Dune Bashing--Some Desert Fun in Tawi Nizwa

as-salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

My husband and I went dune bashing the other day - it is definitely the beginning of the end of the desert going season, for me at least. It has started to get so hot during the days. So I have to try to get in a bunch of dune bashing over the next few weeks inshallah!

I am posting photos here, but just so you know, not a single photo can capture the true beauty of the open desert. It is really something you have to see for yourself. I drive from time to time but I do get nervous when I get the more steep hills climb because I do not know what is on the other side--a nice flatter surface to keep driving on, or an immediate steep decline... and it does take finesse to get over and through the desert hills. I drove the other day for a while and we went through a more difficult area than I had previously driven through. There was one steeeeeep hill to climb and I told my husband I don't think I'm ready but he told me to just follow the tire marks so... I went up up up up and then was trying to reach the highest tire marks I saw, hit the top and then I was supposed to steer left but when I hit the top the force made the car go right a bit and then.... we got stuck LOL

Alhamdulillah there were some guys around and they helped shovel sand from underneath the car and then pushed our car back to help us get out. I felt so embarrassed!! And then of course, we got to the bottom and my husband went to climb the same hill and was over it in not time and it was so easy LOL

If you saw my last post you saw that I posted the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado where I am from--its a beautiful beautiful place Mashallah--but, most of the are is off-limits to any vehicles. So no dune bashing like in UAE, except a small area that is available (I don't know how big the area is)--but here in UAE there are huuuuuuuge areas to go dune bashing.But there are pros and cons to each.... for the dunes in Colorado, since it is a federally protected zone, while, it is too bad you can't do some serious dune-bashing, you won't have the problems of trash lying everywhere harming the environment and wildlife.In UAE where you can drive through most desert areas, you do see lots and lots of trash left out--and what they have found with autopsies on dead camels that are found in the deserts--70% of them died because their stomachs were full of plastic trash bags (the garbage left in the desert) The bags block their digestive systems so the camels slowly starve to death. pooooor things :(

The photos I am posting are from different days we have gone dune bashing... I did take photos yesterday but they all start looking the same LOL These photos are from an area named Tawi Nizwa (he he the first is a camel who stopped to pose--he and some others were roaming around the start of the dune bashing area... I think its pretty much if you go to the desert, you are going to encounter camels roaming around :)

One day we went with my SIL and she saw a GMC go up and then down this one hill and she said "Atta GMC!!" (kind of like "go GMC") and then 5 seconds later we heard a lound noise and this is what had happened to that GMC:



all we told her she gave them the evil eye... Alhamdulillah there were no serious injuries in that accident.

Here is one video clip on a busy weekend at Bedayer (Red Dune) --it was windy that day as you will hear  :)