La Casa de Papel

[David]

I think your google is as unreliable as that little yellow bird that sometimes shows up in the chat …

P.S : @David I checked in google about the PIN and discovered it is made by JEEP

[Mabubaker]

Hello everybody,
What a great day with ALMOST4X4 people.
For me, the adventure of this drive started a couple of weeks before the drive itself. Alot of encouragement from the organiser @presa for me to lead, thank you buddy. @alshamsi_m touches and comments on the plan was priceless.
After a quick briefing, we linedup with @SameRaptoRed as second lead @orlantsev sweeping and the angel eyes @alshamsi and @presa floating around.
The idea of this drive is simulate Liwa drives from within our neighbourhood. A skilled offroader needs to have the ablity to drive in all terrains, by achieving that, you can unlock the hidden gems (treasures).
When we drive in big dunes areas, we face surprises at 250+M hight, and that's where you'll need your ditches and bushes negotiation skills.
The drive began at 8:30 with a mission to cross a tough area from Al Khatim/petrol station towards the Crocodiles lake (10:00). Following that we headed north east toward the big farms where we played of different types of dunes, experiencing climbing from the soft vs hard side of the dune. At this point, my great 2nd lead @SameRaptoRed had to call it off as his Jeep fan got upset and decided to stop rotating.
Meanwhile, as I was looking for the second lead, a brave lady jumped in with confidence and that was @Rathica .
We kept going in the same direction, and the more we were getting deeper more beautiful dunes appears. We finished this section at about 13:30 by reaching to our launch break point with the two big Ghaf trees.
Around 14:30 Bu Salem re-joined the party, and we started headding North West towards the hidden Safari Dunes, normally Safari commercial cars takes the tourists in this route in about 2 hours but we finished it in 20 mins, I so the convoy doing well so I floored it like there is no tomorrow
Then, after all the prerequisites are completed for the next section, the gate to tge sand paradise got opened to welcome La Casa De Papel survivors. We've driven into the beautiful dunes of old Sweihan. I won't talk a lot here, the smiles on the intermediates faces were self explanotory, we managed to taste the favour of each of the 6 hidden gems in this area, keeping something for next time , and the last one was almost at sunset. The view of the 13 cars behind me from the mirror climbing the last U wall was astonishing
especially with off-road lights and the energy that off-roaders still maintaining was amaizing.
Finally thank you all for joining, thank you @SameRaptoRed and @Rathica for the great 2nd lead, @orlantsev for the support and the great Founder and Marshal, Bu Salem and @presa.
See you in any sand soon!
M Abubaker

[mpodroid]

Intermediate drives with Almost4x4 are more and more like iPhone: every new model is the best iPhone ever :-)

Without doubt, "la casa de papel" is one of my best drives, ever, if not the best.
Why? not sure, maybe a mix of reasons:

• the area, new one to me, with a very interesting mix of technical dunes (in a different way from the ones in Qudra), big dunes and amazing bowls

• one day drive: more fun, more adrenaline, despite the need to stay very focused for 8 hours

• the drive title: la casa de papel is a TV series that I love, including the soundtrack: many amazing Italian songs in the 3rd season

• since some time, I was planning pay a tribute to my musical roots and this drive's title gave an incredible opportunity. I selected the songs for the video days before the drive

To cut the story short: thanks to @Mabubaker, @presa, @alshamsi_m and @orlantsev for the drive and enjoy my video report.




Marco

[Dauntless]

Another incredible drive with Almosters
Despite the foggy start to the day, we meet point was clear and all were in great spirits that we could do what we love best - riding the sands with giusto.

We started the drive with technical dunes - safety distance was key an it was a Great warm up for what was to come. We made our way to Crocodile "pond" with no hassles. I guess the crocs went into hiding went they heard us coming as there were zero in sight even though we offered up @Sorin for a snack

Crocodile rest over we proceeded to the next stage where the dunes got higher - higher climbs, higher side slopes, higher switches. Temperatures rose to 48*C and we drove on. Before we knew it, we had to bid farewell to our second lead @SameRaptoRed . I volunteered for second lead and was accepted I had my fair challenges chasing @Abubakar as he set a challenging pace. We stopped for lunch under the shade of the 2 trees. I discovered that taking shelter under the 2 trees was far cooler than the car

Rest time over, we put on our big boy pants and headed for the treasures. Abu Baker did not disappoint as he led us to bowl after bowl. We made merry in each and every one of them.

We rode into the sunset - our night lights cam into use. The day had just flown away playing in the dunes. Abu Baker had us flying up and down dunes at 100kmph an on straight stretches at over 120kmph so the time felt like nothing.

So 2 x Slit Tyres (we discovered that Almosters could change a tyre in the dessert faster than the Formular 1 pit crew), 1 x broken fan, I'd say that it was an adventure- filled day
Thank you @Abubakar for an amazing lead; @SameRaptoRed for a great second lead; @presa and @alshamsi_m for always keeping us safe And thank you to my Inter Mates for the fun and laughter

Until our next dance in the sand

[Rooies]

The trip description said is was going to be a long a day, 100km plus or minus & it was true, I clocked 156km (maybe all the second tries )

I headed to the meeting point & found @Tomvanhouten on the road. The horizon looked a bit hazy & then we hit the fog, very thick & slowed down to 80km/h after the warning scared the living daylights out of me. We headed to the last fuel station to fill & I got some more java (coffee) for the trip. I headed to the meeting point & "crawled" my way to it due to the heavy fog. Luckily I was some cars on the side of the road & met up with the them. Slowly more cars joined us. @alshamsi_m arrived & offered us karat, coffee & big dates .

It was time for the drive briefing. @Mabubaker explained to us what he planned for us & then it was play time. @presa was floating & @orlantsev was the sweeper.

The first section was a nice wake up, Technical small dunes, but the going was good. @Christiaan got himself in a knot at one stage (actually his viking rope got a knot), we tried to fix, but no luck. We continued on. Later we had to cross the fence & @alshamsi_m expplained to us how to "jump" the fence. Not long & we had to stop due to a "Jeep" problem, @David had puncture & we decided to change the wheel. Grand Prix style & we were done back playing again. We hit the bigger dunes & it was quite enjoyable.

Later we had another "Jeep" issue & @SameRaptoRed had to withdraw from the drive. @alshamsi_m escorted him out & we headed to our lunch break area. @Sorin had a little power nap on the sand. We sat chatting about previous drives & laughed at some of the antics. @alshamsi_m joined us & we were ready to hit the big dunes (treasures) according to @Mabubaker . The Patrols engine light came on out of the blue, but I got good advice & was able to sort it out.

We entered an area & the pace picked up nicely, running fast up & down the dunes. Later we hit a flat section. @orlantsev Patrol joined mine with the engine light, but I knew what to do & sorted it out as well. . The convoy picked up speed & some places I was doing 120/130km/h on the flat sections. We entered the treasure area & I could understand why it was called that. We arrived at a big bowl & made turns to play in the bowl. Then we headed on & found another big bowl that was very crowded. We did not stay long & moved on playing in the big dunes.

It was getting late & we started heading out to the flat area. The drive was over, what an awesome day in the sand.

Thank you to @Mabubaker for planning the drive, @alshamsi_m & @presa for floating & looking after us. Also thank you to @orlantsev for sweeping & all the other inters for making it an awesome drive without any major hiccups.

Till we meet in the sand again, stay safe.

Greetings
Rooies