Almost4x4

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for late report. I wanted to get the footage ready to be posted along with the report but my poor video editing skills and limited time do not allow this.

All above reports have been summarized everything pretty well. I will try to give a bit of my sight and feelings in this drive.

I was looking forward for this trip from November 2020, when I first joined to Almost 4x4 family at Open Camp V. That camp was just after a CM drive and, @alshamsi_m was promising the Newbies a Liwa drive which day got it few weeks after and I could see their amusement from the eyes of each and everyone.

Dream came through after 5 months later along with another dream.

I got my new FJ (a.k.a. YETI) on Wednesday evening, directly dropped to Jass Autogarage for kill switch and skid plate installation. The day after, all camping stuff was ready and I was expecting a call from @Rashidjass to pick up the car and get going. The main aim was to be at the camping spot around sunset time, so that I don't need to drive alone in the desert at night with a complete new car (at that point i even didn't do 20 kms with FJ on road).

However things didn't go according to the plans, I had to get the car a bit late and I was at the entrance point around 8pm which made me nervous. I was at magnificent Liwa, known with it's huge dunes, alone by myself nighttime and with a car which I am not used to drive. After deflating and hitting to the sands of Liwa, the amazement took the place of nervousness.

In contrary to the satellite images, the road to the campsite was pretty flat and easy. I heard most of the people had issues with navigation. I used Gaia and didn't have any issues. So I can suggest this app to the ones don't have a proper navigation device yet.

When we reached to the camp spot with @sparrow, there was already a crowd around the fire and barbecues. @brett and Imee looked like they packed enough things to food all attendants.

We just quickly fired up our coals and @sparrow started to cook a great veg stew with some beans. One of the best camp dishes I've ever had, highly appreciated!

There was an amazing crowd around the fire pit, with loads of chit chat and stories. However, I was already too tired and we decided to pitch our tent early and went to sleep. I can imagine, @rapailo gave the attendants an amazing show

From my point of view, it was a fantastic drive. I was just getting used to FJ but I can clearly say that the driving experience between Pajero and FJ Cruiser cannot be compared at all. And it is a privilege to learn driving an a tougher car.

We didn't need loads of power on this drive so I cannot compare clearly from power point of view. However, the comfort, confidence to the car's capabilities, clearances, approach and departure angles... It was amazing. I realized that there is something called articulation after driving the FJ. Pajero was like a solid block ,if your left tire falls on a ditch you completely drop down as a block, FJ's tires are trying to follow the terrain as much as possible while keeping you comfortable.

On the negative side, I understood about the poor visibility of the FJs. It is very hard to see whats going on, so I guess I need to develop my sixth sense. All along the drive I was thinking "how these people lead with this car's poor visibility", but I guess its being able to handle whatever thrown on you more than seeing whats ahead.

In the front we had fairly good flow on fresh tracks, but in the back of the convoy with the chewed up tracks there were several second tries, stucks and recoveries. Even with those incidents, we had 138 km of desert driving on one day. It was impressive. Well done everybody!

I just want to re-iterate again that, I am so grateful to be a part of this family. Its such a blast to see the similar enthusiastic faces every weekend.

One very important safety note, which might put you in trouble if not followed.

"If someone is asking help in the radio, just stop in a safe place until you got the clearance."

Many thanks to @alshamsi_m to organize the trip, lead us to the salvation and his great advises. (One of his dreams on this vast isolated area has been implemented on the following camp morning.)

Thanks for our guardian angel marshals @Booy in Big Red(man you looked amazing in that car, running all around the dunes like in a go kart! Impressive performance) and @presa (Battery was died when you waived to the camere, next time inshaAllah!).

Other than that, thanks for the intermediates and advanced members which took care of us, @Youssef.Abdelhady , @rapailo , @Mabubaker (seeing you in my rear mirror is such a thrill, hope there will be times I am following your wheels), @Petr.

Usual suspects @James , @brett, @osman, @AdamW, @Laarni, @NahorJP, @piotr, @Viktoriia, @jayslens, @CARLOSS, @Claude, @jeepers76 and missed @Flor I feel privileged to drive with you guys! Looking forward to see you!

Sorry if I missed anybody and see you in the sand!

Hello Everybody,
A lot has already been written, and I am posting a little () late, so let me be concise.
I was really looking forward to this camp and trip, for multiple reasons: first I really wanted to see the Milky Way, second, I really like endurance drives (it’s a good way to maximize a day you “steal” from the family), third – I wanted to sightsee an area I have never been before, and last but not least – I wanted to test some of the mods I made to my car (or was I made the mods specifically for the trip…?, eh chicken-egg).

So of course on the day of the big draw, I was really stressed / excited – and in the end very happy to secure a spot. @Rashidjass was super helpful to advise the best kit to lift the suspension (choice went to ARB OMU 2’’), and I got a second-hand bumper from Kareem – looks so neat!!, and it all got installed perfectly on time.

On the day itself I only managed to depart only at 8pm, and at the border came the first (and fortunately the last) obstacle – my friend travelling with me tested inconclusive in the DPI – so I had to drive a few km back to Dubai (learning is – if you had a vaccination, even a number of weeks ago, do not go for DPI!!!, his PCR was of course negative, but it was too late and he missed the fun).

I arrived at the camp around 11pm, meeting @Victoriia at the deflation point (BTW, the gatch road with the new suspension was smooth as silk ). The new lights guaranteed a comfortable ride in the dark We joined the camp of a few las hours of chit-chat and all went to bed. Happy to report that the Milky Way was visible – but only around 3am!

