Almost4x4

What can I say? Simply and shortly WOW!!

Let’s start from the very beginning: I joined Almost4x4 on 28th of June 2019. No Club Member drives back at that time.

The only drive was Salalah 2019, but I was too late and could only dream it watching pictures and videos of the previous years. I hoped for Salalah 2020 but we got a global pandemic and not more Salalah until early this year. After 3 years, I could finally join Almost4x4 trip in Salalah: I was so happy and excited, I also managed to convince my wife and daughter who are not very keen on adventures nor camping.

Reaching Salalah it is a very long trip, more than 1200 km.

In Spring I started building the storage for the trunk of my Jeep, with my own personal design, so that I can extend it into a bed platform: I can sleep in it, whether it is a night in Liwa, a quick nap after a long drive in the sand before going home or the long night drive to Salalah 2022.

Online visa obtained easily from the Omani Police website. Obtained the Orange Card from my insurance to have proper coverage in Oman, so no need to stop at the border to purchase a temporary insurance.

I added a Dometic CFX3 fridge to have fresh food and cold drinks during the 6 days drives.

Last but no least, for the maximum comfort, a portable folding commode toilet seat and a shower tent to grant proper privacy to my ladies.

Everything was ready as planned, except for my car: few weeks before a serious oil leak suggested a deep check at the dealer: a damaged pulley and seal, but no parts available. Finally and luckily, 4 days before the departure, Ameer at Trading Enterprises managed to find some spare parts for a temporary fix and I could join the convoy,

I left Dubai in the late afternoon and went to the border: the officer at the UAE border complained about my headlights blinding him. I knew there were quite high so I stopped and tried to tune them: I needed a screwdriver, buried in my trunk, under everything else.

I finally managed after 30 minutes and crossed the Omani border: despite some unexpected, I reached the meeting point early, at 9pm. I met all the Almost4x4 friends, we quickly celebrate @Viktoriia birthday and left at 9:30.

Before departing @alshamsi_m reminded us “we are a convoy, we drive with the weakest member. If somebody has a problem, we all stop and support it”. 20 cars is a very big convoy, with families and small kids. We had many stops, including a 2 hours break to have some rest. We arrived in Salalah at 1pm, 16 hours later. I drunk 3 RedBulls to make it.

Then we had 4 great days, driving up and down the mountains, under the rain, in the mud, to the ocean beach and to waterfalls. So far I have 240GB of raw material to review: photos and videos will follow.

One of the incredible aspect of the trip is that no one single car got lost even once in 5 days: a 20 cars convoy is very long (even more than 1 km) especially on the road, where we drive at high speed, with incoming traffic and cars overtaking from the back. One more time: absolutely great planning and organisation.

At the end of this long report, I want to express my deepest thank and gratitude to @alshamsi_m and the crew because every single detail of this trip has been carefully planned and prepared in a way that no professional travel agency could ever reach:
* thanks to our sponsor 4wheelUAE and crew who provided us a great goodie bag
* routes carefully designed to provide a wonderful landscapes, with stops at clean public toilets and gas stations within 500km, so even Jeeps can make with a standard fuel tank


Everything is ready now for Salalah 2023

Hello

This is my first time in Salalah in my life, there are no words to describe the beauty .

I was going alone and at first I felt lonely and after that this feeling changed because I was accompanied by my special family and friends. Mustafa, James, Pedro, Brett, Muhannad, Tom, Othman, Youssef ... I apologize, I did not mention his name.

Special thanks to the captain @alshamsi_m

It was a great adventure and it will make one feel comfortable.

On the last day I was feeling tight inside me for reasons I am not sure of. I will discuss the matter with my brother Abu Salem

And I will wait next year to go with my family


special thanks for ( Wael brother Mustafa ) he drive my vehicle when I was feeling sleepy, thank you very much


See you in the sand

AZK89 wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 1:46 pm

special thanks for ( Wael brother Mustafa ) he drive my vehicle when I was feeling sleepy, thank you very much :

I think his name either Yasser or Waleed

Hi all,

Well I do not know where to start...
I joined the club November last year and I was already dreaming about Salalah. Every time I went to @Rashidjass garage I watched videos, photos... that was adding up more and more expectations to Salalah.
I started preparing the trip one month ago, we were not going to hotel, we camped so I was preparing some camping spots to enjoy Salalah also during the night.
We left Dubai quite early on Friday, just to be sure we reached the meeting point after the border on time.
We gathered around 21h, @Viktoriia had cake prepared as it was her birthday and after @Shamsi briefing we hit the road towards Salalah. The pace and also the stops were fantastic and we even managed to have a little rest in Haima. We arrived around lunch time to Salalah and we went directly to this famous street full of local restaurants it was delicious!!!
After that people went to hotel and we hit our first camp spot in the mountains where we enjoyed a lot being disconnected and totally alone for the first night.
Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 we gathered in Gulf House Pastry and we drove to all of those fantastic places @Shamsi prepared very very well.

