Welcome to the Jungle IV

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Johanna
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it is already the day after the drive and I am still in some kind of adrenaline rush...

My first intermediate drive after the exam - I was super nervous, even scared as the drive was in Um Al Oush. I have never been there before, but I have a been to areas around and so I had an idea about the dunes size and shape.
[mention]Daggerfall[/mention] warned us during the briefing that dunes are sharp and there is no room for mistakes.
I cannot say that this explanation helped dealing with my excitement, but maybe I was even more focused after that warning.

We started the drive through medium sized dunes with some arches a small side crests, and I calmed down a bit when I recognized I can handle this level...

During a short break after we drove for around one hour, [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention] stated that we are driving 10+ level, "we havent reached the dunes yet" was [mention]JockJKU[/mention] s answer and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] let us know that "warming up is over now"
Oh sh*t, there was my excitement again...

We reached our playground - nice high dunes and bowls - and there the fun started as [mention]JockJKU[/mention] promised.
During this part of the drive I went through the whole range of feelings, sometimes within minutes.
Fear when I saw what the car in front of me is doing, anger on myself (why, just why am I doing this instead of chilling at a pool?), the bravery to do it and the happiness and pride after a successfull maneuver.

There was one point I was ready to give up, or at least skip that side crest.
We were standing in front of a huge wall, [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] started climbing, drove a long arche in high in the wall approaching the crest... wtfsmilie When I saw that I was sure that I cannot make it, but [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] said via radio that this crest is advanced stuff, I was so glad to hear that!
Instead of doing the crest we all drove the high arche one by one. I noticed in this drive that I am not yet comfortable with driving in walls, so I turned down earlier than my fellows, but it was so much fun, but I had my oh sh*t moments.

The first one was a little wall, but with soft sand. The car started sliding, I heard the instruction to turn down, but below was a tree and the chance to hit it was quite high. So I had to decide, turning down and risk to hug the tree or fighting. slow All this happend in 1 or 2 seconds, I fought gravity, I won and was back on track!
I realized that in this level you need a super fast reaction and make decisions within split seconds so you have to be very focused the whole drive which is very exhausting.
Another scary moment was a high angle side crest. While driving up I just saw sky, I reached the crest, stayed on top for one second - it was very sharp - and turned down.
It was very steep on the other side, so I first saw sand only and a second later [mention]Issa[/mention] at the bottom of a bowl. So I stopped in the middle of the drop, waiting for @Issa to clear the area and my heartbeat to calm down. wtfsmilie. The instruction to wait was not hearable from the other side, the dune was blocking the signal, but everyone managed to crest and clear the bowl safely.

We were supposed to finish the drive at sunset, but as usually mentioned in the trip description, its Liwa so no promises, anything can happen. We left the desert around 7.30 pm.

It was an intense experience and great fun, I am looking forward to next drives. in love
And thanks @Giorgio for checking on me thumbsup

Thanks for this afternoon everyone, see you all soon in the sand
BR, Johanna

If it excites you and scares you at the same time, it probably means you should do it.
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Saeed FJ
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hello every one
as usual, a good day with almosters in a new area which is so amazing.

we were 7 inter. drivers and a full convoy of 10 cars the fun begin when after almost 40 min when [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] say the warm-up finish.

I will leave you with the video, hope you like it



see you on sand
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Report will follow.....

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Welcome to the Jungle IV

The key word here is Jungle. [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] made sure to take us through the Jungle and let lets enjoy the thrills of it.

After completing the morning drive organized and led by [mention]JockJKU[/mention] (see related report posted already) we left the newbies and drove to the next meeting point.

Having [mention]JockJKU[/mention] on the lead the intermediates set off for the afternoon drive.

At the end of the morning drive i was not feeling well. Luck of sleep and food had put me on a miserable condition and the moment we came to the end of the drive i put my seat back and closed my eyes. Suddenly I heard on the radio [mention]Issa[/mention] calling me [mention]giorgio[/mention] are you coming? i opened my eyes and i saw that i was there alone. i floored it and caught up with them very soon.

