Camping Fossil Rock UAE

by Céline

Fossil Rock takes place in the middle of the desert of Hatta in the UAE about 30 km from Dubai and close to the village of Jebel Maleihah. There are thousand years old molds on its slopes. It is quite an impressive place to see, stunning desertic landscape and an interesting historical and biological evidence of earlier life on the planet.

Marine fossils in the slopes of Fossil Rock

After a few days spent in Dubai, Mathias was excited in trying off road with our rented Jeep Explorer and go for a bit of adventure! I was not 100% convinced as I had not really liked the drive in the desert from our previous evening trip with “Arabian nights” (a guided tour), but I was willing to give it a go on our own and did not want to ruin Mathias´s desire and need for fun. We followed the instructions of our good friends Christoffer and Vibeke, read their thick book called “OFF ROAD in the UAE” and chose a route for beginners.

Fossil Rock was one of them, it was not far away and the descriptions of the trip looked rather exciting for a first time. “Drive: easy, tricky at the end. For beginners and experts alike”. Mathias prepared everything: the car, the camping material, the food, the water … and I had the worse part: I had to watch after our two boys from the swimmingpool ;-)

Mom watching the kids

Axel and Emil

We had 20L of water, enough food for dinner, breakfast and for a small lunch.
Once we were ready, off we went following the road to the east.

Overview of area

We stopped in Al Awir to buy some wood, as we were told, to make a cosy bonfire in the evening. The locals seemed to be used seeing tourists like us, they were all very nice and we found it very easy to travel in the country. We never saw a woman outside though. I was wearing pants, a light tunic with long-sleeves and I had a pashmina in the car ready in case I had a to cover my hair, which happened to be relevant on our way back when we stopped in a local fruit and vegetable market!

We had no plan for where to stop and sleep for the night. From the book it seemed easy to find camping spots in the nature, so we did not think too much about it and that was part of the adventure.
It took less than an hour from our departure in the Green Community to enter the entrance of the desert,  and our first impression was quite strong. It was beautiful. The sand was very fine and clear of a cream color, the hills were soft and low, this was the desert between Al Awir and Wadi Faya. It was not so easy to drive in the sand after all, the car was moving from side to side, very slippery and Mathias was clearly uncomfortable which made me nervous -though nothing compared to what was ahead from us!!!

He quickly stopped the car to deflate the tires. That was our first break. The children were ecstatics, and so were we! They ran up the sandhills to spot all the camels who were freely roaming. I spotted a strange plant, a desert squash (I found out later) and I was enjoying every seconds of our children happiness. They looked great in their arabian outfit :-)

Emil and Axel spotting camels everywhere

Desert Squash, looks like tennis balls

Deflating the tyres, start of the desert of Hatta

Our two arabian boys

Camels in the desert

A few pictures later, we went back in the car and continued our trip. We had to follow the huge electric pylons which were very easy to spot as there was nothing else than sand and camel farms around. It was tricky to drive in that part of the desert as the camels were everywhere like sheep can wander in England. We did not want to hurt them by driving too fast but we had to keep the momentum and carry on not to get stuck in the sand. It was quite easy to follow the obvious tracks from the previous cars, but we were alone.

Our route following the electric wires

The wind was blowing quite strongly and we figured out that nobody else wanted to drive in a desert storm apart from us! We were already considering driving back as we could see it was probably not a good idea (with no one around and no idea what was coming ahead). But it was too exciting! it was going well so far, so we did not want to go back just yet!
I was the co-pilot holding the book and Mathias had prepared the Ipad so each of the flags we had to follow were indicated at the same time on the virtual map. Smart! it was awesome...yes awesome if no mistake...

Route descriptions - guidance

We agreed not going all the way as it said in the book that the last part of the trip required an experienced driver, and we did not want to push it. But we ended up driving through the very last part anyway (still can not explain how it exactly happened?!).

As it was beautifully explained in the book we arrived in a tricky zone where there were either tracks everywhere or no tracks at all to follow, it said to keep the eastern direction . We were lost, turned around a bit and had a hard time figuring out with the Ipad where we had to drive actually but suddenly we were there and hit the bit hills of a more reddish sandy desert, following perfectly the descriptions from the book.

Our first descent happened without me! I got freaked out by the size of the slope and decided to stay outside to take the picture :-) The boys enjoyed calling me names such as “ mom you are a chicken!”. I was not feeling so confident either watching them going down! Oh gosh! I thought, where are we going now?!

First descent

Mom running down the dune

This was though NOTHING compared to what was still waiting ahead...and still no one to see, and a bit later indeed we entered the real big desert. The landscape was stunning.