We enjoyed a lot even on this foggy weather and we are really pleased to get to know this fantastic family.

The way back we visited the coast and we joined the route in Haima.

Thanks to all the crew members and the sponsors for this fantastic trip.

Looking forward to seeing you soon in the sand.

Galindakis or Alvaro (you decide!)

And again, hello everyone!

I want to apologize in advance, but this is likely to be my longest report yet. Let's see if I can write dramas))))

It is very difficult to return back to reality after living all the unforgettable moments in Oman, Salalah. I still see these colorful views in front of me, ocean, foggy roads, slopes, cliffs, all the greenery, mountains and waterfalls.

First of all, I want to thank the organizer of this trip @alshamsi_m , who did his best to provide everyone with an unforgettable vacation and safety for all participants and their families. Starting from the creation of a presentation where the program was indicated with all the upcoming destinations according to each day of the trip. Everything was organized at the highest and professional level, so that each member of the trip could move independently in case of unforeseen situations or according to personal choice and comfortable stay. It was this kind of organization that helped our participants solve all situations without delaying the main convoy.

Having been with the club since 2015, this was my first trip to Salalah despite what I have heard and seen from reports over the past years.

I want to start by saying that the appointed date of the trip on 08/19/2022 coincided with my anniversary, on this day I turned 40 years old. And it was my best birthday and my best gift ever. Thank you very very much @alshamsi_m

Seeing all of you at my birthday was priceless. Thank you to each and every one, who is a part of the best club in the UAE for sharing this moment with me. Furthermore.

I am so impressed with the organization, despite the weather conditions that did not give us the opportunity to see all the beauty in the surroundings, but our incomparable leader always knew how to use these conditions to get the maximum adrenaline( muddy games became as a highlight of the trip)

Every day was different, and all participants of the trip were able to enjoy it to the maximum, despite the fact that many families were with small children.

On my own behalf, I want to add that our leader was worried about every moment, every destination, every turn, every stop, about each and everyone, not thinking about fatigue. I have never seen such a thing.

This trip allowed us all to get to know each other better and become even closer to each other. Seeing your happy faces at breakfast set the mood for the whole day. How is this lacking now?

It is impossible to put into words all the positive emotions received. Separately, I want to express my gratitude to our support in person @Tomvanhouten , @James and, of course, to our Crew and Media team @KIMOz, @brett , @Mohannad, @mpodroid , @Ehab , providing us with all the necessary things in our goody's bags and all the rest during our trip. . You are simply the best. By the way, I am fully covered by mosquito's bytes, taking it as a part of Salalah memories Big thanks to @James for the advanced anti mosquito's tattoo  protection. In love with it

Thanks a lot to all our team , who made that event happened

Looking forward to see you all in the sand.

Yours Vika

Hello everyone,

After two days of rest, I finally got the energy again to write my trip report.
Salalah 2022, it felt like holiday where my mind got reset, but also very intensively with a program to get the max out of the trip. Well organized @alshamsi_m !!

A bit afraid, we couldn't make the meeting point on time, due to work of @Laarni , we started our trip around 630pm from Dubai. As planned, gassed up BEFORE the border, to avoid the cheaper gas station just after it and hopefully save some time to catch up. But yeah, then you cross that border like no other! Happy faces from the first to the last checking point; where are you go sir? Salalah! Big smile and off we went!
Best border crossing ever!
The result: We had time left over, arriving at the meeting point!

The drive to Haima went rather smoothly, taking some rest and continuing to our destination, lunch and rest.

The days afterwards can only be described by pics and videos which are in the making and hopefully follow soon!

In any way, this trip was just brilliant! You simply don't think of being in the GCC, what a complete different surrounding and so beautiful!
Although the fog was there all the time, we had a blast!

Thank you everyone for the company and great organization!

See you soon,

Tom

First of all I would like to start by giving a big thank you for organisers, crew and media, the people without which this trip would have not happened, really great job guys, with planning, the goodies, the support during the trips and everything

This has been the best trip of the year for sure, a complete adventure, with lots of driving, hiking, tree climbing and of course jumping off cliffs




It was a great opportunity to get to know people in the club, great driving in the fog with @piotr thanks @Mghoneim @brett @PedroLeal @Tomvanhouten @galindakis and everyone else for making this days a lot of fun.