The drive to the meeting point felt like a mix of 5- 10+ with some side crests sprinkled on the top. I said to my shelf if this is the drive to the meeting point imagine what will happen during the drive.

Arriving at the meeting point we all re-fuel the cars and we rest until the time for the drive came. I went to sleep trying to recover from the dizziness that I was feeling hoping that i will wake up in a better shape.

1 hour of sleep put me back in the game I woke up feeling great. I ate and I was good to go again.

The introduction from [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] as @kaylee mentioned in her report was very specific. Stay focused, don't fight gravity turn down and have multiple tries. We are not in a rush. If you don't follow my advise we will be here all night and it will be impossible to avoid unfortunate incidents.

At 230 sharp we set off for our drive.

@daggerfall assigned @issa as the second lead with me 3rd and right behind me @saeedFJ .

Thanks to @saeedfj comments that the drive felt like a 10+ drive the lead car stepped up the game and gave as a hell of a drive. I am sure that the warm up was beneficial to all of us and happy that was there as what followed was more than challenging.

Soft sand on the walls like a running river. The moment your car will step on it your RPMs will go from hero to 0.

From the first climbs I noticed that Scarlett was not behaving the usual self. She felt weak with a constant less power so i was very distracted that I could not complete the Arches and walls as i should. I felt that something was holding my car back but still could not be sure what the problem was. First thing came to mind was the air intake been clogged with sand but again it felt like the engine was breathing fine. I tried to forget this issue and focus on driving safe ( the instructions from the Marshall were very clear be focus and don't fight gravity).

The convoy was swallowing the dunes one after the other, the paste was fast with the terrain having hidden surprises in every corner .

Besides the fact that my Jeep was under-performing i was feeling way match more confident that the previous drives and way less nervous.

The problems in the front part of the convoy were less but still there were several from the mid and back since the track was already been abused they were more issues.

I recon at one moment we cleared a very steep drop and we stopped to wait for the rest of the convoy. The spot were we stopped was great to watch the other cars approaching and taking the drop. As we were enjoying the action I noticed @jose car looking like a BBQ station. Smoke was coming from all over the car. I called it on the radio and @jockjku attended the incident and reported back that it was oil burning under the car.

We continue the drive thinking that the problem was resolved.

At one point and while we were driving fast the lead car called to the second lead to take few meters to the right in an effort to avoid a nasty ditch. @issa reaction was instant and he drew the new line as was instructed.

Next in line was me and after me it was @saeedfj. Although I was having a long distance from the car in-front of me I still had the advantage of maintaining a visual contact. With the assistance of the radio warning and the visual change of the track path i was able to pin point the dangerous spot so i was prepared. The problem was that as i was reaching to that spot i could not see anything un-usual.
when suddenly coming up the small climb and right on the blind spot of the front left side of the car i noticed a steep deep and big ditch I passed right next to it thinking men this was a close call for the leading car.

Passing i check my mirror to see if Saeed will clear it and to my relief he did and he was following right behind me

With no time to spare we went over a side crest continuing following the leading cars when suddenly @jockJKU called for us to stop as there was a car in trouble. We all went back and found @petr badly stuck inside the ditch.

The situation was very tricky and recovering the car (engine will not start) was a mission. We used all tricks in the book to get it out. From double winch pulling, to train style rescue and several other techniques we tried it all. During the rescue @issa got a pop out I was almost got stuck (luckily I did not) the whole thing was a mess but always under control. It took the efforts of all members to over come this challenge and under the guidelines of our experienced Marshalls and @jockjku ( who was assigned to find an easy way out) we manage to free the car and pull it on the flat sabha that was near by.

As we were taking @petr out, we got a call on the radio that @hoje H3 was not able to move he had a transmission problem, (remeber the smoke earlier in the report? well there you go) . Now the rescue team had to go back and recover that one as well.

At the end we all got re-united in the flat ground we made the arrangements of which car will pull whom and we all set of for the exit.

