After a few weeks without writing a blog, I’ve scheduled some time over the next ten days to update you on my adventures. Been lots of places and seen some amazing things so have lots of material and photos to share with you.
Happy New Year everybody!
Back in the spring my local garage owner asked if I would be interested in running trips for him, teaching rookie expats how to drive safely in the sand. As I was currently a marshal for another club (UAEoffroaders) I declined, as we also faced the possibility of a move back to the UK in the autumn. Circumstances changed however, and here I am now, one of the marshals of Oasis Offroad, which is sponsored by Mehran’s Garage.
There are many great offroad clubs scattered throughout the UAE, but we believe ours is the first one to be aimed specifically at western expats in Al Ain, with regular drives through the lovely dunes of Al Saad, Sweihan, Zakher and the airport area. You don’t have to live in Al Ain to drive with us, the club is open to all UAE based drivers with a suitable 4×4 who speak fluent english and who are willing to join our locally based desert outings.
We have a great team of marshals with a wealth of experience behind them, waiting to introduce rookies to the art of sand dune driving. The photo above was taken at the pre-trip briefing before our first trip on Friday 9th November. Marshals are in burnt orange coloured t-shirts (specially chosen to blend in with the oxide rich sand of Al Ain) and from left to right are Vince, Marina, Wallie. The club’s fourth marshal, Neil, was out of the country that weekend.
As well as our marshals, we also have a great team of experienced drivers who support and assist on our trips. You know who you are, thank you!
We’d set up a facebook page until our forum website was up and running, and it’s been so successful we’ll continue with it.
We’ve also set up a webpage, for people who are curious about our club and our activities, but don’t want to sign up for our full forum.
Finally and most importantly we have set up Oasis Offroad Forum where trips will be listed, queries can be answered, and the Oasis Offroad community can interact.
 |
| Happy people at the end of Oasis Offroad’s first EIO trip! |
Our club want to do things a bit differently. Many clubs run rookie trips with lots of cars, and I’ve done this myself in the past with my old club, but for Oasis Offroad’s new members’ first outing on the sand we are offering Easy Introduction to Offroading trips which last no more than 90 minutes.
Ideally there will be 2 rookies on each, certainly no more than 3, with 2 marshals who will teach them the basics of offroading in a safe and structured way. We ask that the driver come on their own, without their family, so that they can concentrate 100% on the driving.
Once they have mastered inclines, declines and crests, then we take them for a 2 or 3km drive around the dunes so they can use their new skills straight away. These trips are not compulsory, though we recommend them to all rookies particularly for those with cars with low bumpers which can easily get damaged if crests and bowls aren’t tackled correctly.
Getting stuck from time to time can be fun and such situations are good learning experiences. However frequent stucks for a rookie can be demoralising if they don’t have the knowledge or confidence to change into the correct gear, drive up dunes at the right speed and the like. This is why we want to start our rookies off slowly, knowing that once they join our weekend trips their driving ability will increase very quickly and they will be able to come on longer and more adventurous trips with us.
I’m also a great believer in taking 10 minutes to talk someone through a self-recovery. Snatch straps and winches have their place but the best lesson we can give people is how to safely self recover if at all possible. (The photo above demonstrates that even experienced drivers make mistakes – I came over a dune too fast and it took me 5 minutes of shunting back and forth over sand that was as soft and dry as talcum powder, until I got properly aligned with the slipface)
Our prime club objective is for people to feel SAFE and also have FUN while they are out on our trips…
… whilst teaching them driving techniques which in time will get them to the top of the highest dunes alongside our most experienced drivers!
We also hope they will meet new like-minded friends who love the outdoors and prefer to spend their weekends away from the malls and the tourist attractions! A campfire is a great friendship facilitator!
So don’t leave me standing here on this dune all by myself.
f you’ve got a 4×4 suitable for dune bashing and live in Al Ain please:
Register on our forum.
Sign up for a trip.
Become part of the Oasis Offroad Community!
Thanks to Heidi, Jane and Wasif who expertly caught some great moments with their cameras!
So the challenge was to raise about 1300AED, and I didn’t have to think too long to hatch a suitable plan.
A few people have told me they would love to come wild camping in the desert with me, so I invited them for a “night out” near Sweihan and charged them for the privilege!
The kids had great fun playing on the dunes
and the grown ups had fun taking photos of the kids playing on the dunes
kids and adults alike had fun with shadows
while some bemused camels looked on
Late in the day some friends dropped in to join the BBQ party – thanks guys, you looked so cool weaving across the dunes with your lights on.
The sunset was a real hit
for some of our guests, this was the first time they had experienced one in the desert.
Once the sun had gone down, we lit our campfire – for atmosphere only you understand, the temperature was hovering around 30C!
We shared food and had a good old blether while we relaxed. I’d made slow-cooked camel stew at home so I reheated it and served it with arabic bread. Recipe at bottom of page for those who asked for it!
The bairns still had plenty of energy though – had given them all glo-sticks so we could see if any of them had wandered off. None did but they had a blast playing with them.
