Words By: Clive Delves
Photos By: Clive Delves, Elisna and Lawrence Vincent-Edwards
After taking the initiative from Mike Nott through his book “Off-Road Adventure Routes: UAE and Oman”, I stitched together four Oman routes (Starfish [SF], Oman Empty Quarter [OE], Yemen-Oman-Saudi [YOS] and Wahiba Crossing [WX]) into one long circumnavigated drive spanning over 14 days. With help from Colin Campbell and Marina Bruce both of whom have experience of the intended routes. We chose a counterclockwise direction since it allowed the “hard stuff” to be taken care of first then delays could be “absorbed” into the second half of the drive which would be predominantly on tarmac. We also decided to not take Mike’s YOS route to its westernmost point which is close to the Yemen-Saudi-Oman confluence given the less than friendly welcome received there by a convoy last year. It also allowed us to have a two-night stop-over in Salalah to provide a break from the camping as well as the luxury of a halfway celebration “Ice-Cold in Salalah” at the Khareef Pub in the Crowne Plaza.
“Team VE” consisting of Lawrence and Elisna Vincent-Edwards and “Team CD” just myself, had 14 days to complete the drive, so it was necessary to simplify Mike’s routes to a manageable level of difficulty and achievability, especially given the extra weight that we would need to carry – 120L of petrol and 40L of water, adding close to 180kg, so as always compromises were necessary in packing only the ‘bare essentials’.
“Safety first”, since accidents do happen, and in the remote areas where we were going it becomes more of a critical situation, so an 8pm reporting schedule was arranged and a procedure to follow if the scheduled calls were not received. For this we were equipped with a satellite phone in case there was no mobile coverage, which could often be the case.
Day One
21/11/2014
Mezyad to Starfish Camp
Distance covered:97km
The much simpler SF route provided excellent views of the dunes in their full beauty without too much effort. The bridges across the lower choppy tongues of the dunes proved a challenge for our fully loaded vehicles and the crossings were “adapted to fit”. Even so, we got stuck several times; some resolved with good, old-fashioned dig and push and several with the winch. We all appreciated the workout and the winch, and by the time the sun was lowering its head, we had fallen short of our expected distance and we settled down for camp in a large bowl. The stars are in full bloom as the new moon was not yet full and Team VE was on the lookout for shooting stars.
Day Two
22/11/2014
Starfish Camp to Fahud
Distance covered: 356km
A very humid night results in bedding hung out in the early morning sun. We join the OE route by crossing the long sabkha via zigzagging tracks to avoid the stony ground, and by-passed the start of the OE route to take in the beautiful scene as camels took a dip in a small lake (N23.34740° E55.69076°) surrounded by large dark orange dunes, patrolled in the air by hawks gliding on the air currents. As we wiggle our way through tongues of dunes blown across the track south into the deserted industrial area of Safah, all to be seen is pipe heads and pipes that follow our track for many kilometres.
Farther south, we skirt around the industrial area of Al Khuwair and head southwest on faint tracks, past a sign boldly stating the “Road Conditions” (N22.81932° E55.33118°) but whose status looked never to have changed judging by the condition of the sign itself. Heading OP – “off-piste” towards the confluence of UAE-Oman-Saudi borders we travel along the fence-line to locate the actual post that denotes the joining point of the three countries borders (N22.70135° E55.21337°).
Once regaining the OE track south, the hard surface of compacted sand and sabkha is fine for a faster pace to make up for time lost earlier on, however the surface is also able to exploit any weakness that it finds and soon Team VE got their first puncture near the oil and gas area of Yibal. A tyre change was required but we continued on our route, with plans to fix the tyre in Fahud which would be our first refuelling point.
We drove the 70km detour east to the Bridgestone tyre shop at Fahud, where we were unlucky to arrive just after closing. So with chicken biryani in our belly and the sun going down on Fahud we camped outside the town and planned for an early visit to the tyre shop the next day.