All members and all cars were taken out to the tarmac where the necessary arrangements for the towing trucks were made and we all set off ( I believe Marshalls stayed behind waiting for the towing trucks) for the drive home.


As always Liwa claimed its victims (not acceding though the club's rules of 20% loss). The drive home was relaxed and quite. It gave me the chance to calm my adrenaline levels down and review the drive and incidents while i was cruising home.


It was a weekend packed with adrenaline and lessons to be learned.

The organizer did it for one more time.

Thank you all for the amazing weekend and I hope that the drivers will repair their cars soon and follow us in the future drives

Till next time drive safe.
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Morning All!

This is an area i have driven quite a few times with [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] fall now, and it never disappoints!

We set off from the meeting point at exactly 2.30pm, and headed straight into the dunes. I prefer this way of starting here (rather than sabkah) as it affords everyone a nice warm up before reaching the big dunes which were the main target of the drive!

Convoy was moving well and the drivers did a good job with some minor incidents, but no stucks, only second tries until right at the end.

As [mention]giorgio[/mention] said [mention]Petr[/mention] ended up in an awkward spot at a bad angle! It took us a while to recover and by the time we had [mention]jose[/mention] hummer had also had a technical! I think some protection under his car got damaged and then managed to cut the transmission oil pipe!

As always, no man, car, brother, friend was left behind and we missioned out on the flat ground and all the way up the gatch track to the tarmac!

Thanks to the organiser and the many helping hands that made great effort and input into resolving the stuck!!

Till next time...

Jock
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Hello Everyone,

After finishing the morning newbie drive, I started to move towards the afternoon meeting point with [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention]. Since we were almost an hour early at the meeting point for the afternoon drive so thought to take a nap to rejuvenate 2 z Z . Soon, one after the other, rest of the convoy reached and Daggerfall gave the important briefing about the nature of dunes in this area and re-iterated the basics of side cresting and then advised the convoy order. I was at the back of the convoy and was telling myself that it would be difficult to find a fresh track on dunes after the whole convoy will pass by especially when we will have to do a side crest after a climb brigade.baka-wolf.com. But, as they say if there is no challenge then there is no fun so got ready for the fun arr..

The drive started with small to medium sized dunes with some arches, climbs and drops and for the first 15-20 min I felt that my car is running heavy and I am using more gas than should be required. May be it was a subjective feeling because after sometime I got the same car behavior back that I am used to (maybe it was the afternoon nap effect on me and there was nothing wrong with the car :lol:).

The drive was super fun and required 100% of concentration because we were doing big arches, side crests on both medium and big sized dunes, going sideways on big walls so it was non-stop adrenaline fun. We went into a bowl and somehow although [mention]JockJKU[/mention] was telling the next car not to enter into the bowl but apparently the radio message was not being conveyed and when I went into the bowl, I saw two cars already in it. With some up and down into the bowl, I made my way out but it was too much of see-saw for my passenger and he could not stop to throw up yaeh am not durnk…..fortunately not in the car but outside when I climbed out on the flat ground.

The area was amazing and we could drive in it the whole week. There was one big dune with an amazing wall followed by a crest but the issue was that between the wall and the crest there was a small drop causing loss of momentum and making it difficult to keep the proper angle to climb the crest. Daggerfall told that the side crest after the wall is for Advance level which was an indication that we are not trained for it yet. So, one after the other everyone started going for the wall and trying to reach to that crest as near as possible. I also wanted to take my share of that crest and took a fresh track on the wall to get the necessary traction. There was no compulsion to do that crest and it was really difficult but fortunately, my momentum and angle allowed me to climb on it. It was the decision that I took in that millisecond that yes I can climb on it and can go to the other side safely. Getting appreciated by Daggerfall after I came back from the other side really boosted my confidence thumbsup. I have learnt so much with Almost4x4 that I had not even thought of before – thank you Founders and Marshals. :)

We had an amazing day in Umm Al Oush and experienced and learnt a lot of new skills.