Desert of Hatta

Mathias seemed having fun driving up and down, probably encouraged by the boys “Yeeeaaaah!”! I knew though he had to concentrate a lot and he had already done it for a while...I knew he was nervous too, there was no track to follow, we had no idea where to go, only following the east direction with the compass and since he had already said “let´s go back” it was enough for me to understand the stress of the situation. I was scared every time we were going up a dune not knowing how steep it was on the other side, I was so scared the car would flip over anytime and we were all alone in that desert! I was not happy :-(

Up and down...a swing, and up and down....and up! and suddenly BUMP - we were stuck! Impossible to move a single inch of the car. The only solution: to dig the sand out from under the car with foldable shovels. Hard work for a dad and a 8 year-old boy!

Emil helping a desperate (hardworking!) dad

From a distance we could see a village and while they were digging I walked ahead in the sand to find out where to go. It was a joke! We were surrounded by dunes all looking the same, it was impossible to guess how far the end of the desert was. That was the perfect image of a desert like I had always imagine it.

The village Jebel Maleihah in the distance

We considered seriously turning back and driving home but there was a sand storm and it was already 16.30. The night would quickly fall, we had already gone quite far and Mathias was nervous to go through the whole tiring drive again. Since we had all the camping equipment, we took the rapid decision to stay for the night. It did not seem dangerous, though we were hoping the sandstorm would stop soon not to compromise our dinner plan and bonfire. We managed to get the car down the hill behind us, in a sort of “cuvette”, just next to the big stone that the kids had already explored and were excited about. That big stone happened to be “Fossil Rock” and we realised we had made it all the way!

Fossil rock from the book

Fossil rock from my camera

Emil and Axel had their base on Fossil Rock, improvised a bar and served sand cocktails from old plastic bottles they found, they were having a great time playing in and with the sand...

the landscape was gorgious seen from that spot, you could see the desert and the mountains in the distance and there were a lot of flowers called Sodom´s apple. They looked a bit like orchidees.

Desert flower

In the meantime Mathias and I battled a bit against the wind to install the tent. From the earlier digging out of the car, Mathias had got sand badly in his eyes and thankfully I had some eye drops for him. The wind calmed down and Mathias cleverly managed to prepare dinner while I was happily installing our family base and preparing the beds. It was very cosy, with a nervous edge to it.

Our camp

At some point we heard a loud sound from motors. I ran and climbed the rock to make signs, I spotted in the distance two guys on four wheels motorbikes but they did not see me and drove away. Too bad we thought. We did not want to ruin our evening by thinking negative. Mathias had tried a few times to get the car up again unsuccessfully so we knew we were stuck down there :-(  oh dear.

We had beer, wine, cola, chips, pasta with meat sauce and of course melted marshmallows with digestives for dessert and to keep us happy. The perfect camp! :-)

We were looking forward thousands of stars in the sky but that night the moon was full and lighting powerfully around us, we could see everything. It was really a magic night. The boys made their own fire, they were excited and proud to be allowed to play with lighters. They had to find dried wood which they did in the firemaker bushes around. The funniest was that they learned to burn their toilet paper after they were done. They were having fun.

Playing with fire

Suddenly around 22h we heard a car coming and there it was on top of the dune just above us! I immediately turned on my head torch and made SOS signs and waved. The car drove past us, then around as if driving away but then back again from another side...obviously the guy knew where to drive not to get stuck! He stopped next to our tent and stepped out, he was dressed like our children in a white dress and was a tall and handsome arabian man with a large smile. We were very happy to see him. He seemed friendly. He smiled seeing the boys dressed like him and gave compliments. That had been through our whole vacation a ticket for friendship with the locals. One of them even said he would love to take Axel with him and bring him to the Mosque!

Our new friend, Abdul, told Mathias in a basic English that he was driving back home from work. He was driving here twice a day every day! He was the owner of one of the camel farms we could see in the distance. Obviously he knew the terrain very well. He told Mathias to deflate the tires even more and told us tourists are every year trapped right at that place and he usually drives past this place to check, he seemed surprised though we could not manage with our Jeep Explorer. One of the most critical option in the car to drive in the desert was unfortunately not working and that was a big bummer. He went in our car with Mathias and taught him a few driving-in-the sand tricks that certainly were our life savor the next day. He gave us his mobile number and said we could call him the next morning if we needed. He would come and help!

We were so relieved! That gave us peace for the night and we slept very well in the silent night, otherwise only disturbed by heavy noises from airbus flights thousand meters above.

The next morning we woke up very early with the daylight. It was about 6 am and the sun had not risen up yet from behind the mountains. While going out to relieve ourselves we all spotted different type of tracks from animals in the damped sand. It was amazing!

Track from a Cheesman's Gerbil

Which animal?

