1/7 GAMSB22 Dubai - Jebel Shams (www.gam4x4.com)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 257.02 mi
- Elevation gain
- 10,643 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 4,423 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,588 ft
- TrailRank
- 60
- Min elevation
- 8 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 9 hours 58 minutes
- Coordinates
- 18008
- Uploaded
- April 18, 2022
- Recorded
- April 2022
near Dubai, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 1337 times, downloaded 23 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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The tracks and waypoints published on Wikiloc are intended to offer information on the routes taken by our 4x4 adventure group. The described paths may undergo modifications due to the terrain's own conditions (climatology, landslides, floods, works, etc.). The difficulty and completion of each route must in any case be evaluated by whoever intends to undertake it, and whoever follows it is the only one responsible for any contingency.
The tracks and waypoints published on Wikiloc are intended to provide information on the routes made by our 4x4 adventure group. The paths described may undergo modifications due to the conditions of the terrain (weather, landslides, floods, works, etc.) The difficulty and completion of each route must in any case be evaluated by whoever intends to undertake it, being the one who follows it is the only responsible for any contingency.
XXXII RAID of Grupo Aventura Motor Ceuta - April 2022
2 SUVs (Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and Toyota Fortuner)
6 expeditionaries (Luilly - Dr. Jones - Teti - Carlos - Tirado - Alessandro)
1st Stage: Dubai - Jebel Shams
Total: 414 km
Asphalt: 397 km
Track: 17 km
Total time: 10 hours.
Moving time: 6 hours.
After two years in dry dock due to the pandemic and with Morocco's borders closed tight, the Ceuta Motor Adventure Group will undertake a Raid through a different country for the first time in its history. Nicknamed the "Switzerland of the Middle East" for its peace and stability, Oman is a diamond in the rough for tourism in general and an incredible wealth for 4x4 tourism. A country full of contrasts, with high mountains in the north, canyoned valleys that form water runoff (wadis), desert of immense sand dunes, paradisiacal beaches of the Indian Ocean, rich wildlife, the surprising jungle region in the south in Salalah due to the rains during the monsoon season and best of all, the loneliness that it conveyed to us since it is a country larger in size than Italy but with less than 5 million inhabitants. In short, a country that we have fallen in love with and to which we will surely return to continue exploring.
My brother has his house available on AirBnB in case anyone is interested.
In this first stage of GAMSB22, the main objective of the day was to reach the highest mountain in the country, at 3,075 meters high, the Jebel Shams (the mountain of the sun). It was 414 km, most of it on the highway, although with a border to cross. It is curious that on the UAE highway section there are radar checks every 2 km. The members of the group who live there informed us that in the emirate of Dubai the limit is 120 km/h although the radar jumps to 140 km/h however in the emirate of Abu Dhabi the limit can reach up to 160 km/h depending on the section but the radar would automatically trigger if the limit stipulated at that point is exceeded, so you must always drive taking this aspect into account since we are not very used to 6-lane highways in Europe.
At the Emirates border you have to pay 45 UAE Dirhams per person as a fee to leave the country, this border was quite fluid. At the Oman border, we lost a little more time since we had to go to the office to hand in our visas previously obtained on the official government website for 30 days for 20 Rials (about 45 euros). Be careful with going to third-party websites. , which is much more expensive!
The cars were not rented, they were their own, but they are rented in the UAE without problems to travel to Oman. However, if you do so, you must ask the company to issue vehicle insurance to enter Oman since they will require it in border. The rental prices of a Toyota Prado type 4x4 in UAE are not expensive at all, 8 days can cost just over €1,000, always gasoline engine and above 200hp.
Once we had crossed the Oman border without incident, we stopped at the first bakalitos to buy Omantel phone cards (the best company there) but since they only accepted cash and we had not changed yet, we had to continue to the city of Ibri, where we withdraw money at an ATM and exchange cash at a shopping center.
At Kubarah we leave the highway to head towards the Jebel Al Akhdar mountain range, a vast mountain system that flanks the entire northern part of the country and reaches heights of more than 3,000 meters where it even snows from time to time. Before reaching the destination of today's stage we decided to make a small excursion through the first of the wadis that we were going to pass through on the trip, the Wadi Damm. We parked the cars under the shade of some trees and walked to investigate the area. As the river goes up (during this time it was dry) the valley became more and more steep. Arriving at an artificial dam (hence the name Damm = dam) the first pools began to appear and later we found a deep pool where we took our first swim in Omani waters.