Thanks much to the Organizer, Marshal and Explorer who made this drive possible and all the inters who participated.

See you soon in the sand..

Cheers thumbsup
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Hi,

After a long morning drive I drove to the meeting point to get a short sleep before the afternoon drive.

After a short but important safety briefing we started rolling. I always prefer to start the drive with a warm up period to make sure everybody is ready before the challenging parts and first timers will feel more relaxed. It looks like we entered a little bit early before the target area and the warm up section took a little bit longer than I planned brigade.baka-wolf.com ....I start hearing some words like "Newbie +10" grin ......Himmm so it looks like customers were not satisfied with the starters ... I said no problem , lets move to the main course Psmiley

Still had some concerns since we had some fresh intermediates and drivers didn't do intermediate drive for a while so I took it "easy" since the objects in the mirror were getting smaller and smaller Psmiley

The area was great and it deserves a full day exploration trip to see further parts of it.....Which hopefully will come soon!

As mentioned in the trip description we cannot guarantee what unexpected challenges we might experience at such remote territories in the desert but we can guarantee that we will die trying to take you back home safe and sound and thanks to god and all helped during the recoveries mentioned above we managed to do that.

Thanks to all participated and supported this drive. I feel happy, lucky and proud to be a part of such an amazing group of people one more time.

See you next time
" I feel the need, the need for Speed " cool

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Petr
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Well, I guess everyone is curious for my report what happened. Let me provide details for the benefits of others.

As other report mentioned, after the "10+ warm up" the real game started on high walls and sharp dunes with liquid sand. Although it was my first full intermediate ride, for some reason I was not much 'scared from what I could see. I told myself that if I keep the track and not fight the gravity, I should stay safe. I was more worried about the fact that I had to work hard to keep my momentum at climbs (I thought it could be due to my big passenger, but probably the main reason was just the super soft sand). The other worry was I couldn't see the track sometimes, especially at the sun-shadow transitions, so I drove more by feeling than vision at some moments.

Anyway, there were many interesting moments and surges of adrenaline. I was happy that my passenger didn't suffer from motion sickness (especially after I saw Scorpio's one getting 'relief' grin). Then the situation came.

[mention]Daggerfall[/mention] started to climb a slope. I accelerated sharp to get enough momentum to reach the top when I heard Daggerfall on the radio "keep in my track exactly". I was the 5th in the convoy, so I understood there was a tricky spot but I didn't know exactly where. While maintaining the speed, I climbed a small slope and when reaching it's rim I realized I'm flying into a ditch next to the track. The car landed with it's nose to the opposite wall, the back rose up for the moment and eventually landed back and the car found a comfortable position on it's left side. I switched the engine off instantly, registering a flash of several thoughts: - oh sh*t, it is really happening to me, - I'm sorry to cause troubles to the team, - good we landed safely and we don't seem hurt, and - this desert should be renamed Al Ouch (kidding, the last one came just now have a nice day).

[mention]JockJKU[/mention] was with us first, and after some effort and help we got out of the car. With the help of [mention]giorgio[/mention]'s and [mention]Defragmantor[/mention]'s winches the car got back on wheels. [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] then tried to remove the oil from the top of the engine. As I recalled an earlier explanation by [mention]Abu Jimmy[/mention], if the car gets on it's side the oil from the sump can get above the pistons. Since oil as any liquid is incompressible, it will not allow pistons to finish the travel up, leading to serious engine damage. They removed the spark plugs and then tried to crank the engine, which would push the oil out, but unfortunately it didn't want to move by cranking. So the engine was dead and the team had to solve the challenge of getting the car out of the ditch, overcoming the angle between both sides of the dish rim. It was a hard work and [mention]Issa[/mention] got a popout when trying. Finally it happened - Daggerfall got close to the rim, shortening his rope, and with a pull of [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention] got my car out.

[mention]Rashidjass[/mention] and [mention]giorgio[/mention] towed my car to the tarmac, while others towed [mention]jose[/mention]. Then we both called for rescue trucks and got transported back to Dubai in the night.

