---

The Caravan Leaves for Liwa

Chris Archer / 10.12.2007

With the opening 2-day seafaring phase completed, the teams will all head south about 100 kilometres until they reach the apex of the graceful crescent shaped oasis of Liwa. An evening Bedouin camp awaits them, followed by three unmerciful days racing through the desert.

Liwa Oasis, the bountiful haven, the lush, green emerald in the Emirates’ crown, the ancestral home of the illustrious Banni Yas tribe and the ruling Al Nahyan family, is the very source of Abu Dhabi’s flourishing existence. This veritable miracle of nature, with its vast reserves of underground water, extensive date palm plantations and fresh water pools has provided sanctuary for the Bedouin tribes over many centuries and continues to do so today.

Traditionally, men from Liwa dived for pearls on the coast during the summer months and now the scattering of settlements fittingly resemble 50 pearls strung out along a gently curving 150km necklace. The southernmost settlements in the Emirates, it is one of the largest oases on the Arabian Peninsula and sits atop the infamous Rub Al Kahli, otherwise known as “The Empty Quarter�, an endless tract of desert with high sand dunes devoid of all vegetation, unspoiled and unchanged for centuries.

It is across this daunting ocean of sand, where dunes tower like colossal tsunamis to over 300 metres in height, that the teams will continue the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Tuesday morning at 07:00 they will penetrate into the northern edge of the world’s largest sand desert, where even camels find climbing the dunes hard going, for an initial 80km adventure run to Al Batin.

Here another traditional Bedouin camp awaits, with the fastest teams covering the course in around 14h30. The next day, at 07:00 again, the teams will each receive a dromedary to help carry water and packs but no riding is permitted. 40 kilometres of desert further on in Hamim (The Hidden) they will once again be greeted with a communal bivouac and a welcome night’s rest.

The final day of this desert ordeal will consist of 110km of MTB along hard packed sand and tracks to Umm Az Zumul. This middle phase of the race, combining hard running, fast biking and the added injection of the quadruped unknown quantity could be, for many, where the race will be decided.

See All Stories On This Race