There was a fresh camel track right next to our tent! we could see it coming down from the hill behind, past our tent and then up the other hill...we did not hear it at all. We spotted funny tracks from mice (cheesman´s Gerbil) in the damped sand and read in the book they disappear as soon the sun rises, it dries away. We ran up the dune and sat together to watch the sunrise. What a show! It was beautiful. The whole desert changed color from a dark reddish to different orange nuances. We had fun walking on the dunes´crests. We played for a while, enjoying every minute of our family solitude.

Time was to have breakfast and we tried to have it avoiding flies to come in our mouths. Those flies were everywhere around you in the daytime from the moment you stepped out from the car. Quite annoying. It made me think of Africa.

Wandering aimlessly in the desert

We packed everything, there was sand everywhere of course and once ready, with all our fingers crossed, Mathias tried to get the car up the dune a few times... unsuccessfully. After realising it would not go, he called Abdul who said he would come in about half an hour.

I thought what is “half an hour” in the arabian mentality? I was afraid we might wait longer...indeed 1 hour 30 later, still no signs from Abdul. Mathias and I started arguing a bit. The children were being slightly impossible too, impatient to solve our situation just like us. We were both nervous, very nervous that we just wouldn't be able to get out from that desert without help!

I found the number for official full on police rescue in the book. We did not talk about that option yet, but I mentioned it to Mathias. This did not impress him. Mathias called Abdul again and the guy apologised, he was on his way to Abu Dhabi and could not help us! Good luck people! ... This was a low point, as we were now completely left to ourselves again.

I think we both thought at that moment that the guy was just convinced we would manage on our own. How? that was another question, but we had to think positive!

We walked around trying to find the tracks from Abdul´s car. If he had managed to drive his car that way the night before, then we should be able to as well!

We were about 3 to 4 big dunes away from the end of the desert, but it was not as easy to follow the direction from the car and I could not just stay outside and guide Mathias. Mostly because once you start driving you have to keep the momentum of the car, which means full speed ahead to avoid getting stuck. It was essential. Finally you just cannot walk up and down the hill as easily. It was very tiring and you get quickly exhausted in the increasing heat. It was 11am and the temperature was around 28 degrees and rising.

Mathias tried again, and finally he managed to drive the car up the first dune above us but not further. We were risking any second to stuck it in the sand again. The wheels were spinning in the sand all the time. It was a scary nightmare in pure daylight.

Now Mathias decided to walk on his own to figure out the path out of here - the road of least resistance. He was gone for almost an hour and seemed to have figured out a route in the sand that was out best option. We had also spotted Abdul´s tracks but it seemed impossible for us to follow them. The dunes he drove through seemed higher and too steep for our heavy car. The boys and I sat in the sand in the shadow of the car and played cards and games until Mathias came back. I was feeling desperate and when Mathias came back and said we all had to get in the car and fasten our belt I thought I would melt in tears :-(

I was scared and if I could I would have rather walked the whole way than having to be in the car. But of course you try to put on a face for the sake of your children, right?! Pressure was on.

He could feel it. I told him about the rescue number, shouldn´t we call? He was nervous too, and became hard. We had to give it a last chance on our own. He explained me about the other tracks he had spotted and ordered me to direct him as he had to concentrate on driving as quickly and safely as possible.

It was like going on a rollercoaster.

Rollercoaster - driving through this not seeing the other side of each dune!

The children were not saying a word feeling the intensity of the situation. As we started on the obstacles and the show started, as soon as we hit the turn and was searching for the next way ahead,  Mathias was shouting “f*ck!f*ck!f*ck!”, he was shouting at me to do a better job while I was trying hard to spot the tracks after every bumps...it was a tuff moment...up and down...swings...Oh God! It was intense as we couldn't really stop to assess the situation and the marks Mathias had put up on his walk were not really visible which made us having to nail this "on sight".

…up and down..., quick turn, where to next celine!, give me direction, quicker!. Intense, but it seemed to work. Up down, turn, and then - suddenly - the sand was not as reddish anymore, the dunes became much softer, smoother, ...it became easier to drive, - are we out, keep going, no celebrating yet, but yes, felt great and there we were, we were out!

Yiiiiihaaaaa!!! Wow! what a relief! We all shouted happily in the car. Mathias was very loud and I bet he had felt very responsible for his little family.

Axel said it would not be allowed to say any dirty words any more when we will be back home in Denmark! He had heard enough! :-) Emil told us he had been praying God in silence to help us. Mathias and him had a long talk in the car about the role of belief in such situations and about the power of God. It was very cute to hear Emil and his explanations. What a lesson for all of us. That´s what you get through adventures! Everyone had been great, and the kids had seen mum and dad handling a real intense situation as a real team.

We drove home, very happy, relieves, quite nervously exhausted and our heads filled with memories!

I asked Mathias to stop the car to take a last picture...until next time ;-)