I would like to express my great gratitude for the team's help. [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] for organizing the rescue and overlooking everything as the main authority, and waiting with me until the police made the report. [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] and [mention]giorgio[/mention] and [mention]Defragmantor[/mention] for towing my car and getting me back on wheels. [mention]Issa[/mention] for having popout while rescuing, [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention] for helping with the rescue, [mention]JockJKU[/mention] for stopping the convoy instantly and later finding the way out, and all others for their support. I truly felt again the club is a family that will always take care for the members.

So the only bad news now is not to be able to drive in desert for a month - I hope the initial estimate of the Toyota guy was heavily sandbagged!
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[mention]Petr[/mention] glad to hear you and your passenger are unharmed. Mustve been a scary experience. Take care and hoping to see you back soon.
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Petr wrote: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:21 pm Well, I guess everyone is curious for my report what happened. Let me provide details for the benefits of others.

As other report mentioned, after the "10+ warm up" the real game started on high walls and sharp dunes with liquid sand. Although it was my first full intermediate ride, for some reason I was not much 'scared from what I could see. I told myself that if I keep the track and not fight the gravity, I should stay safe. I was more worried about the fact that I had to work hard to keep my momentum at climbs (I thought it could be due to my big passenger, but probably the main reason was just the super soft sand). The other worry was I couldn't see the track sometimes, especially at the sun-shadow transitions, so I drove more by feeling than vision at some moments.

Anyway, there were many interesting moments and surges of adrenaline. I was happy that my passenger didn't suffer from motion sickness (especially after I saw Scorpio's one getting 'relief' grin). Then the situation came.

@Daggerfall started to climb a slope. I accelerated sharp to get enough momentum to reach the top when I heard Daggerfall on the radio "keep in my track exactly". I was the 5th in the convoy, so I understood there was a tricky spot but I didn't know exactly where. While maintaining the speed, I climbed a small slope and when reaching it's rim I realized I'm flying into a ditch next to the track. The car landed with it's nose to the opposite wall, the back rose up for the moment and eventually landed back and the car found a comfortable position on it's left side. I switched the engine off instantly, registering a flash of several thoughts: - oh sh*t, it is really happening to me, - I'm sorry to cause troubles to the team, - good we landed safely and we don't seem hurt, and - this desert should be renamed Al Ouch (kidding, the last one came just now have a nice day).

@JockJKU was with us first, and after some effort and help we got out of the car. With the help of @giorgio's and @Defragmantor's winches the car got back on wheels. @Daggerfall and @Rashidjass then tried to remove the oil from the top of the engine. As I recalled an earlier explanation by @Abu Jimmy, if the car gets on it's side the oil from the sump can get above the pistons. Since oil as any liquid is incompressible, it will not allow pistons to finish the travel up, leading to serious engine damage. They removed the spark plugs and then tried to crank the engine, which would push the oil out, but unfortunately it didn't want to move by cranking. So the engine was dead and the team had to solve the challenge of getting the car out of the ditch, overcoming the angle between both sides of the dish rim. It was a hard work and @Issa got a popout when trying. Finally it happened - Daggerfall got close to the rim, shortening his rope, and with a pull of @Saeed FJ got my car out.

@Rashidjass and @giorgio towed my car to the tarmac, while others towed @jose. Then we both called for rescue trucks and got transported back to Dubai in the night.

I would like to express my great gratitude for the team's help. @Daggerfall for organizing the rescue and overlooking everything as the main authority, and waiting with me until the police made the report. @Rashidjass and @giorgio and @Defragmantor for towing my car and getting me back on wheels. @Issa for having popout while rescuing, @Saeed FJ for helping with the rescue, @JockJKU for stopping the convoy instantly and later finding the way out, and all others for their support. I truly felt again the club is a family that will always take care for the members.

So the only bad news now is not to be able to drive in desert for a month - I hope the initial estimate of the Toyota guy was heavily sandbagged!
@Petr I have a feeling that u made all these up so you can climb the ratings and gain more publicity 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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