Dubai: An estimated 750 cars are tackling some of Dubai's most challenging desert terrain at the 30th edition of the Gulf News Overnighter Fun Drive on Friday.
The ‘fun' began at The Sevens, Lisaili, from where the convoys have embarked on an eight-hour drive over a stretch of 211km to reach the camp, with the first cars expected to reach by 4pm.
In pictures: Gulf News Fun Drive
Participants will stay overnight at the campsite before setting out for their homes on Saturday morning. The course for the drive has been specially charted.
Gulf News Staff Reporter Alice Johnson sends live updates from the 'fun' ride...
6pm
Well, we didn't quite make it through all of the checkpoints in time, so we left the trail early and headed to the campsite (for safety reasons, so we're not stuck in the dunes at night). This year's drive is an overnighter, so weary off-roaders can have a good rest after pounding the dunes all day.
Seeing the desert again has reminded me how beautiful it is - I think I'd forgotten. There have definitely been some highlights today. When we were driving by the Oman-UAE border fence, another car was driving alongside us on the other side. We were driving 5metres apart, but in different countries. Desert wildlife always fascinates me and it's great to get outdoors, out of the office, out of the city.
I sip a cup of tea as I write up stories for tomorrow's newspaper, and watch as a trickle of jubilant off-roaders set up camp for the night.
3pm
We take a short break and I notice something move in the sand out of the corner of my eye. Taking a closer look, I spot the head of a tiny lizard, very well camouflaged in the glistening sand. After a small chase, I scoop him up long enough for photographer Oliver Clarke to get some excellent close-up shots. We let the little lizard go, and it buries itself back down into the sand - backwards!
A deserted farm presents itself and while it's a bit of a sorry sight, there's something quite picturesque about the abandoned wheelbarrows and watering cans.
If you can believe it, the car behind us starts tailgating and driving aggressively. As if there isn't enough space around us to drive! It's one of the most peaceful places on earth, and someone's in a huge hurry. He eventually overtakes, beeping his horn. A bit ridiculous, I think...
Soon after a steep climb down a hill, we stop for a bite to eat at the 4th checkpoint. More camels seem to have come out to say hello and some of them cross our path. The dunes have grown increasingly bigger and in some places it's so bouncy in the car that it reminds me of a particularly sleepless overnight train ride I took last August in Thailand. The desert constantly surprises me - one dune we cross hides a wild camel train and a date palm farm that's almost an oasis in the baking heat.
Now, the early morning is starting to catch up with me, and I'm looking forward to a cup of coffee.
11.30am
The count so far is four bumpers - that's four 4x4 car bumpers ripped off by the dunes and left for dead. I'm told they're called 'desert moustaches' because they look like the upside down smiles of upper lip hair.
Repetitive tyre tracks snake over the dunes like winding river beds. The dunes grow bigger and bigger - cars bob like boats in a storm. We pass campsites dotted amongst the dunes, with families enjoying their weekends. The only problem is the amount of litter: it's really disgusting and completely unnecessary. Quite disheartening to see so much plastic laying around in such a naturally beautiful place.
It's actually quite green in the desert at the moment - shrubs and bushes are sprouting flowers of different colours and there's even some wild fruit growing. Apparently seeds in the camel droppings are buried by insects such as the dung beetle, giving plants a chance to germinate. We spot a camel train, but they're lighter in colour than those I've seen before. I don't think they're wild.
Where the cars have knocked away the top layers of sand, wet sand appears darker underneath. So what may seem like a barren wasteland at first glance, is full of life right now.
A marshall and his team stop to help a participant whose tyre has popped off. Tyres are deflated to drive on sand because it increases the surface area - and so the grip. However, deflate too much with the wrong angle, and your tyre will come away from the wheel. In 10 minutes, the team have it sorted and we're on our way.
9am
Wow, I'd forgotten how serene the desert is. As we start to cross the dunes the sun comes up and everything starts to get a bit warmer. As we deflate the tyres, everyone starts to get a bit more excited - speeding up as the open dunes lay before them. And then... Just over the first baby dunes about 40 cars are stuck in the sand. But smiling faces abound and marshals are on hand to help everyone get unstuck and carry on. As the sun beams down, the sand dunes seem to sparkle: it's beautiful.
We stop on the dunes (without getting stuck!) and our driver gets out to help some of the vehicles with too much sand under their tyres. He explains some of the finer points of off-roading, the angles, how not to get stuck and I realise it's actually quite an art. He's a master of the art - and glides across the dunes.
The air is still slightly crisp out here, and there's not a cloud in sight. I think there must be a camel farm nearby, as I catch a whiff of something that smells suspiciously like dung. On our next short pit-stop we discover a camel skeleton (it's too big to be a goat and a cow this far out in the desert?)
I poke around a bit and find a perfect hip bone as a souvenir of the day. There are some lumps of what look like calcified matter - maybe, I think, I'm looking at what my colleague Emmanuelle Landais wrote about. Camels eating rubbish and plastic bags in the desert would perish after the undigestible matter solidified in their stomachs. I look at the skeleton and wonder how the animal died.
7.35am
And they're off! It was a bit weird having breakfast on the rugby 7s pitch, but nice to be on a completely green grass field for a change. The smells of the cooked breakfast were really lovely - I can't have any as I'm calorie counting, but was pleased to see a giant spread of fresh fruit. I filled up my bag with apples, bananas and pears for the journey.
Our driver is a very experienced off-roader, and the car's got so many gadgets inside it looks like something from a James Bond movie. People peer in as they pass, wondering what all the equipment's for. He passes me a booklet with some gps co-ordinates on it, Km markers and small diagrams (slightly baffling). "You're my navigator," he tells me, "like in rally driving".
Hmm, I think, it's been a while since I did any orienteering.
The first people who've warmed up and eaten their breakfast head to the start line, and an orderly queue forms as the hundreds of 4x4 cars take to the desert sands.
4.53am
I can't remember the last time I left my house this early, when I wasn't going to catch a flight. Dubai is surprisingly awake at this time of the morning - a lot of taxis on the road, drivers from Abu Dhabi (what time did they get up?) and vans making bakery deliveries. My taxi driver says he's just finishing his shift - as I'm starting mine.
When I arrive at the office, Gulf News photographer Ahmed Ramzan is standing outside. "It's really cold," he says, wrapped up in three layers of clothes and I chuckle, realising it's a cool 17 degrees Celcius - veritably hot in UK terms. "We're desert people," he says, shivering.
