Camp Pegasus at the Inland Sea

While Kev was in Houston for training I went with our social group to the Inland Sea (Khor Al Adaid), located about 80 km (50 miles) south of Doha.  Here's a map to show where we live in relation to the Inland Sea (red arrow) and the rest of the Gulf.

We had never previously ventured out to the area because it requires four-wheelin' and I wasn't eager to take the Kia out in soft sand.  Fortunately there was a caravan of 12 or so cars and I was able to catch a ride in a big orange Hummer truck. 

We started out near Sealine Resort in Mesaieed, where these delightful camels were eager for their close-up.  This is also the last bit of pavement before you venture out on the "hard pack" so the drivers also needed to decrease the air pressure in their tires (to around 20psi I think).  The explanation we got for this was that it increased the surface area the tire has with the sand which helps move the car along.

It took about an hour to get to the Mesaieed entrance and what seemed like another hour to get to the Sea.  Our group had a few experienced sand drivers but most were newbies.  We weren't dune bashin' per se, but we did have a handful of large soft dunes to conquer on our trip to the Sea itself.  As a rule of thumb, you need space and speed to drive on sand dunes.  With a lot of cautious drivers, the natural reaction is to slow down, which not only increases the liklihood of getting stuck in soft sand but also bunches up the caravan, causing everyone to go slow.  We did get the occasional break in the pack which allowed for some speed and trust me, the Hummer was airborne at one point!  Unfortunately one of the cars at the end of the pack ended up in some super soft sand but on the return trip our crew was able to get them back on track.

(photo credit: F. Erle)

We reached our destination, a great little sand bar with a view of the beautiful terrain of Saudi Arabia.  Qatar's landscape is pretty boring - flat and beige - in the area we were in at least there were some rolling dunes.  Cue up the view of KSA which was rosy and hilly with a few of these little rocky land masses in the center of the Sea.  The water was clear and warm, and our time there was definintely too short.

As we headed back into town it became clear that the locals come out in full force for Friday nights.  Dune buggies and Land Cruisers a plenty!