After provisioning and having enjoyed the pools of the Wadi Damm, we continued the road towards Jebel Shams. We found that part of what was supposed to be a road was actually the first track of the trip (a first stretch of 11 km and a second of about 6km).
At night and with a good day of kilometers we decided to stay at the mountain resort that we had reserved through booking, the Sama Heights Resort , a complex with different types of accommodation, Bedouin tent-type houses, stone houses and boungalows with very nice private areas. , in the middle of the mountain. It cost us about €70 per person for half board.
XXXII RAID GRUPO AVENTURA MOTOR CEUTA WHITE WEEK 2022
--- OMAN ADVENTURE ---
1/7 Dubai - Jebel Shams
2/7 Jebel Shams - Ramlat Wahiba
3/7 Ramlat Wahiba - Hickman Bar - Sugar Dunes
4/7 Sugar Dunes - Cala Minji
5/7 Cala Minji - Salalah
6.1/7 Wadi Khor – Salalah Cliffs
6.2/7 Salalah - Haima
7/7 Haima - Dubai
Trip of 2024 (Back To The Desert)
2022 Trip (Oman Adventure)
2019 trip (Plateau du Rekkam and Gymkhana)
2018 trip (on a trail motorcycle on new Atlas trails)
2017 trip (By alternative tracks)
2016 trip (Atlas Classic)
2015 trip (La Oriental)
Waypoints
Waypoint
86 ft
Al Majan
Starting point of our trip. We had our own house in this neighbourhood, but nearby is the Samaya Hotel Apartment Dubai, which for the prices in Dubai is not bad at all.
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Waypoint
156 ft
Gasolinera
Now the fuel has risen in the last year in Dubai, but the exchange rate is around €0.80/l.
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Waypoint
1,008 ft
Recto por circunvalación de Al Ayn
Detour to avoid entering Al Ayn as it is a very large city with a lot of traffic.
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Waypoint
1,028 ft
Gasolinera antes de la frontera
Última gasolinera de UAE antes de llegar a la frontera.
Waypoint
1,032 ft
Frontera UAE
You have to pay a fee of 45 UAE Dirhams per person to leave the country (about €11). To the west of the road and serving as the border with Oman stood the imposing 1,250 m wall of Jebel Hafeet (declared a World Heritage Site in 1993 due to the archaeological remains found).
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Waypoint
1,032 ft
Frontera Omán
At the Oman border you will have to show the visa previously obtained online, although I suppose it can also be issued there. Car insurance for driving in Oman is also mandatory.
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Waypoint
953 ft
Primeros Bakalitos
Just after crossing the border are the first bakalitos where you can buy the Omantel SIM card.
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Waypoint
853 ft
Gasolinera Omán
La gasolina al cambio no superaba los 0,50€/l.
Waypoint
1,136 ft
Cajero Automático
ATM where you can get cash. If everything is taken out at once, it is possible until the change is not so bad taking into account the commissions that your own bank puts you. On the trip we were debating whether it was better to bring cash or withdraw at an ATM. It may be more expensive to withdraw from the ATM but it is not worth bringing cash in hand.
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Waypoint
1,127 ft
Supermercado y Cambio en Ibri
Un gran centro comercial donde había una casa de cambio.
Waypoint
2,153 ft
Vistas al Jebel Misht
The Jebel Misht is the most famous mountain in the entire Arabian Peninsula in the world of climbing. It has very few open routes which makes it very attractive for climbers.
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Waypoint
2,410 ft
Wadi Damm
We walk about 500m through this beautiful place until we reach a dam and then some pools where we bathe.
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Waypoint
2,693 ft
Asfalto
En este punto se acaba la pista de 11 km y se vuelve al asfalto.
Waypoint
5,147 ft
Pista/carretera construcción
It becomes again to lose the asphalt. It seems that they are doing works for a future road on the way up to the Jebel Shams.
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Waypoint
703 ft
Emirato Abu Dhabi
Be careful when entering this Emirate, the radars have no margin of error, they jump if the stipulated speed is exceeded even just by a little. A few km before this point we met people who were free falling with parachutes.
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