Day Three
23/11/2014
Fahud, out and back again
Distance covered: 234km
Up with the sunrise and into the town of Fahud, unfortunately neither the Bridgestone nor the Michelin shop next door stock off-road tyres off the shelf, so the decision was taken to purchase a road tyre of the same size to act as the second spare, which while not ideal, would do the job if need be and would keep any further delay to a minimum.
So back out again through Yibal and return to the OE route, heading towards the start of the Umm Al Samim – the notorious flat expanse, famous for quicksand and other desert trickery. However only 40km out, Team VE’s second rear tyre suffered a similar fatal puncture and the plan is quickly changed to return to Fahud to fit a full set of new off-road tyres that we confirmed would be brought from the warehouse by 5:00 p.m. that day. The job was done by 8:00 p.m. which resulted in another overnight camp outside Fahud.
Day Four
24/11/2014
Fahud via Al Ghaftain to Muqshin Oasis
Distance covered
531km
Leaving Fahud behind in a trail of dust as we head out across the Umm Al Samim, we are passed by a police pickup whose occupants waved enthusiastically at us. This is the only vehicle we saw for the next 370km. Weaving our path through some of the most spectacular dunes, in shapes hard to believe, along tracks covered in places by drifting sands blown by the same winds that had created these almost vertical walls and towering dimpled pillows of sand all around us.
No punctures, varying terrain and good track surfaces allowed us to make very good time and complete that day’s route before closing time at the Al Ghaftain petrol pump and we drove on-road to set our next overnight camp near the Muqshin Oasis, where we will visit the next morning. During the evening while sitting out in the glow of the star filled sky, we saw a flare penetrate the dark skies and hear several gun shots. That was the highlight of the evening’s fireworks and we settled down for our fourth night under the stars.
Day Five
25/11/2014
Muqshin Oasis to ad-hoc Desert Camp
Distance covered 125km
The Muqshin oasis (N19.58298° E54.88633°) is full of vegetation growing around a large natural lake that appears to be present year-round, judging by the size of the area. Local municipality workers are hard at work pruning trees and it is nice to see the area being taken care of for visitors, locals and not so to enjoy.
We had planned to take an alternative track away from a checkpoint which we expected would not allow people to pass without an Omani guide and also due to the terrain which was said to contain large areas of tyre puncturing dried vegetation protruding from the hard sabkha floor.
So instead of taking the OE route, our planned route takes us “OP” across the white sand plains of Muqshin to Al Montasarvia a track we name the “white sand road”, which seems more like driving on the surface of the moon, passing what appears to be a tree graveyard on either side, and where those hardy enough to thrive are placed on its own individual raised island. We had planned to check out another oasis spotted earlier on Google Earth (N19.45362° E54.61974°), smaller than Muqshin but with just as much life for such a remote location. As we arrived we encountered many birds, green grasses waving in the wind, tiny fish, dragonflies, butterflies and very shortly after, a police patrol car. The driver watches and waves politely as we roam the oasis, the wind blowing on the white sand adding dramatic contrast to the fertile land which lay only metres from the barren desert floor.
The second part of our alternative track did not go as well as hoped. As we anticipated going “OP” again for 45km and crossing the low lying dunes between Qitbit and meet the OE route at OE51, using a straight-line track planned on GE, based on old tyre tracks, but those images cannot show the consistency of the sand and how the wind has whipped it up into powder. This kind of sand along with the extra weight carried by the vehicles made it very difficult to cross, and at one point we struggled to advance more than a few hundred metres in an hour. Even though the dunes are low as we crossed one ridge, the next would cause another stuck that we needed to recover from on what seemed to be at every rise and fall. The first 15km across the sabkha took 20 minutes. The next 10km on the dunes took 4hrs and 30mins. We were in a fix and would not be able to complete the whole route if we continued to battle ahead at such a slow pace.
The sun became lower on the horizon and we agree to spend the night on the dune ridges, rise early to get down to the next sabkha with the help of the damp sand from the morning dew, and then follow the sabkha back out. To reduce some weight we removed four petrol jerry cans and dragged them bodily across the dunes to the sabkha edge thus removing approximately 80kg of weight from team VE’s vehicle.
To be continued…
