LIWA Dunes Game

Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:14 am

under Construction

:devilish:

Simply what a weekend

Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:38 am

Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:47 am

Great Shots Momo

Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:43 pm

It has been a long weekend, tiring but full of satisfaction.
Awesome people, fantastic weather and amazing dunes
During these two days we faced several type of sand, hard, soft and super soft, brown color, gold color and white color, in some places was tough, but all in all a great job has been done from all you you guys.
Special thanks to Bu Salem for supporting and sweeping in day one, so sorry that you had to leave on Friday evening, we missed you on day 2, hope that Megatron will recover soon.
Another big thanks to Armin for being my second leader in day 1 and sweeper in day 2, big thanks also to Zorro for being second leader in day 2.
Thanks a lot also to (random order) Jeremy, Ginger, Agalon, Solmaz, Momo, Mark B, Geni, Rashidjass, I had really good time.....and I don't want to forget Duro (hope is written correctly) for the funny entertainment on Friday evening!
Last but not least, hope that Solmaz FJ has not major damages (welcome to the next level).....btw, big congrats to all the new intermediate drivers, achieve the upgrade in Liwa is always something special.
So, looking forward to read your report guys, big thanks again and see you soon in the sand.
Cheers
Yoghy

Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:23 pm

Liwa is Liwa ! It’s a very long way away, especially the Arada western side of the Liwa oases (apparently the plural of oasis).

It’s amazing, remote, no car tracks, full of nature, challenging, dangerous, and also very exciting.

I travelled 1,000 km on the trip, over 150km of that was off-road, it was a big weekend and absolutely one I wish to repeat.
Yoghy had set us a very nice meeting point, and arriving alone to the campsite was an adventure in itself (good to see Mark already there!).
Chitchat around the fire, an early night, and a very cold one, and then waking up into thick mist, eventually clearing to show big dunes. We then drove to Tal Moreeb, camping nearby this time high on a dune, and on Saturday headed back to Arada.

In between we played on some huge dunes, large bowls, high speed Sabkah-driving, very soft sand, big drops, and even a liwa-sized version of egg basket!
A really great group, and a huge thankyou to the organisers.

Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:24 am

Liwa Dunes Game

A spectacular area + Nice people = An fun weekend!

Reaching Arada camp, is already an adventure itself, 300+km at night in AD isn’t easy!

In this Liwa trip, 4 newbies, or ex-newbies now, were invited to join and possibly earn an extra star many look for. I have to be quite honest, I wasn’t sure they’d make it as Liwa isn’t a joke, but I’m pretty sure they positively shocked everyone, with the way they drove, and with their good attitude they demostrate. Good Job everybody! :045:

On Friday we drove from Arada to Moreeb, following a path close to the Saudi border with some really interesting sections, which at some point got everyone to struggle, get stuck and loose plastic bits of cars – Thank you Rashidjass for collecting my plastic bumper! In Liwa you cannot loose concentration for a second!!

Friday night camp, was sure an interesting one, although some drivers had to leave, we got to know Twilight Sparkle and Pinky Pie! Two very interesting individuals! :011: At this point you’re probably wondering what or who they’re – Well, we all got to play with pink (I think, was dark so I couldn’t see well) plastic ponies, not the ones u find in Japanese engines :015::010: but toys of Solmaz & Agalon’s daughter, who probably needs a new chair too!! What an entertaining night!

Saturday morning thankfully was not as foggy as Friday. So we could get moving earlier, and therefore drive more. Saturday’s track consisted of driving from Moreeb back to Arada, following a more northern route than what we took the previous day. Sand, was still wet in certain areas, and made it tricky at points, then tire pressure increased almost 4psi in no time and made it even more interesting. We probably came across every possible sand color you can think of making it difficult to even see what’s ahead.

Unfortunately, early in the afternoon a car got scratched a little, although it didn’t look too bad, it is always better to keep it safe, and therefore took a quick fast track to the road, you surely don’t want a broken car in Liwa on a Saturday afternoon!

Great pics MOMO, although you’ll now see that on the new level you may not have anymore the time to take all these nice pics, and may end up capturing whatever you can with the phone!

Thanks Yoghybear for organising and leading
Thanks alshamsi_m for the human leather socks, I love them! Hope to see Megatron back in business soon
I think I’ll never go to Liwa with out you two!

And everyone else for being there, had a great time!

Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:56 am

Usually it is a big pleasure to camp and drive with almosters, but this time was a XXL pleasure. Reached to the camp entrance way point around midnight. Stopped for a while to enter the camp site coordinates on my gps, turned on my new roof lights and hit the sand without deflating. The fun started there! The open wide camp area is amazing, I liked it, specially with the wall of stars above our head. Then, set my chair and took the corns/maize ready to cook. I placed them on the fire, when Abu Salem thought they were a large sized marshmallows. I can say that we are all becoming masterchef by the time, from point of view of skills and equipment, no forgetting the genuine kitchen table of [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION] .

Next day was full of fun. It was for me a new terrain. Focus was needed all the time. I can't describe the feeling being so high on the belly of the dune doing an arch, it is just amazing. I really appreciate to drive with you ladies and gentlemen. Amazing drive with amazing poeple.

