Al Razeen part 2 - Friday 15/6/12 - Report

[Guevara]

It was indeed a long trip. We drove for around 90 km offroad. We started at 1430 from the gate in Razeem that we used for Desnav. From there we drove SE crossing a mix of very technical dunes, sabkha, very high dunes. Finally we reached the road E95 north of Al Qoa at 1930 (just after sunset) where we inflated our tyres and came back to Abu Dhabi / Dubai. The group was really great and responded promtly to all challenges of such a long trip. The dunes between Al Qoa and Al Wigan are really massive and surely they deserve a second visit. Thanks to all of you for your collaboration

Guevara

[MLC]

Very interesting - I think you may have taken more or less the same route as two of Waqar's trips to Al Qoaa that I was fortunate enough to be on. The area is fantastic indeed.

Waqar, is this the same place?????

[Fox]

What a trip ! This was a mix of everything, very long and fast subkha stretches, easy low and long
dunes, soft ascents and then suddenly WHAAAM ! fun ! Long steep descents, deep pit holes,
very soft places, narrow passages. Some challenging rescues, many self-rescues.
The temperature was 46 to 48 degrees throughout the trip, we were lucky though that the sky
was clouded.
Thank you Guevara (wonderful lead), Snappy (wonderful melon), Vader (nice to see how your dad
enjoyed and endured it), Sandwitch (wonderul sweep), it was a great team ! I enjoyed the company
and spirit of you all and hope to see you again soon.

[Sebastiaan]

Oh yeah Stefano!!!! This was true exploration into unknown territory! I have flown over this area many times on the way to Muscat and wondered what it would be like driving through it and now I know. Most excellent choice of a destination. Bit of a wake-up to see the road sign at the end of the trip "Abu Dhabi: 205 kms" but after a Redbull it wasn't bad at all driving that dark 2-lane road past Razeen.

The huge dunes at the end are the largest I have seen (except for Liwa) and they were begging for some AD4x4 attention and a crest massage Gottago back there for some serious fun! Judging by the number of Emirates that stopped to check on us during inflation time I say this area has been heavily ignored by us sand hoppers.

My temperature gauge got stuck at 50C for a third weekend in a row. Who knows how hot it really was. The sand was nice and hard in some places but could eat half a car in others ... as it did

Great company as always with our club and I had the pleasure to finally meet Fox too! See you all very soon I hope ...

15 June Razeen Guevara.jpg

[Sebastiaan]

Btw - Fox brought these most superb Bavarian meat balls and Snappy brought life-saving water mellon slices and cup-cakes ... Maybe I just feel hungry right now but next time I'll wait till you both sign-up for a trip and then I'll join too

[Vader]

This was a great trip Finally got to meet Guevara who took us to a really nice location. At times we would be driving and it seemed like the ocean was right next to us which was stunning. Absolutely agree about visiting those dunes again, they look like they would be great fun; it's just too bad we got there a little late Wanted to thank all you for a nice day, great lead by Guevara, watermelons from Snappy helped cool us down, meat balls from Fox gave us some energy, and Sandwitch pushed me out with his bare hands when I got stuck! It's been a while since I've been in sand that soft!

Great report by Sandwitch as we discussed during the trip. Possibly see some videos from you and perhaps some pictures from Snappy?

Special thank you to all of you for making my dad feel very welcome, he enjoyed meeting all of you and you made him like he's been a member for some time which I really appreciate

[Snappy]

Afternoon All,

What a great trip! A fun for me as it was fast paced and with some tricky soft sand and technical areas! Really enjoyed it! and am pleased with my self recoveries! Would definitely like to go back again, some great dunes towards the end of the trip! Great meatballs as already mentioned - offered with perfect timing too! I have some photos and videos too, hopefully I can get them posted today.

[Guevara]

Very interesting - I think you may have taken more or less the same route as two of Waqar's trips to Al Qoaa that I was fortunate enough to be on. The area is fantastic indeed.

Waqar, is this the same place?????

The area indeed is very interesting and dunes close to Al Qoa are massive. Triplod is organizing more or less the same trip on friday morning, from Razeen to Wigah. The alternative would be to reach Al Qoa by road and going aroung the dunes there.
We will come back there for sure, a bit far but very interesting

G

[tillybean]

I have loved this area when we went - it's so much fun to drive, with nice big bowls, lots of sweeps, hardly any low bumpy bits, and of course, you are totally on your own there. For both our trips, we didnt see any other vehicles once we were in the dunes.

It is a long way to drive back (2+ hours) but the dunes are so spectacular that it is worth it. Will definitely be going back here again, and again, and again.