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Gravity and Angles: A Recreational Guide to Off Road Driving Over Soft Sand

by Peter Rothfels

62 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-0720; ISBN 1-4120-8964-6; US$12.00, C$13.80, EUR9.36, £6.20

Jerboa, when the Bedu traveled by camel, their fear on long journeys was not running out of water, but fear of an injury to their camel. Respect your vehicle likewise.

About the Book

The Rub' Al Khali in Saudi Arabia, the Wahiba sands in Oman and the deserts of the United Arab Emirates offer desert wilderness which is accessible if one possess the driving skills required. There are few restrictions and it is therefore one of the most popular recreational activities for the expat population. This manual is borne of 20 years of experience in the Arabian Gulf and describes all the skills that are needed to lead novitiates into soft sand deserts and is offered to all those who wish to experience true desert.

If you wish, you can go most places in the desert on tracks. These can be well - worn, serving the camel farms or they can be faint impressions, blown over by the desert winds. These tracks usually follow gravel valleys between ridges of dunes, or sabkhas (dried lake beds), or meander through the dunes to link up with another valley. They are used by camel or sheep herders and are often the most efficient way to get around. These tracks lace the deserts of the Gulf. They do change in appearance though, as sands drift over and new routes are found around these but the essence of the tracks will remain, purposeful lanes of travel following the path of least resistance to a known destination. Once initial skills have been acquired, however, it is great fun to cross open ranges of dunes without the benefit of these tracks and there are still areas of the desert that are close to empty (of civilization) and offer beauty, solitude and a challenging drive for even the most advanced drivers. Learning how to negotiate these is a skill that gives great freedom. It is a spontaneous business, requiring the right reactions, good intuition, sound judgment, improvisation and planning. Go forth then, after reading!

About the Author

Peter Rothfels has lived and worked in four countries in the Middle East, from 1987 until the present, 2006. He has explored the deserts of three of these and has grown to love the space and solitude offered by the desert.