Thanks to all who joined this trip and hat off to [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION], I was looking at your car all the time and how you find the way to go, It is something that really impressed me on that day.

Take care of you all, precious off-roaders, and looking forward to see you soon in the sand,

Best Regards,

Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:53 pm

We were driving mostly in Al Awir and Fossil Rock area when we got interested in off-roading. Mainly following the tracks here and there... Then one time we decided to go and camp in Liwa... In the morning we wanted to drive around a bit but it was not possible. We saw the sizes of the dunes, bowls and understood we are not even close to be able to drive... That is when we decided to join a club and found almost4x4...

So we were at the point where it all started for us. At last we will be able to drive around with the club so the excitement cannot be measured for both me and @Solmaz. Considering this will also be an exam for us, there was "a bit" of stress on the way to the camp... At least for me... Another concern was my old TJ so i was praying that it will not fail.

Thursday night camp was amazing. We arrived late unfortunately but had enough time to chitchat around the camp fire with the delicious corn offered by @MOMO. The sky was amazing and you could spend hours just watching the stars and luckily i caught a shooting star.

1st day drive started right after the fog disappeared. Got ready, took our briefing and headed behind the lead of @Yoghybear. It was nothing like anything we have done before. All technical, demanding full concentration with zero tolerance. I had a stuck and the rescue was handled perfect and smooth by @Green Giant under marshals' supervision. After the long drive we reached to Moreeb with all tired yet happy faces. That was where @alshamsi_m congratulated us newbies for our new stars. Some of us had to leave, we had a short visit to civilization to refill and the remaining of us headed back to the second camp area. Duru got a late night energy from where i don't know and handled the fun for the night, instructing us what to do and how to play :)

2nd day we headed back to Arada Camp point. No need for more details as it was amazing as 1st day. An unfortunate event happened with @Solmaz so the FJ had a small hit and @Yoghybear decided not to risk and we took the easy track to the road.

Big thanks to @Yoghybear for amazingly technical lead, @alshamsi_m (hope megatron gets well soon) and @Rashidjass for the support and all the fellow drivers for the joyful ride. @Arminjune and @Melfi, i would specially thank you for watching over us the fresh intermediates the second day and most importantly helping us with the police report in Liwa. Without you probably we would not be able to communicate and get the report. @Green Giant, @Zorro, @ginger, it was so much fun to drive with you all and thanks for your support all through the drive.

Below is the information of the 1st day drive:

[IMG]http://imageshack.com/a/img537/237/xDGCg0.jpg[/IMG]

Start time: 01/23/2015 10:32
Finish time: 01/23/2015 17:17
Distance: 89km (06:44)
Moving time: 03:10
Average speed: 13.2km/h
Avg. Speed Mov.: 28.1km/h
Max. Speed: 109.4km/h
Minimum altitude: 78m
Maximum altitude: 214m
Ascent speed: 946.8m/h
Descent speed: -975.5m/h
Elevation gain: 2198m
Elevation loss: -2241m
Ascent time: 02:19
Descent time: 02:17

See you all soon...

Mon Jan 26, 2015 12:57 pm

[quote=Zorro;40825]
Great pics MOMO, although you’ll now see that on the new level you may not have anymore the time to take all these nice pics, and may end up capturing whatever you can with the phone![/quote]

Thank you [MENTION=1803]Zorro[/MENTION]. You know my camera was till now a faithful passenger, I will keep it as it is and hopefully we will find time and way to take pics.

Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:36 am

Everyone else has pretty much summed up in great detail about this weekend in Liwa. It has been 14 months since my last visit and I was not disappointed. Arada is new to me and what a stunning place. Thumbs up to Yoghybear and Shamsi for giving us the opportunity to explore new areas. The camp at Arada was great, and as usual with a night time arrival, the anticipation of the morning views was spoilt a little by the fog, however when it lifted - wow! Day one we drove almost 90km from Arada to Moreeb Dune covering every type of terrain available; the sand was still damp from the rains but was also very soft in places. Almost a 'mud' experience at times. The pace was steady and everyone coped very well, especially the Liwa Virgins and potential Intermediates on trial! After a long day driving we reached Moreeb before sunset and said goodbye to those who weren't staying for the second night camp. It was dark once we returned from refueling, and the big light boys (Armin and Zorro) were tasked with locating a camp spot. It soon became clear that even with superb lights, Liwa is not the place to explore at night, so we headed to a known camp spot and set up, high above Moreeb.

We awoke to a sunny morning, no fog, and set off earlier on our return trip to Arada. The pace was a little faster, as the previous day built a bit of confidence. A very interesting route back across the northern chain of dunes and sabka. We unfortunately had to leave the dunes a bit earlier than expected due to Solmaz having a bit of a bump, but the only damage was her bumper, and perhaps her pride! A great performance though by the newly promoted Intermediates, so well done.

I look forward to the return trip which Yoghybear promised. Many thanks to Yoghybear for organising, for the support of Shamsi, Rashid Jass, Zorro, Armin and Melfi, and for the very good company of Ginger, Agalon, Solmaz, (and Duru of course), Momo and Mark B, see you all in the sand soon.

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