Blood sweat and sand
It was an overcast morning with a very pleasant mercury reading for an Arabian summers day, blood sweat and sand had all the ingredients to be one epic drive!
We were a group of well seasoned off roaders who planned for a bit of an obscure route less traveled. It all started at a deflation point in the middle of nowhere of Khatem desert, slowly making our way through untouched dunes which were tricky at times and full of shrubs. There was a lot of interesting points on our way to the first pit stop, an abandoned army truck littered with very old offroad stricker indicating that this was a popular spot in the past.
Once we grab a few snaps for memories it was time to move to some more serious dunes and warm up properly, here we had much fun on the larger climbs and cresting while making our way to the mega bowl area. This was truly epic formations, once we crested into one bowl it was full speed to keep us firmly glue to the 70degree walls, crest out right into the next which made our adrenal glands work almost as hard as our engines.
After a couple of hours of hard driving, it was time for an early lunch courtesy of Preggy and Rathica. While filling our bellys we also topped up our petrol tanks then continued to more massive dunes where we played to our hearts content. Our fearless xterra driver at this point had a low oil pressure warning so we took it as a sign to head to the exit once we topped him up with some spare oil.
Drive finished after a 100km and 5 hours of blood sweat and sand. Thank you Rathica, Johann, Zoubeir, Javier and Preggy for a absolute blast. This drive will go down of one of my most favourite ever.
5 comments on Blood sweat and sand
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You guys had so much fun. Hope to not miss the next one.
It was worth the 3am alarm, the 2.5 hours drive from home. It was a drive to remember!
The feeling of camarade and positive vibes were all over this drive. It’s the DF training hours which makes everything fall into place and the pure driving bliss!
I discovered some new feelings related to my car while driving on the sides of the massive bowls. Sticking to the walls while the car just keeps going is one of the best feelings ever in offroading!
The culminating point of the day was the immense stadium shaped bowl where I saw a rocket powered Xterra eating away an FJ 🤣
I cannot wait for the next drive in Abu Dhabi. I will be the first one to sign up!
And i hope we won’t have go drive along the Great Wall of Arabia 😅
Thanks for the lunch sponsors, food was delish! Thanks everyone who made this trip worthwhile. The trip report picture captures everything.
“A nice change of scenery” is such a understatement!!
I drive to AD for work every day but never do I have tue music pumping with a smile on my face and exitment in my heart. When I saw this drive announcement I new it was going to be special and it was, oh my soul it was!!!
From the moment we met at the fuel station to top up our tanks to the moment the last tire was inflated after 5hours in the desert everyone was buzzing. Marshal Mark planned a masterful route through a area none of us were familiar with and a great many gems were found. Some technical, some highspeed and every dune shape in between including their soft sharp crests were demolished. But the absolute massive unit of a sideslope at the end was the cherry on top for me. Never before have a approched a dune at 80km/r redlining in first gear and basically stayed there for the entire sideslope witch was loooonnng and steep!!
I thank you Marshal Marc for the effort you put into planning this drive, Rathica for your clear comms as 2nd lead and for Pregs and Javier for keeping us safe. Zoubier as always brought a positive vibe to round out the group.
So I will end with… when is the next one???
I love the idea of exploration and adventure, and this trip offered both with a generous serving of some seriously kick-ass off-road driving.
The area was new to us all, so we approached with caution. The first hour of the drive consisted predominantly of technical terrain. The steep leeward slopes were powder soft while the wind facing slopes were littered with small desert shrubs and pioneer grass, which made for a very bumpy ride.
It wasn’t long before Marshall Marc decoded the dune formation in this less travelled area. Thereafter, the pace picked up and trip took on a completely different form. The convoy sprinted from one gigantic bowl to the next even larger one. Speeding around these bowls like an IndyCar race track was the highlight of this trip. Some of our offroaders got their first taste of a proper high speed approach to a side slope and I think they liked it a little too much.
Thanks for a memorable experience and wonderful company. I eagerly look forward to a replay in a similar area. Until then, get the undersides of your cars washed, clean out your air filters and enjoy the rest of the holidays
Guilty as charged for liking it a bit too much!
Thank you for the trip report picture of the year!