The Sand Pyramids

[Loca]

Dear Almosters,

this 10+ drive was arranged and led by @alshamsi_m and supported by @Abu Jimmy ... there is very little more to add

It was clearly a VIP drive and there was another reason why this drive was special and unforgettable: it was my first drive with "Ciccina" you might ask, who is Ciccina? ... then take a look at the picture at the bottom

So let me share with you first impressions from my new ride ...

By priority: first of all the traction is shocking great and I could approach soft sand at lower speed with no risk of getting stuck. Second, the power is impressive. The engine keeps pushing uphill even when the revs go down. The suspensions (King) are amazing and keep the wheels attached to the ground even in a destroyed terrain like Al Badayer. Last but not least I can finally drive with AC on and stay far from sand showers coming from the windows

On the other end ... the Pajero is much quicker and agile in the handling

It was an exiting and experience at the same time. I realized the FJ has much more potential but I know for some time I'm going to miss the bound connecting me and my Pajero after almost 3 years drive

The drive was a mix of medium-big dunes, technical dunes and ended in Al Badayer. It was busy due to the many other convoys driving in the area, some of them driving with no respect to others. The terrain was very marked by tracks and wheel digs. However thanks to our angels @alshamsi_m at the front and @Abu Jimmy floating everybody did well and we had an happy and successful dive.

That's all for now. Looking forward to meet many of you next week at the CM drive

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

After the camp from the night before, @Abu Jimmy and I had a very good breakfast & coffee . We drove from Showaib to Al Badayer trying some of the high dunes but we managed to reach the Super Bowl only.

The tracks were going crazy and it felt like the highway on the top of them and downtown in the bottom with traffic jams .

Generally speaking our members did very well with some second tries but the rope was used only once I think .

Once we reached the village , some members left and the rest followed to Al Badayer to catch few kms of offraoding arr.

I had to inflate and run for other commitments but the few members showed no interest in leaving.

The weather is getting better and better and we are looking forward for WINTER !!

Till next time, keep the sand flying wink
Shamsi

[Christiaan]

It was a pleasant surprise to see that there was a ride scheduled mid way through the week. I was able to register and was looking forward to the weekends drive.

Friday morning we were greeted by a few campers at the meeting point. @alshamsi and @Abu Jimmy had some nice Arabic coffee and special cookies while we waited for the last few vehicles to arrive.

The area was full of tracks and there were allot of other convoys that crossed wherever they wanted. Abu Jimmy was always close enough to get the convoy back on the right line. We had some second tries and minimal stucks. The cooler weather also allowed the flies to start joining wherever we stopped.

We stopped at the superbowl where some drivers had a chance to play and continued to the exit point. Some of us followed Alshamsi to the shops and get an extra 10min worth of dessert.

It was a pleasant morning. Thank you all. See you again soon.

[osman]

Hi,

I wanted to start this drive after waking-up in the desert but we had a visitor at home plus could not leave the work until very late. But I was the first one to arrive the meeting / camping point in the morning. I should also admit that I remembered the meeting time as half an hour earlier, so it is not only the enthusiasm for driving. But at the end it played out well as we had a nice chitchat while watching @Abu Jimmy and @alshamsi_m cooking eggs and preparing the breakfast with the hundreds of flies also taking their portions.

Once all the drivers gathered (i think we were two drop-outs from the attendance list), we quickly lined-up and started driving. This time I was at the back of the convoy to drive and enjoy on messed-up tracks in an area where there were many messed-up tracks were already there before. The drive was smooth except that we had to accommodate the other convoys who don't mind cutting through our convoys without any safety consideration. We had some second tries without more significant events like pop-outs. It was a mixed drive with some soft sand and technical as well as driving on top of the dunes at a nice pace. Overall, we covered 34Km with the moving time of 1Hr 22Mins with average speed of 24Km/Hr maxing at 69Km/Hr.

Thanks to @alshamsi_m for the lead and @Abu Jimmy for securing the area and guiding and helping the cars in trouble while floating around.