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Sweihan Locations & Advice

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:57 pm
by matts
Good Afternoon Almosters!

While many of you travel to Salalah for what will no doubt be an epic trip, I will be undertaking a rather shorter trip to Sweihan.

It is not an area of the UAE that I have visited before so I dont have any of my own tracks or waypoints to take me to the good spots.

If you have any recommendations or waypoints you can share, please put them here. Otherwise I will do my own exploration and let you know what I find!

Cheers,

Matt

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:50 am
by caprihorse
matts;43331 wrote:Good Afternoon Almosters!

While many of you travel to Salalah for what will no doubt be an epic trip, I will be undertaking a rather shorter trip to Sweihan.

It is not an area of the UAE that I have visited before so I dont have any of my own tracks or waypoints to take me to the good spots.

If you have any recommendations or waypoints you can share, please put them here. Otherwise I will do my own exploration and let you know what I find!

Cheers,

Matt
Sweihan is great area with wonderful undriven dunes, geologically belonging to Liwa. But it is somehow unfriendly for newbies and absolutely unfriendly for solo drives, because of lots of unexpected surprises. We are driving there mostly Intermediate and advanced trips, sometimes we do convoy for 10+ Newbies.
I don't say that you shouldn't drive there, but I don't encourage you. You can try, but I think you would need a very big shovel.

You can start here N24° 21.631' E55° 24.069'. Do not drive to the right of this road.

Good luck.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:37 pm
by Dave
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:51 pm
by Dave
Hi Matt. I have been up to Sweihan a good few times over the summer. Shame I didn't know you were keen to explore. Maybe you could have joined us. But I would say it's not a place for the inexperienced driver. Amongst my friends we are a group of Intermediate and Advanced drivers from within Almost who drive when it's quiet at the club. The bowls are massive in places and crests are very sharp. On my last drive one of the group unfortunately rolled his 4x4 and it has been written off. He was one of the safest drivers within our group! I certainly would be careful about going alone or at the least have someone experienced to show you the way. It can catch out the best! As it's inland it's one of the hottest places in the UAE during summer. August would not be the best month to play there!

On a more relaxed note we came across a little pool on one of our last drives there. I posted a photo below! Lots of interesting things are hidden away in our UAE desert. I can't wait for the cooler weather to get out and see more!

Drive safe.

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:52 pm
by matts
Hi [MENTION=955]caprihorse[/MENTION],

It would absolutely not be a solo drive, there will be 4 vehicles on this trip. We are always look for new areas to explore, we'll take it gently. Its the same group I went to Liwa with last year so we have some experience with big shovels. :)

What is the complex to the right of the road? I've been trying to figure it out for a while, it looks like a farm but its an odd arrangement of buildings and land.

Thanks for the advice,

Matt

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:30 pm
by caprihorse
matts;43343 wrote:Hi @caprihorse,

It would absolutely not be a solo drive, there will be 4 vehicles on this trip. We are always look for new areas to explore, we'll take it gently. Its the same group I went to Liwa with last year so we have some experience with big shovels. :)

What is the complex to the right of the road? I've been trying to figure it out for a while, it looks like a farm but its an odd arrangement of buildings and land.

Thanks for the advice,

Matt
On the right, behind the farms, few km away from the underpass, there is a gate inside, is the big dune and the whole advanced fun starts there, once you climb it :yarr:

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:34 pm
by matts
Hi [MENTION=8472]Dave[/MENTION],

I remember chatting to you about Sweihan now you mention it, something about overheating gearboxes! It was on the disastrous +10 drive where we covered a whole 13km! That was the route I started out with this weekend and then extended it through to Madam.

I was out in the area behind the abandoned village near Madam on Friday and it was verging on 50c, not sure i'd really want any hotter than that, particularly if im going to have to do some digging. Sorry to hear about the roll, we also had one a couple of weeks ago in an xterra, fortunately it was quite gentle and although every body panel was damaged, they didnt write it off, it'll be back on the road this week :s

Give me a shout next time you're planning something, always looking to learn from those more experienced. I tend to lead on the trips I do outside of almost, so they are somewhat limited by my own knowledge & ability to lead rather than necessarily my driving (its always easier to follow is what i'm trying to say).

Maybe i'll leave Sweihan till it cools down a bit. Thanks all!

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:31 pm
by caprihorse
matts;43345 wrote:I tend to lead on the trips I do outside of almost, so they are somewhat limited by my own knowledge & ability to lead rather than necessarily my driving (its always easier to follow is what i'm trying to say).

Maybe i'll leave Sweihan till it cools down a bit. Thanks all!
Leading in Sweihan is producing lots of adrenaline and shaking at limbs, even for experienced Marshals, some are also hesitant to lead there at all.:killzonesmiley:

I respect you [MENTION=9649]matts[/MENTION], but I personally would think twice to drive just with you in such territory, even if I would be leading.

Did I scare you enough? :yarr:

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:12 pm
by matts
I think so :slow:, for now at least :)

I'll definitely leave it until its cooler; but my itch to explore will eventually drive me to the area whether its with Almost or with friends just like it did with Liwa.

Any other areas you might recommend that sit in that New-Inter Level that are a bit less travelled, something on an Al Faqa type level.

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:06 am
by caprihorse
matts;43347 wrote:I think so :slow:, for now at least :)

I'll definitely leave it until its cooler; but my itch to explore will eventually drive me to the area whether its with Almost or with friends just like it did with Liwa.

Any other areas you might recommend that sit in that New-Inter Level that are a bit less travelled, something on an Al Faqa type level.
You can try from Al Faqah to Al Badayer, which is quite interesting, because of different desert profile. Setup your own route and waypoints with emergency exits, with the help of Google Earth and Base Camp. I did this way always, when I was exploring new routes for the Club.

You'll be one day the Marshal for sure.:thumbsup: