwa is always special and with all the sand rolling by it was again something special to see.

We had a very nice route and great help from the marshals and intermediates.

Once we stopped for lunch, Alshamsi told the intermediates they can play. It was so nice seeing the guys driving the massive dunes while trying to keep the sand out of our eyes. They showed us what lies ahead after allot more training and what is possible.

The road back home was again very windy with the wind hammering us.

Thanks to everybody for a wonderful day. The wind blew us away but it was so much fun.

[Tekton]

Hello everyone,







I would like to begin with Thursday evening when I supposed to meet with Rade around 6PM and drive together to the camp but I received call around 5 where he stated he had an accident but nothing major thanks GOD and we postponed drive until 8PM.

Finally, we meet at petrol station in Dubai and start our journey, the closer we were getting to the meeting spot the excitement was higher.

Around 12:30AM we reach the spot and found few people were still awake the rest was already somewhere behind dunes under tends dreaming :D...

We did barbeque of traditional Bosnian Kebab and it was amazing especially with the taste of sand from the wind that was blowing from all directions but still damn tasty :D.

Around 2:30AM I went to set up my tend on the middle of nowhere with amazing jeep lights that basically shows nothing in front, but I manage to get decent spot under beautiful sky.

Morning around 6:30 before alarm I heard engines sounds passing by that wakes me up and I get up right away with no hesitation like usually when waking up home (5 min more please) :D.

Now the best part!! SERIOUSLY when I opened my tend and I saw that beautiful desert, guys it was astonishing my GOD I never felt something like that, early morning with sound of wind blowing and beautiful view right in front of me on the middle of nowhere I was completely amazed simply astonishing.

We gather up again around 8AM some people arrived early morning that didn’t camp and as usual it was time for [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] heart stroke coffee (VERY STRONG) :D so ya it wakes you up immediately, thank you!!

We start drive around 9 AM and the dunes we climbed was like climbing Mount Everest so amazing and astonishing.

There was little of everything, climbing dunes, cresting, big drops, we had pop outs, stacks, recoveries it was drive for all kind of experiences that leaves you speechless by every mean.

After like 2 hours driving we got to the rest point where intermediates had chance to do cresting on huge dune and it was fascinating to watch them while enjoying sandwich and Red Bull :D.

After short brake we continue our journey until the end, there was no major issues everything went as planned, literally you could see the excitement of people that participated in drive regardless their club grades from no start to all star (Marashal) everyone was having fun.

I thank you all for your contributions to make our life full of joy that day!!

As usual i made a video from a drive, I hope you will like it...


Thanks once again,
Almost4x4 - Tekton

[Phoenix]

My apologies for such a late trip report and also for waking up everyone in the morning at the camp. As you have read in the previous reports that quite a lot of members were awoken in the morning by a car running around. That was me, whenever we camp I always sleep outside come wind, unbearable cold or whatever and this time was no different.

I always keep it a point that after setting up my bed I lie down and keep staring at the abundance of stars in the gorgeous sky and wait to spot a shooting star, only then do I got to sleep. When camping in Liwa I have always been lucky to see one before going to sleep and this time I thankfully it happened within a few minutes as I was exhausted. Like how everyone else has mentioned the wind was furious but it caught more speed at around 3am, where I woke up in a fright of seeing in my dream a sand storm gushing towards me while in am in the middle of the desert trapped in something that I can’t free myself of. When I woke up I realised that the wind had picked up more speed and become much worse and that I could barely breathe. I am a patient of sinus and have to breathe through my mouth every time my nose gets blocked due to irritation or dust which as you know was not in short supply that night. Since I was breathing through my mouth the whole time I realised that my mouth and throat had sand and felt as dry as the desert and course. I had to do multiple gargles of water to clear my mouth and throat of sand as much as I could while what couldn’t come out went in with gulps of water. I put my hoodie back on and went back to sleep only to wake up after 2 hours somewhere around 5am because it had started to drizzle a bit. I covered my face with the hoodie again and wrapped my complete body inside the sleeping bag and went back to sleep but there was no use as in a few minutes I was wide awake.

I realised that everyone is still asleep and it’s still dark so I started driving around the camp site and that’s when others got their waking alarm. While trying to get some pictures I got myself into a tricky situation – crested sideways 50/50 on a sharp but a small about 3 meter high dune. I did a quick walk around, assessed the situation to form a plan of self-recovery since everyone was still asleep and the execution of the plan took about 5 minutes of digging with some good old 4L front and back tries.

