Liwa Wonders - The Money Train

[Sorin]

Good evening guys,

I’m writing this as I’m driving back to Dubai because I already miss Liwa.

It was a fantastic drive and it all started with a moment of peace and absolute quiet when I arrived at the camp site at 4:00 PM.

I was soon joined by @AbuJawad and @David and we all went for a walk to a nearby dune to enjoy the sunset.

@mpodroid arrived about an hour later and once the sun went down we started the fire and waited for the rest to arrive.

Once everyone arrived we gathered around the fire, marveled at a beautiful moonrise and the guys started to cook the meat. A lot of meat. I don’t the remember the last time I ate so much meat at once. @giorgio found me in the next morning sitting in my chair still trying to digest it

We had a quick breakfast and then we set off.

There were early signs that it’s not going to be a smooth drive. We got stucks and some stucks in dangerous positions pretty much from the start.

Nevertheless, we still enjoyed some challenging tracks, beautiful drops and climbs, arches and bowls.

The parts that I really hated were driving thru the dry sabkhas which as you would imagine created so much dust that it was hard to see ahead at some points and for me it clogged up my air filter with fine dust so much that it affected the performance of the car. Near the end I removed the filter and cleaned it and a second time after driving parallel to the train track.

The scenery amazing as expected, the frequent stops allowed us to catch up with eachother and chat.

The efforts done by the marshals who are doing all 3 drives consecutively are superhuman and deserve our thanks and appreciation.

Thank you Booy, Al Shamsi M, Scorpio, Giorgio, Solmaz, Agalon

[David]

Arada to Sabkhah, 118Km and 3h 31min moving that took us the full day.

Very happy we had arranged to arrive early to the camping point alongside Sorin and Abu Jawad, this gave me the opportunity to fully enjoy the magnificent desert, it does make you feel so small, the "sound" of complete silence, ... loved it.

Soon afterwards all the other drivers started to arrive, lovely evening/night by the campsite, weather was absolutely perfect, I was expecting a cold night and it was not, glad that was the case. Went to sleep not too late in preparation for the drive, I slept extremely well, always a good thing before a long days drive.

We set off in the morning with Booy as the leading car and the convoy struggled to adapt to the soft sands, long climbs, distance in between cars, ... many second tries and rescues, East direction with a couple of nice drops, time to engage 4L, lower the windows and enjoy the sound.

At some point before the lunch break the convoy seemed to start moving with some better fluidity, wider bowls that allowed a better pace. After lunch we moved towards Moreeb, you can always tell you are getting closer as you start seeing tracks on the sand and find some other cars/convoys.

Pass Moreeb towards the train tracks, we did as before a fair distance in sabkhahs (they are necessary as a escape route and to cover long distances but a pain ...) but we also managed to do some very nice areas, specifically a lovely bowl, left to right, and another fantastic left to right climb with difficult approach (sided and 2 bumps - almost as good as Giorgio’s Interpretation of it) that created plenty of trouble for the convoy.

My last day driving in Liwa had been 1st Feb, just pre-covid, and since that day I had been looking forward to the next one, driving back to Dubai that same night my feelings were again the same, I can not wait to get back there again, hopefully this time it will not take so long!!!

Final words to thank the Marshalls and support team for their fantastic effort and arranging the drive for us, special mention to the leading Marshall(s), I got back to Dubai feeling extremely tired and I had done only one day's drive and in a comfortable position in the convoy ... I can not imagine how it has to be for those doing several days, having to concentrate extra to lead and take care of the rescues, ... thank you guys!!!

See you on the sand soon.

[Tomvanhouten]

Hi everyone,

It is very hard to describe the feeling I had for this drive; I guess one word is fitting AMAZING! It is just wonderful to be in such an environment in the first place, mesmerizing and absolute respect come to the vocabulary. Secondly, enjoying this drive from the near front of the convoy is fantastic and exciting.

I was a bit nervous after having enjoyed day one with the stock Fj, I hoped I wouldn't push my luck too far and destroy it on day two. All went very well, wife happy that the car was doing great and me happy that wife was happy. Great great.

The drive was lovely and fast paced with a lot of delays in the beginning. It didn't last long until we heard the famous words over the radio: Come on guys, we have too much distance to cover, so we can't get stuck every ten minutes. Thanks @Booy for the reminder!
Due to this, we needed to pick up some speed on the flats and from time to time we reached 120km/hr

Arriving at Moreeb, another message from the lead car: "This was the easy part, we go for level two now". No way, I wanted to miss that, although tiredness kicked in, due to the two days of driving, I pushed myself thru and very happy I did so. This was the definite fun part with a lot of bowls, walls, swings and cones which woke me up completely.

Thank you guys for the fantastic experience during these two days. I was sitting at home yesterday already missing it, can't wait to get back in the sand!

See you all soon!

[mpodroid]

There are no words to express the beauty of Liwa 2020.

