Offroad in Arabia Blogposts
Journey to the South Western Corner of The UAE
Mike Nott, author of Advanced Off-Road Adventure Routes UAE & Oman, kindly included a couple of routes of mine in the second edition of the book. Here is the story of the original recce trip for one of them which was originally printed in OutdoorUAE magazine back...
Liwa – Zodiac Style
Back in my home country of Scotland, the Scout Association challenges their members to “Zodiac Camp”, that is to say, camp at least one night in every month of the year. At 57 degrees north it’s quite a challenge, with freezing cold nights, rain and biting wind, not...
TRED Pro – Total Recovery and Extraction Device – Review
Last year the guys at TRED Pro gave me a set of their Total Recovery Extraction Devices to evaluate and write about in Outdoor UAE. We received them just after the summer, in early September and the biggest challenge was to try them out in daylight, in the hottest...
Summer Desert Driving in the UAE (And Oman!)
Many moons ago, when we first started driving off-road in the UAE, many people told us that Liwa is a no-no for off-roaders during the summer. They said that the extreme heat of 50C+ coupled with soft sand made the area too dangerous for anything other than winter...
GCC Foreign Residents: Enter Oman For FIVE OMR For Up To 28 Days!
If you have a GGC Residency - ie a residency visa stamped in your passport from UAE, Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar or Bahrain - then those of you with approved professions*, which will be most of you, will be able to obtain a 28 day AGCC Foreign Resident Visa on arrival in...
Oman Desert and Wadi Trip for the Holiday Weekend (21-23 April 2017)
The last public holiday before the summer is to celebrate Israa Wal Miraj (The Prophet's Acension) and although it is likely to fall on Monday 24th April (subject to moon sighting) the UAE has already declared Sunday 23rd to be a day off for all government sector...
**Ramlat Jadilah: The Highest Sand Dune in the World
this post has been moved - if the auto redirect has not worked, you will find it here - https://arabiancitiesandsands.com/ramlat-jadilalah-the-highest-sand-dune-in-the-world/
Oman Scouting Trip : Desert, Sabkah and Sea
I never need much encouragement to go and explore out-of-the-way places in Oman - it's a big country and there are lots of opportunities to get off the beaten track - so it was no chore to load up the car last week and head southwards into the Wahiba Sands, Barr Al...
My Favourite Abandoned Water Tanker
Next month will see the 5th anniversary of the day I was introduced to the famous old abandoned Oshkosh water truck! It has been lying deteriorating in the desert for the best part of 20 years and you will see from the photos how it has fared under the desert sun...
My Weekend In Pictures (Tag-A-Long #006)
Friday started with a particularly beautiful sunrise; a lovely prelude to a great day! After meeting my guests we set up our campsite: always put a flag on the dune above it to reduce the chance of finding a vehicle on top of your tent in the middle of the night! If...
Trip Report: Desert Diva Tag-A-Long Tour #3: National Day UAE
It was the UAE's 45th National Day and everyone in the country had a day off! Instead of the usual one night camping expedition style trip we put together a 48 hour, 2 night camping trip with some smooth offroad driving past some wonderful desert terrain as well as a...
The Desert Diva’s Driving CV
A few years back I wrote about my background in this blogpost; whenever I check my stats I am always amazed just how many people read it. Some others have privately expressed interest in how I came to be here, at the wheel of my trusty Nissan Patrol,...