Liwa - The Dark Side
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:12 pm
I was not expecting an intermediate Liwa trip before summer hit so extremely happy when it came on the app, adjustments on the weekend plan and making the long way to the camp on Thursday afternoon. The name of the drive starts making sense when you reach the road going North-West towards the meeting point after Arrada petrol station, dual carriageway, 160speed limit and pitch-black, the stars and the sky were beautiful as well as the temperature and company around the camp fire.
Bu Salem explained that the intention was to cross all the way to Madinat Zayed, close to 90Km of gorgeous dunes. Convoy, himself leading with Booy and Scorpio floating around. 2nd lead went to Abubaker with Rapailo closing the convoy, in between the remaining drivers (all interm), Johanna, Samer, Mpodroid and myself.
We drove in the selected direction stopping every time we saw a nice climb/bowl, the conditions were perfect to practice and check the limits of your car, opposite to what happens in other areas if you read wrongly the line on the dune you still finish on the same side than the rest of the convoy so I personally decided to play around with the gears in order to try to learn a bit more about how to approach and tackle certain dunes, my car was also probably grateful of the extensive use of 2nd gear compared to the 1st in Al Wagan and Um al Oush.
One the cars experienced problems about 90min into the drive, fuel leaking, Rade and Samer took care of the repair, amazing job, full of knowledge and creativity, for being a good offroader you have to score high in many aspects and these 2 are fantastic at problem solving, I would always want them in my convoy in any hard/long drive.
Unfortunately, and for safety issues, driver decided to call it a day and the convoy moved towards Madinat Zayed on tracks across the desert in order to leave him on tarmac, another driver experiencing some physical issues also used the opportunity for heading home earlier than expected. I always feel sorry when friends have to leave a drive with mechanical/physical problems, these drives don't come along frequently, it is a long way there and we all plan our weekend around them so not to be able to fully enjoy them is upsetting.
After saying our good-byes the main convoy drove back (straight line) towards where we were supposed to be in order to continue with the track/drive, small convoy became even smaller and it moved very nicely with almost no 2nd tries or incidents. Bu Salem selected a beautiful route across gorgeous landscape touching in some fantastic bowls. Saeed, who was passenger to Shamsi, joined me for some time which made the drive more enjoyable with good company and conversation.
We finished a bit earlier with a "quick and easy last 30min" to the exit point as one thirsty car was having some issues with fuel, I meant "lack of", my recommendation, if you are lucky enough to drive the "best offroad car in the market" make sure that for any full day drive you take a minimum of 40L extra and a bit more if the MP/Camp is a bit far from the last petrol station.
Finally to say thank you, to all of the interm and advance drivers that made the long way to Arrada, to Scorpio and Booy for all of the assistance and advise, and to Bu Salem for organizing the drive and taking us to Liwa one more time.
See you on the sand soon.
Bu Salem explained that the intention was to cross all the way to Madinat Zayed, close to 90Km of gorgeous dunes. Convoy, himself leading with Booy and Scorpio floating around. 2nd lead went to Abubaker with Rapailo closing the convoy, in between the remaining drivers (all interm), Johanna, Samer, Mpodroid and myself.
We drove in the selected direction stopping every time we saw a nice climb/bowl, the conditions were perfect to practice and check the limits of your car, opposite to what happens in other areas if you read wrongly the line on the dune you still finish on the same side than the rest of the convoy so I personally decided to play around with the gears in order to try to learn a bit more about how to approach and tackle certain dunes, my car was also probably grateful of the extensive use of 2nd gear compared to the 1st in Al Wagan and Um al Oush.
One the cars experienced problems about 90min into the drive, fuel leaking, Rade and Samer took care of the repair, amazing job, full of knowledge and creativity, for being a good offroader you have to score high in many aspects and these 2 are fantastic at problem solving, I would always want them in my convoy in any hard/long drive.
Unfortunately, and for safety issues, driver decided to call it a day and the convoy moved towards Madinat Zayed on tracks across the desert in order to leave him on tarmac, another driver experiencing some physical issues also used the opportunity for heading home earlier than expected. I always feel sorry when friends have to leave a drive with mechanical/physical problems, these drives don't come along frequently, it is a long way there and we all plan our weekend around them so not to be able to fully enjoy them is upsetting.
After saying our good-byes the main convoy drove back (straight line) towards where we were supposed to be in order to continue with the track/drive, small convoy became even smaller and it moved very nicely with almost no 2nd tries or incidents. Bu Salem selected a beautiful route across gorgeous landscape touching in some fantastic bowls. Saeed, who was passenger to Shamsi, joined me for some time which made the drive more enjoyable with good company and conversation.
We finished a bit earlier with a "quick and easy last 30min" to the exit point as one thirsty car was having some issues with fuel, I meant "lack of", my recommendation, if you are lucky enough to drive the "best offroad car in the market" make sure that for any full day drive you take a minimum of 40L extra and a bit more if the MP/Camp is a bit far from the last petrol station.
Finally to say thank you, to all of the interm and advance drivers that made the long way to Arrada, to Scorpio and Booy for all of the assistance and advise, and to Bu Salem for organizing the drive and taking us to Liwa one more time.
See you on the sand soon.