So, I am humbly stealing the “Mattina” poem from Giuseppe Ungaretti to fully describe my feeling about this trip:


M’illumino
d’immenso

As a special gift to @AdrianUAE, @Sorin and @rapailo who understand and speak Italian



Immensity
illumines me

for non Italian speakers


One more time, the marshals impressed and surprised me with their tireless dedication: thank you so much to @alshamsi_m (he arrived at the camp transfigured by the fatigue), @Booy , @Scorpio , @Solmaz , @Agalon, @Rooies and @giorgio.

[giorgio]

The money train:

This was a high level newbie drive set on the unforgiven Liwa terrain.

I started my trip from Dubai the night before the drive at 9pm reaching the last gas station around 12am where i found @Scorpio and we teamed up and drove to the camp.
Around the fire there were many chairs and one guard @AbuJawad who was enjoying the evening skies.

The next morning we had the usual morning caring is sharing breakfast time and after the drive briefing we set off with @Booy on the lead @rapailo on the second lead duties, me as a sweeper and @alshamsi_m with @Scorpio floating.

The convoy started flowing on a slow pace with all drivers getting used to the unfamiliar terrain which was packed with soft patches of sand and hidden ditches after every other dune.

Second tries, self recoveries, pop outs (including one of my own) and cars dropping out from the drive were proudly served to the driver from the chef.

Long drops, big arches, technical egg in a basket style terrain, placed 100m off sea level altitude along with fast 100km/h driving through the sabhas and on a dusty areas with limited visibility were the skills demanded to have to be able to complete the drive.

I am pretty convinced that all drivers had the chance to use every skill learned from the previous drives to be able to co-op with the LIWA desert.

Lessons learned from this thrilling drive was:

Keep tribble the distance
radio communication
endurance driving is not same with the usual club Friday drive
not all deserts are the same.

Upon completion of the drive we had to say good bye to the newbies and continue our adventure.

First thing was refueling followed by a trip to the town for supplies, dinner and off we go to the last camp (killer bees) .

As we always say Liwa is Liwa so you never know what may go wrong and we got to experience it that same night first hand.

Upon arriving to the deflating point (big mistake that we stopped to deflate) we were approached and we were informed that we needed to find a different way to our destination since that area was closed.

Although this small detail may sound like that it was not a big deal it put every driver involved (and I mean every driver from marshals to the last driver) reaching the camp in a big adventure that you will only get to hear around a camp fire. But to summarized it in one sentence LIWA NIGHT DRIVE IS NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL.

Our Marshalls had to switch the camp from its current location to a new one, points and new coordinates needed to be sent out to the members that were to attend the camp and next day's drive, and finally a rescue mission to collect scattered members lost and stranded in different locations all around the area (trying to find a way to the camp). And all this is happening at 11pm after a 12 hours off-roading.

The concept of we leave no-one behind the logistics, the crisis management and bringing everyone safe and sound around the fire took whole new meaning.

On a personal level Lessons learned from that night adventure is the following:

It is not being a good driver that makes you a marshal. It is the ability to be calm, to have endless mental and physical strength and to be able to put everyone's safety above yours to ensure that the driver's and passengers will be at no point in time alone abounded and scared. We as members have no idea what happens behinds closed doors to organize and execute the drives that we attend on a regular basis.

Thank you all Marshalls (even the one's that were not there) for all your efforts.


To close my report I would like to thank the organizer @alshamsi_m along with the rest of the marshals @Booy and @Scorpio @rapailo which kept the convoy out of harms always reacting fast on the orders from the lead car as well as all the drivers for their efforts to stick and complete the drive.

Until next time be safe.

[Booy]

Hello everyone,

I arrived at Arada camp feeling quite exhausted, but as soon as I sat down next to the fire, the food started pouring into my lap. Everyone was really so amazing, and a big thanks to everyone who grilled and prepared food. I cannot believe how much I managed to eat that night :) The food and chef's were on a different level...

I decided to go to bed early, as the next day we had a long day ahead of us, and we just finished a full days drive too.

After gathering around the morning breakfast fire, and having an Espresso shot to the brain, thanks to @alshamsi_m we did the briefing, and headed for the dunes. Our convoy was bigger than the day before, with 19 cars in total. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is not much time for warming up in this area and we headed straight to the big bowls and high dunes. The idea was to reach high grounds so everyone can see the Saudi border fence from a safe distance, and then continue with the rest of the drive to our final destination.

We experienced many stucks, pop outs and second tries in this unforgiving area. Hence the reason you need to rely on all the training you have received thus far, and put it into action.

As many mentioned, the sabkhas kicked up a lot of dust, but that is part of the price to pay to drive in Liwa and to cover good distance. This should actually be appreciated, as these sabkhas can fill up with water in the rainy season and become extremely muddy, making it impossible to cross them. We therefore managed to cover good distance - something which will not be possible after heavy rains.

