Oasis Offroad is an Al Ain based group offering accessible adventures in the beautiful red dunes around the United Arab Emirates’ Garden City. Established in 2012, they cater to drivers of all levels, offering a range of trips from Easy Introductory Drives (EIO), to family trips, advanced sand driving and long distance overlanding adventures!
The deserts and dunes of the UAE are a gorgeous place to be and if you want to get out and enjoy this unique environment in your 4×4 then Oasis Offroad are always pleased to lead you there. They offer tuition to new drivers through their Easy Introduction to Offroading (EIO) course, where typically two, maximum three, new desert drivers are taught the basics in a safe and structured way.
They run easy and intermediate trips to a range of beautiful destinations, from tree-lined valleys to swimming holes, wadis and giant dunes. Some trips include family camping and barbecue nights in the desert where you can relax and enjoy the company of like-minded people away from shopping malls and city lights. One of their marshals has a projector and his movie nights in the desert are not to be missed!
As their members’ driving progresses they run more advanced trips, giving expert tuition, increasing the level of technical difficulty and gaining access to even more of the spectacular desert. Oasis Offroad grades drives from level one through to level four. Level one and two are easy drives but the club believes in teaching people to walk before they let them run. Once a driver can accomplish all the easy manoeuvres safely and easily, the club offers them a Side Sloping 101 trip. Side sloping and side cresting are two of the riskiest moves off-road and this trip is designed to teach experienced level two drivers how to tackle these manoeuvres in a safe and controlled fashion, before advancing to level three.
The grading is not done purely on driving level; teamwork; attitude; equipment are also taken into consideration, meaning the club has competent drivers who are always ready to assist on drives.
Regardless of the level, safety is always a priority and the club’s western, English speaking marshals are very experienced off-roaders with first aid training.
2014 saw Oasis Offroad’s inaugural Dark Skies Challenge event – a 100km straight line challenge in the western desert of the UAE, and it was such a success that in 2015, it was opened up to teams from other clubs. You can read about these trips in OutdoorUAE’s November 2014 and March 2015 editions.
Oasis Offroad might be small but they are a very active club; in the last 12 months they have posted over 60 trips excluding EIOs! You will find them a welcoming and friendly bunch, specialising in family drives with small convoys of less than 10 cars; teamwork is the name of the game and you won’t find show-offs or crazy drivers! Although based in the Garden City they run regular trips to Liwa, Oman and nearer to home – in the Al Hayer area, which is exactly halfway between Dubai and Al Ain.
You can join the Oasis Offroad community by signing up on their forum, then request an EIO! Experienced sand drivers should contact one of their marshals so you can be graded accordingly.
One of Oasis Offroad’s founding marshals currently writes for OutdoorUAE – Marina Bruce is our resident Offroad Expert and you can find some of her articles about club trips, as well as offroading hints and tips, in previous editions of OutdoorUAE.
Words By: Marina Bruce