Earned myself a RESCUE badge with a lot of fun and memories attached to it



And I think I can say my favourite of all was the secret beach, that was a super drive both up and down, amazing beach at the bottom that you can rarely see, just spectacular. Maybe next year we can visit the black pickup truck




Thank you again everyone and see you all in lots of future adventures.

Karoly @luckeym

Hello Everyone

I planned the drive to Salalah in 2019 but unfortunately couldn't make it that year and since then I have been looking forward to the upcoming Salalah Adventure which finally happened in 2022.

Before I start I would like to thank our CREW team @brett always there to support in any possible way and for @KIMOz & @mohannad STRONG coming back with full support. I wouldn't be able to do it without you THREE

Although it was mentioned from the first day that Salalah decides what to show us and what to keep for the future. This year was a really challenging year for the leading car to decide on plans B, C & even D. But with the teamwork support, I got from the entire group we were able to discuss the challenges and decide as a group. So thank you all

We had a very big group of people, around 45 people with 20 cars. Including kids & females but they all worked so beautiful and I didn't feel their impact on the convoy smoothness

Looking forward for what our media team @mpodroid & @Ehab are going to show us in the upcoming videos

But trust me , pictures or videos will give no justice to how the real thing is

Finally, I would like to thank my co-pilot for the all the support @Viktoriia .

See you all next year in Salalah Adventure 2023
Shamsi

Dear Almost Family

I have to start by saying a HUGE thank you to @alshamsi_m without whom the entire adventure would not have been possible - the hours of planning, scouting, gps routing, and then the actual adventure ! this man is like an energizer bunny always on the go, always alert - how did he manage to lead a convoy of 20+ cars, mostly blind in the relentless fog, changing from plan A to B, C and D depending on the conditions

Next a shout out to the "Crew" @KIMOz , @Mohanad who also worked tirelessly to put together the goodie bags, radios etc, spending hours sourcing and collecting the items. and of course kudos to @Mohanad for expertly covering 2nd lead for most of the adventure.

Special Thanks also to @Tomvanhouten for being our sweeper and resident Mr. Fix it when things went south mechanically and @CARLOSS for sweeping on day 5.

The Drive down from Dubai was an endurance test for all - i left @Rashidjass workshop at 4pm Friday - we reached Salalah hotel at 2pm Saturday after some1,200+ km. during the drive we encountered sand storms, crazy local drivers in cars and trucks and then fog in the final stages over the mountain pass down into Salalah. after an excellent lunch at the No 8 chicken place we final checked into the hotel. Smiles on all the tired faces.

Days 1, 2, 3 & 4 were amazing driving in almost constant fog/drizzle - i have seen videos of previous Salalah trips and apparently it is full of lush forests. in fairness we did see some but it was fleeting glimpses. some of the mountain passes down into steep valleys and the zig zag climbs and descents were simply amazing.
The Waterfalls, of course who can forget the secret beach - the off road tracks were a lot of fun and the drive to and from the cave unforgettable.

We encountered so many cows and camels along the way i lost count - but when they suddenly appeared from the fog !! even after they had been announced by the drivers ahead of us it was still a surprise every time. and then there were the infamous "Black Cows" laying in the road, walking towards the cars complete madness ! speaking of madness we encountered one "Mad Cow" that seemed to take a fancy to @alshamsi_m in his red shirt - but thats a camp fire story for the future.

Every evening we sat at the hotel restaurant and relived the days events with a core group of drivers, the wise move would have been to go to bed early instead of sitting telling stories til midnight ! but it was well worth the loss of a few hours sleep - thanks to @Pedro @dorudoru @Tomvanhouten @Laarni @CARLOSS @sparrow @James @mifalda @osman @galindakis @luckeym

Also i should not forget to mention our dedicated Media Crew @Ehab @mpodroid for doing a great job of capturing all the action for prosperity.

already looking forward to next years adventure

Hello Almosters,

First, A big thank you to our founder @alshamsi_m for taking us on this mind blowing adventure, and for crew (@brett @KIMOz , & @Mohanad ) for all the organization , goodie bags and putting it all together.

Althought we weren't much luck with the weather throughout the trip, however some great memories were carved in my heart. The top favorite memory will be the secret beach and it would be great to have it as a main visit not a bonus on the next trips. The water falls in general were gorgeous. And the ocean drive back to Dubai is just another level.

It was great to drive this salalah edition with many of the regular suspects @PedroLeal @Tomvanhouten @osman @mpodroid @Carlos .

Thanks for our great media presence @Ehab

Last but not least a big thank you for Yasser or Waleed whatever his name turns out to be for surviving in my passenger seat for 4500KM in a 7 day period.

Till next year
Mghoneim