It was a good day of driving, and we chased the sunset to squeeze out every last possible minute of day light driving. When the sun sets in Liwa, you have to get out or stay and camp where you are (see @giorgio trip report about finding the camp after dark :)

Thank you everyone who joined and who pushed your own personal limits to endure a long day in the desert - this is Liwa - an endurance game... Thanks @Laarni who joined me for a few hours as passenger, but dumped me as soon as my AC stopped working :))

I'm looking forward to seeing you in our next adventure.

Regards,

Booy

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

Chapter 2 :

Having in mind that we just finished ONE drive and we still have TWO more to go !! We reached the camp to find what I would call the " The Food Feastival " . We had @David , @Sorin , @osman , @Tomvanhouten & @AbuJawad who took care of everyone and you already read the report who pampered we were !!! Well, after having the dinner and the healthy drink from @Sorin I had to say Good Night to everyone at 9:30 PM.

Waked up in the morning with a beautiful surprise infront of my tent, a beautiful round cone just at the edage of where I was sleeping, I couldn't resiste to give it a couple of spiral spins before I head to the breakfast area.

First of all, I would like to say that HAT OFF for or leading marshal @Booy for leading 19 cars from Arada to Meziraa all the way and giving just the right level for this kind of endourance drive.

Once we reached the money train area I got the report for the marshals that we had a setiuation with 4x4 of the cars and it was at the bottom of a nice bowl, well I guess my morning excierse didn't go in waste !! I had to switch with @Lenny so I gave him fj and I drove his Xterra do you know how ????

Of Course , I applied the theary of " Drive it like you stole it " which works really good everytime we apply it So poor @Lenny had to catch up before I rick his car !!!

Thanks to @Solmaz , @Scorpio for the support and Special thanks to @Agalon for esscorting me while taking the 2WD car

See you in Chapter 3

Shamsi

[osman]

Money Train:
We did not see the money, we did not see the train but we saw the railway....

Plus the beautiful Liwa dunes and not surprisingly, free training on field mechanics 101.

My intention was to leave home a bit early and enjoy the late afternoon on the golden sand and watch the sunset. But it was already dark when I reached the last petrol station where I saw the Almosters finished the first day's drive and refuelling, replenishing and refreshing themselves. It took some more time to reach the camp site where we all watched the rising beautiful full moon. Must leave home a lot earlier in the next trip.

After having the dinner, we learned all the fun tricks in the army that everybody in the camp can promote from private ranking to become sergeant major if they enrolled the army tomorrow...We love you @rapailo, I think the Marshal's invitation text for camps should change to "...do not forget to bring lots of water, warm clothes, bunch of wood, bbq and rapailo"

After we enjoyed the nice colours of the sun rise and morning view and completing the breakfast, @Booy said the dunes behind where he slept were really nice and we could start the warm-up from that side and then hit the planned track afterwards. We then spent one and a half hour within 3-4 Kms of the camp site, warming-up the rescuers.

We had all inclusive menu during the drive, high dunes, technical dunes, soft sands, big bowls, steep climbs, side crests, huge drops, fast speed sabkhas, ohhh sh!$ moments, you name it. Such an awesome drive also comes with a warning from the lead car: Guys, do not try to enjoy the scenery but focus on the car in front of you, don't forget where you are driving. @alshamsi_m also warned during the briefing that we should be driving according to Liwa rules. Drive fast pace, not to lose momentum as it is costly due to the soft sand and if you see two cars in front of you, you are too close. You should see only the car in front of you and never lose its tracks.

Every time I drive similar drive levels, I am always fascinated how the marshals drive such a tough terrain as a lead car where you must drive fast in order to gain the right momentum to climb up and yet not know what is expecting you when you reach the top. Then make a split second decision for the next move and do the same over and over again. Some did two days back to back and some three days in a row. Amazing skills, courage, nerves and endurance.

After finishing our lunch break, we still needed to cover similar distance to reach Moreeb Dune. But shortly after the lunch we had nearly half an hour technical break (not the ones that you disappear alone behind a dune with a shovel in your hand). Once we reached the Moreeb Dune, @Booy said introduction is over, and lets get more serious. And we manage to follow him, although taking some hits on the chin. We lost one member due to another technical issue in that segment of the drive.

At one stage driving on a very dusty sabkha stretch, the leader said "come-on guys where are you, I can see only 4-5 cars behind, where is the rest?" Well, you may have a perfectly clear view ahead as the first car(s) but back at the convoy, we needed white cane - blind person's walking stick to find our way.

We reached the railroad shortly after the sunset and drove along the railroad about 20-30 minutes more to inflate and say goodbye until the next drive.

This was a great drive for me, so much enjoyed and learned. Thanks to @alshamsi_m and @Booy for the leadership and for all the supporting marshals @Solmaz, @Agalon, @Scorpio and advanced & intermediate drivers for the contributions and support.