My coworker/companion over here in the UAE, Nick Fairless, does a lot of Motocross riding back at home in Florida and has been riding bikes of one sort or another his whole life. Well, that
makes two of us; although mine are not usually motorized.
makes two of us; although mine are not usually motorized. Anyways, Nick is hell-bent on riding MotoX bikes while we’re here and since he’s not having any luck finding/reserving any, we instead take a short day trip on our one day off up to the red sand dunes of Hatta to rent ATV’s. Larry and his son Corey join us and we drive north along the Omani border and then bank west towards Abu Dhabi… our destination: the ‘city’ of Hatta, and more succinctly, the “Big Red”.
We drive cross county in our Toyota Prada (a 4x4 is definitely a necessity if you plan on going even a little off the road, as sand + hills = disaster otherwise) and pass through the "scrub" desert; sand interrupted with tufts of brown, hardy grass, Acacia trees and a few other hardy shrubs.
As we penetrate deeper into the desert, sand and nothing but begins to predominate and soon there are small dunes with even less grass and shrubs. Along this road, however, the dunes get really big and there is no vegetation at all. This is where we found "Big Red".
Big Red is just that; a 300 foot (oh sorry, a 30 meter) dune that posses a distinct red hue, particularly during the fading light of dusk; and actually, there’s like 4 or 5 slightly less big 'Red's' in a row. Beyond them unfurls miles and miles of wildly 
divergent dunes of all shapes, sizes, colors, and contours. Big Red is also a very popular dune for 4 wheeling and even sand boarding; particularly on the Muslim holy day of Friday. We were warned not to go on that day, cause there’s SUV’s and ATV’s flying in around in every direction… no worries; we work on the holy day : )
Anyways, we get there, rent our ATV’s, take them out on the “test” track (smaller dunes), then head over to the biggies. I must say, I was a little disappointed in our machines. The ATV’s we had in Costa Rica were Honda manual 450’s. Here, we have much weaker auto 330’s. But, you know what, we still had a blast. However, this was some deep, soft sand, so it you didn’t stick to the high ground, drive at a constant high speed, or really know what you’re doing, you would get buried in the sand sooo quick. Yes, it happened to me.. twice… argh.
If you actually were able to navigate your way to the top – no easy task from the back side – you were treated to a pretty spectacular view. Even better was watching the Land Rovers, Jeeps and even GMC pickups fly up the dune full speed. The best though was watching them get stuck at some seriously precarious angles and watch them carefully work themselves out of getting stuck without flipping back over down the hill.
divergent dunes of all shapes, sizes, colors, and contours. Big Red is also a very popular dune for 4 wheeling and even sand boarding; particularly on the Muslim holy day of Friday. We were warned not to go on that day, cause there’s SUV’s and ATV’s flying in around in every direction… no worries; we work on the holy day : )Anyways, we get there, rent our ATV’s, take them out on the “test” track (smaller dunes), then head over to the biggies. I must say, I was a little disappointed in our machines. The ATV’s we had in Costa Rica were Honda manual 450’s. Here, we have much weaker auto 330’s. But, you know what, we still had a blast. However, this was some deep, soft sand, so it you didn’t stick to the high ground, drive at a constant high speed, or really know what you’re doing, you would get buried in the sand sooo quick. Yes, it happened to me.. twice… argh.
If you actually were able to navigate your way to the top – no easy task from the back side – you were treated to a pretty spectacular view. Even better was watching the Land Rovers, Jeeps and even GMC pickups fly up the dune full speed. The best though was watching them get stuck at some seriously precarious angles and watch them carefully work themselves out of getting stuck without flipping back over down the hill.The highlight/lowlight of our trip comes thanks to Larry’s son Corey, the reckless teenager. I’ll explain: for like 15-20 minutes, we couldn’t find him, which is not a good thing in a desert; and our alotted time was more than up. So, I say, “hey, let’s all head back to the top of Big Red and we should be able to see him from there.” if you look closely at the picture of the lone ATV at the top
of the hill, you just might be able to make out a white object over the rear right fender... well, that's a full size Land Rover getting ready to make another ascent. Now, picture us trying to find a single small ATV in the distance.Well, after we make it up and scan all around, all of a sudden Nick says, “hey, who’s that dude with a white turban on his head walking through the desert?” Yep, Corey. With his t-shirt on his head.
Apparently he took off on his own, didn’t pay attention to where he was going, drove way too crazy and flipped his ATV, then could not get it re-started. So, he walked out of the desert. Then – and you can’t make this up – couldn’t remember where he walked from. Soooo, we searched for his ATV for another half hour. And could not find it.
Apparently he took off on his own, didn’t pay attention to where he was going, drove way too crazy and flipped his ATV, then could not get it re-started. So, he walked out of the desert. Then – and you can’t make this up – couldn’t remember where he walked from. Soooo, we searched for his ATV for another half hour. And could not find it.
Finally, some of the staff came out on ATV’s to come find us. They then took Corey out on a dune buggy looking for it. Larry was sweating bullets thinking he was going to have to buy an ATV and leave with nothing. Finally they found it, all was well, and we headed home. Great trip.
That's nuts! Looks like a ton of fun! Hope you're doing okay over there.
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