This second big religious holiday in Islam, Eid Al Adha, fell in December this year, and we received 3 days off plus the weekend. We took the opportunity to go on a 4-day trek through the UAE section of the Empty Quarter, which is known here as Liwa. The area was breathtaking and pretty much deserted, and of course we had our fair share of adventures.
The adventures started from the word “go”, as one of the Dubai party found, on arriving at the rendezvous point at the Liwa Hotel, that his radiator had a hole in it, and his car would not be able to go further. We farmed out the driver and passengers and shared out the camping equipment and supplies among the remaining 8 cars—a formidable convoy nevertheless.
The first day was relatively uneventful after that, though we did come across a mother camel in the middle of the desert who had just given birth a few minutes before. We stayed for about 20 minutes, watching as the baby tried to struggle to its feet and make its first steps. We also came across a rare find—a motherlode of sand roses, interesting formations of sand that come together in beautiful permutations. You can learn more about them here. We already have a nice collection of them, and Daniil added some worthy specimens.
Our friend Antoine had plotted a route through Liwa to a gas station on the other side of the desert. Most of the driving involved going through flat valleys, but sometimes we needed to thread our way through towering dunes that cut the valleys off from each other. That’s when people get stuck. Our car was handicapped in that our 4-wheel Low gear has not been working, so that if we got bogged down in sand, we couldn’t shift down and get out by ourselves—a tow was usually in order. To compensate, we had brought sand ladders—metal structures we had had specially made that we put under the wheels of the car to give it some initial traction and momentum. Those did the trick as well.
We spent most of the three days trekking through the desert—the sun is still hot enough that you don’t want to sit anywhere without shade too long. We would stop at about 4 or 4:30 at a suitable spot high up on some dunes for a nice view, set up camp, and after a lounge about, get cooking on an open fire (we had all brought some wood and charcoal, as there was none to be had in the environs). With so many cars, you can imagine that dinner was a veritable buffet of good food. After dinner, we sat warming ourselves around the fire (the nights were cool, though not what one would call freezing), and after some conversation people would trickle off to bed. The early risers would get up to watch the sunset, others would get up and start washing the dishes, others would make toast and whatnot for breakfast, and we were usually packed up and ready to go by 10:00 a.m. If the temperature had been hotter, an earlier departure time would have been in order.
The adventures started from the word “go”, as one of the Dubai party found, on arriving at the rendezvous point at the Liwa Hotel, that his radiator had a hole in it, and his car would not be able to go further. We farmed out the driver and passengers and shared out the camping equipment and supplies among the remaining 8 cars—a formidable convoy nevertheless.
The first day was relatively uneventful after that, though we did come across a mother camel in the middle of the desert who had just given birth a few minutes before. We stayed for about 20 minutes, watching as the baby tried to struggle to its feet and make its first steps. We also came across a rare find—a motherlode of sand roses, interesting formations of sand that come together in beautiful permutations. You can learn more about them here. We already have a nice collection of them, and Daniil added some worthy specimens.
Our friend Antoine had plotted a route through Liwa to a gas station on the other side of the desert. Most of the driving involved going through flat valleys, but sometimes we needed to thread our way through towering dunes that cut the valleys off from each other. That’s when people get stuck. Our car was handicapped in that our 4-wheel Low gear has not been working, so that if we got bogged down in sand, we couldn’t shift down and get out by ourselves—a tow was usually in order. To compensate, we had brought sand ladders—metal structures we had had specially made that we put under the wheels of the car to give it some initial traction and momentum. Those did the trick as well.
We spent most of the three days trekking through the desert—the sun is still hot enough that you don’t want to sit anywhere without shade too long. We would stop at about 4 or 4:30 at a suitable spot high up on some dunes for a nice view, set up camp, and after a lounge about, get cooking on an open fire (we had all brought some wood and charcoal, as there was none to be had in the environs). With so many cars, you can imagine that dinner was a veritable buffet of good food. After dinner, we sat warming ourselves around the fire (the nights were cool, though not what one would call freezing), and after some conversation people would trickle off to bed. The early risers would get up to watch the sunset, others would get up and start washing the dishes, others would make toast and whatnot for breakfast, and we were usually packed up and ready to go by 10:00 a.m. If the temperature had been hotter, an earlier departure time would have been in order.
The Day 1 driving was largely uneventful, though I managed to get stuck just before we reached our camping spot, and it required some digging and towing to get us out. On arrival, we found that unpleasant noises were coming from Lisa's engine (ensuing after a nasty bump a little earlier), but as it was getting dark, we left further investigation until the morning. The next day, a bunch of the men gravitated to her car, as men are wont to do when a car hood is up, and after much peering and prodding, we managed to pry a couple of pieces of broken plastic away from her engine fan, and the sounds went away, to everyone's relief.