After the recovery I went back to the camp site only to find no one was there yet. After some time people made it to the camp and the usual breakfast and coffee started, which was prepared by [mention]rapailo[/mention]. Ones the drive started and just as Shamsi had mentioned in the briefing we had our first trouble within 300 meters, the pop out was taken care of in record time. We came across a cone where Shamsi and [mention]Booy[/mention] discussed if we should avoid or go through the cone but it was decided to go through it and it was the right decision. I got my first ever chance to climb out of a cone and up a sharp climb in reverse which was exciting.

After this we continued with a few second tries and some sticky situations, one of which involved a car stuck on a dangerous angle sideways on a roughly 3 meter high dune. This was the 3rd car of the convoy and by the time Shamsi and I got to know about it we had gained a bit of distance and while driving back to the stuck car we found a beautiful sharp cone which ended in to a narrow valley like path with high sharp dunes on each side. We drove straight into it and through the narrow passage and drove back up on the other side. After reaching the stuck car which was soon recovered safely, we started again and the view just kept getting better and better. It was a very deceiving drive as what seemed flat had ditches and what seemed like a wall was actually flat.

We reached a point in the middle of the drive where the intermediates were given the chance to play around a big wall. The wall was quite wide and high, the moment I saw it I was hoping that Shamsi would give us the chance to play with it and he did. I was like a kid standing on the classroom door with his back pack and water bottle in hand waiting for the last bell to ring before the school year ends and the summer vacation starts!! I had my eyes fixed on the crest and thought of riding the baby all the way down to side end of the wall.

Outlaw revved and shifted its weight as the engine growled again and again, waiting for his turn. Suddenly it pounced towards the wall dashing and blowing sand behind him while I kept scanning for any bad surprises between Outlaw and the crest, the path was clear and my foot was glued to the floor. There was a patch of soft sand which we had to cut the corner of while making the climb and I was well prepared for any changes in grip, angle or speed but to my surprise Outlaw went over it barely showing any signs of slowing down. As we were about to reached the top I eased off the pedal and turned sideways, we climbed on to the crest to ride it all the way down till the end of the wall but WHOOOSH!!!!. A strong gust of wind hit Outlaw from the left side and in a flick of a second I had to make a choice, fight the wind and correct the fish tail or turn down towards the other side and do a second try. This is where our training and advice from marshals come into play, without even thinking I chose the second option and turned down for a second try. It was an unbelievable moment because in all the excitement I had completely forgot how windy it was and the very wind caught me off guard up there at the most crucial point. I yelled into the radio “THAT WAS AWESOME!!” and gave my clear. As I appeared from behind the wall for a second try. I drove all the way back to where all the drivers were parked and saw the expression on [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention]'s face. It was a priceless moment for me when I saw that confident grin on his face and pointing towards the wall and saying something like “go do it again”. I don’t remember his exact words though as I was filled with adrenaline. I tried the side crest again twice but the wind just won’t let me stay on top, this just goes to show how crucial and dangerous your every move and your every second can be while side cresting.

MY RESPECT FOR EVERY SINGLE MARSHAL AND EVERY SINGLE DRIVER THAT TAKES THE RISK OF LEADING CAN NEVER BE SHAKEN !! if it was not for you guys, none of us would even be able to make 500 meters without getting into serious trouble, forget about writing our trip reports.

Later in the drive I did get myself stuck in a soft patch but with the help of 4L and some gravity I was out in no time. We ended the drive with a drop and some intermediates play time followed by a rally style drive on the farmer’s highway.

Just to give you an idea of how strong the wind was, while inflating the tyres there came a gust of wind that shook Outlaw’s bonnet so hard that it pulled the bonnet rod out of its socket and slammed down on my arms while I was plugging the power wires of the compressor on the battery terminals. That’s how strong the wind was, finally we ended the drive with everyone having their faces full of thick makeup from the brand LIWA DESERT and with HUGE smiles!!

My Dearest LIWA, Outlaw has settled his score with you.

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

It is never be late for a trip report. I read all the reports about this drive describing what has happened during that weekend.

Before the drive I gave many warning regarding the weather but the members insisted to carry on with the plan. The marshals are well experienced and used to the harsh weather or circumstances you just see their soft side but you don't know what they are MADE OFF.

We had a very good 74 KM drive in that beautiful place where in some spots you will see a clear line between two colors or you come across different technical areas out of nowhere.

By 1 PM I noticed that some drivers got exhausted and they won't make it to the end of the track so I called it off by the Gazal Heaven Dune.
All in all everybody did very well and we all came out safe and sound

One thing I'm sure off. I'm going to do it again either April or May so get ready

Till next time stay safe

[Tekton]

One thing I'm sure off. I'm going to do it again either April or May so get ready

Till next time stay safe

Hell yeah let’s do it again!!