Sand and Rock Tour (12th-14th October 2017) SRT#011

In a nutshell

• Offroad and camping trip commencing on a Thursday evening,  starting in Oman, close to the Mezyad/Hafeet border post, and concluding on a Saturday around noon near Yanqil
• 4×4 essential
• One night desert camping and one night wadi camping
• Easy sand dune driving with a little rough (but not too rocky) wadi track driving
• Fully catered
• Non-driving activities – Oasis walk, wadi walk, visit to Bait Al Murar Fort

Detailed Itinerary

Thursday Evening – 6-9pm:

Meet us at the Al Maha Petrol Station, a few kms along the road (In Oman) from the Mezyad/Hafeet border.

We will lead you in to our desert camp site which is very close, just a few kms along an easy track.

For supper we have a choice of camel stew or pasta with tomato sauce

Camp overnight

Friday:

0700hrs: Snack breakfast (fruit, biscuits, breakfast bars, tea and coffee)

0800hrs: Offroad drive through the “starfish dunes”, an easy drive with sand and sabkahs.

1330hrs: return to road, reinflate

 

1400hrs: lunch in local restaurant (biriyani, rice, bread)

1500hrs: travel further south towards Ibri, divert towards Yanqil

1530hrs: Oasis walk

1700hrs: Wadi drive and set up camp

1930hrs: BBQ (chicken, lamb, beef, burgers, halloumi, salads, bread, halwa for desert)

Saturday

0800hrs: cooked breakfast (pancakes, french toast with sausages or labnah/cinnamon, fruit, tea, coffee etc)

0900hrs: further wadi drive (strong sidewall tyres recommended) or walk

1000hrs: visit to Bait Al Murar Fort

1200hrs: trip finishes at Yanqil

Prices

• Car + Driver – 875 AED
• Car + Driver + 1 Passenger – 1375 AED
• Extra Passengers – 500 AED each
• Children 4 and under free
• Children 5-12 – 300AED each

Payment

Can be made by either Bank Transfer, Mastercard or Visa, please indicate your preferred method of payment on your registration form.

 

How to Sign Up

Please download and complete the registration form below (or download it from here) , then scan and email it to marina@desertdivaevents.com

[pdf-embedder url=”https://thedesertdiva.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/master-registration-form-camping.pdf” title=”master registration form camping”]

Driving

The trip includes offroad driving – you must take your own 4×4 – but it will be a low-level drive suitable for those new to offroad driving.  After our initial safety briefing, followed by basic offroad instruction, further coaching will be given as and when required.  Note – due to the remote location the offroad drive will be easy as we wish to minimise any risk of vehicle overheating/damage.  The style of drive will be “expedition” – you can read more about it in this blog – Expedition driving.  Adrenaline junkies may not like this trip!  Our trip will be limited to 8 guest cars per convoy, maximum 2 convoys.

The second part of our trip will be spent exploring Wadi Hibi and Yanquil and surrounding areas.  Much of the driving will be on roads but there will also be track driving and, depending on the weather, possibly even some wadi crossings through water.

Suitable vehicles:

Not all four wheel drives are created equal!  I have listed some of the more popular cars, suitable for dune bashing, below, but the list is not exhaustive so please enquire if you would like to come and your 4×4 is not on the list.

• Dodge Ram (lifted),
• Ford F150 (lifted), Raptor, Ranger 3.2TD
• GMC Silverado (Lifted),
• Jeep Wrangler,
• Landrover Defender, Discovery, LR3 or LR4,
• Mitsubishi Pajero,
• Nissan Patrol Safari, New Patrol (models with “City” bumpers not recommended), Pathfinder pre-2005, Xterra,
• Toyota FJ Cruiser, LandCruiser, Landcruiser Prado, Tundra (lifted)

4×4 vehicle

• Must have recovery points front and rear
• Must be in tip-top condition (this includes the spare tyre too)
• Those with locking wheel nuts should carry a key to release them

Essential Equipment

• 2 x shackles which fit in the recovery points of your car, unless you have recovery hooks instead of loops
• Tyre Pressure gauge
• Shovel

Petrol:

Please arrive at the start point with a full tank.  There is no requirement to carry extra petrol.

Camping

We will camp one night in the shelter of a huge starfish dune and the second night will be near a wadi.  We will set up a temporary camp with a shade, tables, campfire/bbq and a portable camping loo.  We also have a battery powered shower if you wish to use it.  There is unlikely to be a 3G signal in the Starfish sand dune area. 

Camping Kit

We recommend you pack the following

• Tent
• Sand pegs – the ones that come with the tent may not hold it securely in sand. Standard or rock pegs too as second night will be camping in the mountains
• Camping chairs
• Mattress – air or foam – to sleep on
• Sheet, pillow, blanket or sleeping bag. It may be too warm to sleep with a sleeping bag in the evening yet really cold in the morning and we find a couple of blankets give most flexibility.

 Tent/Camping Equipment Rental

Ibex Adventures can lend you a quality tent and camping equipment – Colemans Instant tent, mattresses, camping chairs and a torch – for only 150aed for two people.  Sleeping bags and pillows may also be hired for 50aed per person.Please contact us if you would like to come on the trip but do not have your own camping gear.

Travel Essentials to Pack

• Coolbox with soft drinks
• Food – something for lunch as snacks for during the day.
• Baby wipes and hand sanitizer
• Pharmacy supplies – paracetamol/aspirin or similar mild painkiller. Cream for mosquito bites, insect repellent, sunscreen if you need it.
• Please note that the nearest pharmacy is in Ibri, so carry any prescription meds you need too.

What to wear

We are heading deep into the desert so wear comfortable clothes.  We suggest lightweight knee length shorts or trousers and loose fitting t-shirts or a shirt.   A wide brimmed hat can be useful when outdoors.

We will visit a “local” restaurant for lunch so suggest wearing modest clothes while in public. Knee length shorts and short sleeved tops are fine; short shorts and vest style t-shirts are not.

Please wear trainers or boots in the dark and around the campfire – it may be the “empty” quarter but there are some creatures there which will bite or sting you if you stand on them by accident!  If anyone should be unlucky enough to be stung by a scorpion, then we will drive them out to the nearest hospital – it will take around 2 hours to reach there.

Please Note

• This trip is suitable for families, couples and individuals.
• Children above 2 years old are welcome but there is a lot of driving so we suggest you take suitable activities to alleviate boredom in the car. Young children MUST be seated in car seats
• Maximum persons per car – 4
• All persons should wear seatbelts whenever the car is moving.
• For those of those with Omani Liquor licences, alcohol can be consumed when we have stopped for the night – ie none before or during driving.
• In case of emergency
  • Our guides will be carrying a satphone as there is no GSM signal, neither Omantel nor Etisalat roaming over most of this area.
• Apart from initial meeting time, all timings are approximate