Next day the drive was so much fun – in the convoy I got allocated the last spot (only before @rapailo sweeping), so I knew there will be plenty of opportunities to test the new suspension . We started in a technical area, slowly moving west. We had our usual share of second tries and stucks, but everyone in the convoy did very well. From time to time we saw @Booy flying by I had a pop-put some time mid-drive, a mix of bad technique (too sharp turn on a slope) and probably too low pressure (learning here – once the pressure is set don’t touch it! Unless it’s really out of range). As we progressed the confidence increased and the convoy moved smoother, despite heat (max was at 44 degC) and strong winds. At some point we started to follow a path of an earlier drive in Liwa I was part of – it was great to see how much progress I made in the last 4 months (confidence, technique, distance management, approach, you name it).

The new mod / setup worked very well – the bumps and humps were going very neatly under the car, also I was able to attack the ascents/descents with a little more speed. But most importantly, I got more confident I am not going to damage the car with every move, so I could focus more on my driving technique, choosing the right path and observing others. So much more fun!! A negative side effect was I took a few ditches with too much speed – but the skid plate helped. Guess being over-confident also does not help.

Overall we covered 132km and drove for 10h (without lunch break!!) – that’s a new record for cross-country driving with very little help of gatch roads.

Of course big thanks go to the organizers - @alshamsi_m and support team of @Mabubaker , @Petr , @rapailo and @Youssef.Abdelhady , @presa and @Booy . Great to have this opportunity to see so much of this beautiful country!

Milky way camp & next day morning 10hrs drive in liwa desert (organizer @alshamsi_m )

My apology for posting late report!!

Good day everyone, i cant control my fingers to write this trip report. Seriously awesome and the best ever drive (totally next level). Liwa is in such so beautiful that we cant describe it in words and ofcourse well organized trip by founder @alshamsi_m and experienced marshals made it more interesting and breathtaking drive till the end.

Camping in shinning bright stars which was perfectly planned by @alshamsi_m was such a awesome idea to enjoy the bbq gave us opportunity to share happy and funny moments with each others. After 2hrs of long wait (having @jeepers76 ’s company) on AUH border for PCR negative test to arrive and followed by 2hrs of driving till the camp location made us super hungry. Thank you so much @jeepers76 , @brett @osman and others for sharing delicious food and coffee.

Camp fire was already lit by the time we reached at the camping location (thanks to @James , @osman @brett curious birds arriving first at the camp location). My approach for bbq was little different, yes! i collected charcoal from camp fire when i realized that i missed to bring one. Later @dorudoru shared some coal and we could do bbq to quench our burning stomachs.
I had little surgery on my finger nail due to wood chips poked into my nail, but thanks to @brett & imee for carrying the surgery kit along, it was very useful.
Hard time was to leave the shinning bright stars with good company and going off to sleep, as we knew the next day drive will be intense in scorching sun. Tent was all set to push myself off to sleep, i could hear @alshamsi_m ’s voice in my sleep, may be it was a dream.

Next day was the big day to be in liwa for the first time visitor, everyone geared up and assembled at the camp fire location. Sharing breakfast and chatting with campers and just arrived participants. @alshamsi_m gave us briefing about the trip and it was likely to be 160km drive if we are lucky to move in pace without any major stucks. Knowing the liwa desert very well, founder @alshamsi_m decided to keep everyone in one convoy so that everyone can enjoy the smooth ride supported by experienced marshals @Booy @presa and having @Youssef.Abdelhady @Petr @Mabubaker @rapailo as a supporting crew and thanks to @James for taking all the ditches ahead us and being an active second lead.

I was continuously getting distracted by the amazing dunes out there and looking at those giant sand mountains. Our drive was perfectly set between those giant technical dunes and steep descend. Couple of second tries and one pull for my jeep to get unstuck by @presa but it was very quick. At one of the bowl while doing steep climb with side cresting my jeep was loosing momentum and allowing @marshals to scream on the radio ‘@nahor, are you driving buggy?’ Sorry but my jeep was very soft to the soft sand so i had to take second try to complete the crest successfully. Another simple but tricky steep climb with an U-turn to come down made my jeep little furious to drift causing for the second try, and the second try was so hilarious that i missed to take the U-turn instead landed on the other side of the dune. Once again sorry @alshamsi_m for getting over excited and not following the track .

During the drive we had to see off @Youssef.Abdelhady due to sick passenger and @jeepers76 because of some technical issue with his jeep, But we missed you guys . We managed to finish 134.5km drive in 10hrs 15mints with some technical breaks and couple for retries and quality time spent with @alshamsi_m @James @brett and imee @dorudoru and @sparrow @CARLOSS @Laarni @Tomvanhouten @Viktoriia @Claude @jayslens @osman @piotr @Adam @Booy @rapailo @Mabubaker @Petr @presa .

Before the drive was about to end, we saw our experts / Big boys toys playing with the dunes and we all were enjoying and dreaming to chase their limits in near future.
Carrying additional fuel tanks was necessary for my jeep because of its big lazy tummy to finish the drive.

Amazing drive to remember until we visit liwa again to recreate another fresh memories. Special thanks @alshamsi_m , all the marshal and supporting team for making this trip memorable. Even after driving 10hrs in desert we didn't find our self stressed, but yes leaving the desert was very stressful.

Late video but better than nothing.