Day 2 saw more people getting stuck as the driving became more difficult. The two leaders, Antoine and Peter, got into some difficulty, and there are some illustrative pictures to see in the slideshow on this page. In addition, some young men were driving an older Jeep, which, though quite game for the sand, didn’t appreciate their use of the clutch, and it looked like the clutch had given out at one point. The boys emptied out of the Jeep in disgust—the prospect of being towed for many kilometers through the dunes was not a happy one--but after a brief cooling down period, they were able to get the car into 1st and subsequently other gears. I myself came across a surprising limitation to my Tahoe. We were each taking turns going down into a large bowl and then back up again the other side, which was fine as long as you built up acceleration on the way down. However, once I reached the bottom of the down slope, all the oomph in my engine dissipated, and I could make little progress on the up slope. This was a worrying development, as all the others were already on the other side, and the only way was up. I did have power going in reverse, however, and after some shifting about on various parts of the bowl’s slope, I managed to avoid a straight-down route, and attacked the climb in a more slanting approach. The engine didn’t quit on me and the Tahoe roared up the slope, though because I had forgotten to shift down to 1st gear, it didn’t quite make it all the way. Enter the sand ladders, a burst of speed in reverse, and we were out of trouble. The car certainly needs a look at in the shop.
The 3rd day of driving saw another near miss. One of the Nissan Patrols was carrying a roof rack with gear, and in the midst of the dunes some of the attachments sheared off and the roof rack slid forward off the car. Luckily no damage was done to the windshield, but it took some time to transfer the gear and then adjust the screws and attachments in order to put the rack back on. It didn’t help that this happened in the proximity of the carcass of a camel, which smelled to high heaven, especially since the wind was blowing from that direction!
By the early afternoon of the 3rd day, we had reached tarmac road, and most of the cars took off for home, leaving four cars to brave more dunes after topping up at the gas station. With a 4-car convoy, it is more possible to take more challenging routes through the sands without worrying about getting too many cars stuck, so the driving that afternoon and the next day was the best of the trip. True, the dinner that night was relatively spartan, but the company was more intimate and quieter, which was a pleasant change, somehow more suitable to the hulking grandeur of the dunes around and the myriad stars above.
The next day some difficult driving, and all of us had to be assisted in various ways to get out of trouble, but that’s in the nature of sand driving. We reached tarmac by mid-afternoon, and rocketed off home, where we showered and had ourselves a full night’s sleep on soft beds.
A big thanks to Antoine and Aesha for organizing the trip, and to our fellow drivers for their company and help!
Day 2 saw more people getting stuck as the driving became more difficult. The two leaders, Antoine and Peter, got into some difficulty, and there are some illustrative pictures to see in the slideshow on this page. In addition, some young men were driving an older Jeep, which, though quite game for the sand, didn’t appreciate their use of the clutch, and it looked like the clutch had given out at one point. The boys emptied out of the Jeep in disgust—the prospect of being towed for many kilometers through the dunes was not a happy one--but after a brief cooling down period, they were able to get the car into 1st and subsequently other gears. I myself came across a surprising limitation to my Tahoe. We were each taking turns going down into a large bowl and then back up again the other side, which was fine as long as you built up acceleration on the way down. However, once I reached the bottom of the down slope, all the oomph in my engine dissipated, and I could make little progress on the up slope. This was a worrying development, as all the others were already on the other side, and the only way was up. I did have power going in reverse, however, and after some shifting about on various parts of the bowl’s slope, I managed to avoid a straight-down route, and attacked the climb in a more slanting approach. The engine didn’t quit on me and the Tahoe roared up the slope, though because I had forgotten to shift down to 1st gear, it didn’t quite make it all the way. Enter the sand ladders, a burst of speed in reverse, and we were out of trouble. The car certainly needs a look at in the shop.
The 3rd day of driving saw another near miss. One of the Nissan Patrols was carrying a roof rack with gear, and in the midst of the dunes some of the attachments sheared off and the roof rack slid forward off the car. Luckily no damage was done to the windshield, but it took some time to transfer the gear and then adjust the screws and attachments in order to put the rack back on. It didn’t help that this happened in the proximity of the carcass of a camel, which smelled to high heaven, especially since the wind was blowing from that direction!
By the early afternoon of the 3rd day, we had reached tarmac road, and most of the cars took off for home, leaving four cars to brave more dunes after topping up at the gas station. With a 4-car convoy, it is more possible to take more challenging routes through the sands without worrying about getting too many cars stuck, so the driving that afternoon and the next day was the best of the trip. True, the dinner that night was relatively spartan, but the company was more intimate and quieter, which was a pleasant change, somehow more suitable to the hulking grandeur of the dunes around and the myriad stars above.
The next day some difficult driving, and all of us had to be assisted in various ways to get out of trouble, but that’s in the nature of sand driving. We reached tarmac by mid-afternoon, and rocketed off home, where we showered and had ourselves a full night’s sleep on soft beds.
A big thanks to Antoine and Aesha for organizing the trip, and to our fellow drivers for their company and help!
