The Empty Quarter

The Empty Quarter, Rub' al Khali in Arabic, is one of the largest deserts in the world covering 650,000 square kilometres including parts of the UAE, Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Last weekend we did a two night trip across the desert from Liwa near Abu Dhabi to Al Ain. It was quite an adventure. There were four cars, the Prado, 2 Landcruisers and a Pajero. We had a local guide Hafiz as this is not a part of the world to be taken lightly and a knowledgable local guide is essential. On the first day we left Dubai in the afternoon stopping at the Emirates Car Museum in AD for a quick look, a drool over the TransAms and then shortly afterwards headed up a side road which led into the desert. The tyre pressures were lowered to around 15psi and off we went. Desert driving (wadi bashing) is not for the faint hearted that's for sure. Some of the dunes we encountered over the following two days were incredibly steep and going down and up the other side was quite a rollercoaster but it was so much fun. I was very relaxed as I had total confidence in Colin's driving, as we slid sideways down another almost perpendicular dune, plus I thought "Ah well, if it comes unstuck at least I'll go out doing something I enjoy!"

All the cars got stuck in the sand at one time or another. The sand was very soft and there's a technique to driving on sand (I don't know anything about it, I'm just a leadfoot). The first night we camped in a place that wasn't too far out in the desert as we'd had a late start. The wind picked up and it was quite cold later in the evening as we sat around the campfire admiring the carpet of stars above us. A few of us tried to pick out some of the star formations, the saucepan, Orion's belt etc. Pfft! I think the Ancients had way too much time on their hands. The next day we were up early and spent the day racing up and down the dunes. We were lucky enough to see Arabian oryx. The Oryx is the native gazelle that has been reintroduced into the desert in the hope that numbers will increase. The second night's camp was only interrupted by a visit from some locals who just came to say hello. These guys know the desert like the backs of the hands and are able to rip up and down the dunes in the dark. The weather was a lot warmer the second night. Next day we started heading out of the desert towards Al Ain. We had a race across the sabkah salt plain and then headed back into the dunes. Unfortunately on a particularly steep dune the Pajero rolled after two of the tyres detached from the rims. The car engine then caught fire. Luckily Rob and Lesley got out ok and proceeded to put out the engine fire with sand. We had been tailed by a guy from the AD Environment Agency and he was amazing in towing the Pajero out from the dunes and into the nearest town. The Police report was made and after that we drove back to Dubai. Despite the excitement at the end, it was a brilliant weekend.

Please check out http://carolynn-in-dubai.smugmug.com/ for the photos of both the car museum and the desert trip.