After a night under canvas in a very quiet desert, we cooked breakfast and headed home, some via the nearby gatch track, and others via the desert. A great weekend, thanks to all who came along and made it such a success! Special thanks go to Erica who took some of these fantastic photos and has allowed me to share them with you via this blog.
Job done!!!
Slow cooked camel stew
1kg camel meat, cubed and fat removed (not that there’s much fat on camel meat, unless you buy the hump!)
2 or 3 small red onions
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
4 carrots peeled and cut into 1″ lengths
4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 or 2 large green capiscums
1 x 100g can tomato paste
3/4 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1) Turn on slow cooker to high
2) Put 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil into a large saucepan, brown the camel meat, onions and garlic
3) add all other ingredients plus 500ml water and bring to boil
4) transfer to slow cooker crockpot
5) cook for 8-10 hours on high, or 10-12 hours on low.
Serve with arabic bread or chapatti.
Spent a great weekend with my family and managed to grab some quality time with a few friends. It was also great to catch up with Jill who writes an amazing blog that keeps me in touch with NE Scotland – you can read it here. She showed us round her lovely new house, introduced us to her craft/opera/wine drinking den (you’ll have to read her blog to find out more) and then fed us the most delicious chocolate and chilli cake. Mum loaned me her car so I was mobile, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed nipping about in a 1.4L Astra.
Here’s the best of the photos
 |
|
| New Aberdour Beach… my favourite “haunt” |
 |
| to look for cowry shells… found 7 (much easier to find the giant ones on the Omani beaches! |
 |
| You might have noticed the UK hosted the Olympic Games this summer. This postbox in Westhill was painted gold in honour of gold medal winner Tim Baillie who hails from here |
 |
| Iconic Scottish Shot – Heilan Coos grazing |
 |
| It was warm enough to have morning coffee outside! |
 |
| Heading to Strichen, always going to be “home” to me |
 |
| Strichen Lake – a wonderful community resource |
 |
| Nothing beats a walk in the Strichen woods – the times I have walked our (and friends) dogs along this path – though not usually in sunshine! |
 |
| Bonny granite bridge in ….. Strichen of course |
 |
| Clever ducks in Strichen – they can stand on water! |
 |
| First but hopefully not last shot at quad biking! |
 |
| Autumn wasn’t far away |
 |
| Enjoyed a fair few spectacular sunsets |
 |
| Despite only one day of rain we were never far away from water. On the banks of the river Dee here. |
Forgive me readers, it’s a bit overdue, but I’ve been busy living life to the full……
Last year we did a “late late Burn’s night trip” and this was such a success we decided to run it again this year. The musical hit of last year was “Donald where’s your Troosers”, so this year our event was aptly titled “Hunt for Donald’s Troosers”.
We assembled our friends, split into two convoys, one for the very experienced heavy duty dune bashers, and the other for those who like the dunes at a more sedate pace. This photo shows a small selection from our 15 cars – we had guests from NZ, USA, England, Scotland, Wales, India, UAE, South Africa.
After driving around for a few hours – we found some really good smooth dunes, we headed back to our camp and started cooking for our 25 guests.
After serving eating a hearty traditional scottish meal – with halal alternatives for our muslim friends – Neil led the singing and stories. Neil had compiled a booklet with history and words to give to our guests, and we all joined in singing O, my luve is like a red red rose, Loch Lomond, Wild Mountain Thyme, A man’s a man for a’ that, Flower of Scotland and of course the Andy Stewart Classic – “Donald, where’s your troosers”.
And then say “cheerio” and put him on a plane for “home”.
Been threatening to do this for a while, but finally got round to pushing the button and creating a blog. Life is so COLOURFUL in the UAE, every day is a new adventure, and I hope you will enjoy reading about the best of them here.
It’s been a busy week, a few of us had a super easy drive in the sands between Sweihan and Al Ain last Saturday, and on Sunday I was in the sand again as we scouted for a route for my friend Bruce’s trip which he will lead later today (this is the first one he has led/organised). At the end of the drive we aired up and went to Al Khatim for some food, and there I dropped my purse out of my handbag on some waste ground – and in it were a small amount of cash, my debit/credit cards, my driving license and my UAE ID card.
Needless to say, I didn’t get too much sleep that night, and when I finally did get some slumber I was woken up by a phonecall from someone who had my purse – with the contents intact! I travelled back to Al Khatim in the evening, expecting to collect it, and being dressed for, meeting a local gentlemen at the ADNOC (gas station), but instead was directed to his home where I spent a lovely evening and enjoyed a delicious dinner with Mr Khadim, his wife and grandmother.
Turns out that one of their farmworkers had gone to the shop for some provisions, had found my purse and handed it to his employer, the grandfather, who in turn gave the job of contacting me to Mr Khadim, who speaks excellent english. The farmworker who handed in my purse will no doubt earn less than £50 a week, so I am very impressed at his honesty, and will call in with a thank you card with some cash in it to reward him.
My good friend Terryl is no doubt thinking “It could only happen to Marina…..”
The Desert Diva 
