What are the little fruits in the cardboard boxes?

The grasses and small brush appears to be in varying tags of being covered by the sand. I would imagine that over quite extended periods of time they could be buried and not uncovered. Perhaps decades. do they have the ability to withstand that?

The camels appear to not be dangerous to the kids. Is that true of most/all camels?

The fruits are dates.

Absolutely delicious.

All camels here are very friendly, and they love being close to people, especially if they are fed, which the kids love to do.

Excellent pictures. Thank You for answering all the questions. It has been very interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
The fruits are dates.

Absolutely delicious.

All camels here are very friendly, and they love being close to people, especially if they are fed, which the kids love to do.

I have never come across fresh dates. Not many date palms can survive 40 below zero I think. I am sure with the world being so much more interconnected now they must be available somewhere here. I regularly buy Medjool dates that have been dried. Are fresh dates better?

Deer here can be dangerous. Deer can do a lot of damage with their front hooves. That is unusual, but I have seen it happen. The bear watching. Moose are just plain dangerous. Both are thankfully properly wary of people.

As you can see,many people go dune bashing.

Looks fun! WOW! Is that a wild herd of Arabian Oryx?! There's some nice oryx in that herd! Beautiful! Do you see them often in the desert there? Aren't they the national animal of the UAE?

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Looks fun! WOW! Is that a wild herd of Arabian Oryx?! There's some nice oryx in that herd! Beautiful! Do you see them often in the desert there? Aren't they the national animal of the UAE?

Yes, we do have a very successful breeding program breeding and introducing them back into the wild.

Seeing them is a problem as one can pass one side of a sand dune and they are on the other and would not see them.

This is the first herd I have seen in a few months, and we go to that area very often.

Desert driving requires one to be prepared.

The other day I was out there, and flying the drone looking for camels I noticed a car has not moved for quite a while.

I decided to fly the drone close to see what was going on.

Sure enough, the car was stuck on the side of a sand dune, and one man looked like he is trying to dig sand from underneath it.

I got the drone back, and drove over to see if I could help.

Sure enough, he was well and truly stuck, and as he dug - with his hands, as he had no shovel, sand from above filled in!

He had nothing for desert drive.

No shovel, no compressor to fill his tires once the air is out, or anything else.

He asked if I was flying the drone, and was grateful for it.

We let the air out of his tires, and dug enough underneath the car to put a balloon I carry with me.

It has a hose that sticks to the the exhaust pipe to lift the car up.

I also have plastic mats about 6 feet long that are designed to put under the tires.

A few minutes later, his car was out.

He said he was going to meet friends of his camping in the desert, and thought of taking a short cut.

I gave him some drinks, and we drove back to a track that is easier to drive on, to get close to where his friends are.

He made a list of what to have next time he goes out.

Shovel.
Air compressor.
Tow rope.
Balloon.

these are the minimum one should have,.

Good job, Saeed! Your 'good turn' for the day! I'm sure that he will heed your list and advice for sure! Your drones have more than paid for themselves in not only pics and video, but in this incident. You likely saved his life. Note to all: Never take a shortcut!

He was not too far from help.

I think he would have been able to walk less than 5-6 k to a main road in one direction.

Others he might had to walk a bit more, except in one direction he would have ended miles away!

Funny part he said he had a drone, but left it at home.

He asked how I manage to fly so far - it wasn't really far, as he was about 2 kilometres from where I was.

I said I normally have 16 batteries for my drone.

His jaw just dropped!

I knew a couple of people that got lost 30 feet from a hiking trail and had to be rescued. Got off the trail to relieve themselves and couldn't find the trail again. Started to panic and run. Got lost further and by the time the rescue team found them they were dehydrated and hallucinating. I still think that you might have just saved that man's life.

The biggest problem people have in the wild places is being disoriented.

They have no sense of direction.

I have seen people going in the opposite direction they actually they were going.


When we are out in a new area I always try to make sure I know specific land marks, and they relations to where I am.

The area we go to is really just out of town, so it is not that hard to find your way back to civilization.

quote:

The biggest problem people have in the wild places is being disoriented.

They have no sense of direction.

Exactly!

Today I found out that trying to arrange a trip to the desert with a couple of Frogs and one from the North part of the UK where men wear skirts does not work!

The skirt wearing gent wasn't supposed to come, as he said he was busy, but apparently he changed his mind.

There are two main car parks on this road.

One quite close, and the other is at the end of the asphalt road.

I have arranged to meat the two French at the closer car park, to save them driving all the way out and then change to my car.

I got to the car park just after 5, and it was jam packed with cars, who park there and cycle out to the desert.

I called my two French friends. "Where are you?"

"We will be there in 10 minutes"

"OK, the car park seems to be full, so when you get here, find a place, and come out of the park, I am stopped at the exit by the road."

A few minutes later, I get a call from the Scotsman "Where are you?"

"Are you coming with us? OK, I am parked just as exit the car park. Leave your car and come over"

10 minutes later, he calls again "I cannot see you. Are you close to the food servers?"

"What food servers? There non here"

"Which car park are you at?"

"I am at the cycle park on the main AlQudra road.

"OH!? I am at the other end. No wonder I cannot see you. Have our Froggies arrived yet?"

"No, he said he will be here in 10 minutes"

"You better come here then, because I sent him the location from here! Hahahaha"

I started my car and headed his way.

A few minutes later, the Froggies call "Where are you?"

"I am on the road driving to where that skirt wearing man is. He messed things up by sending you his location"

"But we are at the first car park! As you told us to come!"

"Too late. Trying to organize anything with you lot is an exercise in futility! See you at the end where the Scot is"

Eventually we all got together, and we went out looking for the Arabian Oryx. We found a couple of herds, one very large. I will post photos later.

Looking forward to the pics!

Damn, Saeed, you've taken some really great pictures of the Oryx! What magnificent animals! That crooked horned/one horned oryx and the one with the deadwood wrapped in his horns were quite the pics! There's a couple of good bulls in the herd. Are those Arabian sand gazelles in the background?

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Damn, Saeed, you've taken some really great pictures of the Oryx! What magnificent animals! That crooked horned/one horned oryx and the one with the deadwood wrapped in his horns were quite the pics! There's a couple of good bulls in the herd. Are those Arabian sand gazelles in the background?

Yes.

These look tiny compared to the oryx.

Thanks for the great pics! Appreciate all that you do, Saeed.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Thanks for the great pics! Appreciate all that you do, Saeed.

Glad you are enjoying these.

I will post more videos when I get time.

So many people are living here for years and never experience the desert,and it is so easily accessible here.

Cool!

I have a Sony a7R4, which has a 61 Migapixel sensor.

I have never used it, as I prefer a smaller camera with a zoom while travelling rather than the hassle of carrying big SLR zoom lenses.

I am going to see if I can get a good zoom for this one, as it is will be ideal for taking long distance photos here.

Might be able to get better pictures.

Looking forward to more!

I got a Sony 200-600mm lens, plus a 2X converter,Sony lens is 400-1200mm now.

This is really going to extreme,so I thought I would put this combination together, and take some photos of the animals we have in our backyard.

Here is the results.

Newborn addax and scimitar horned oryx.

WOW! Amazing clarity and detail!

I have never seen any of those animals in person, and I am half a world away, but I don't think that first one was either and addax or an kind of oryx.

Very, very nice picture quality

quote:

I have never seen any of those animals in person, and I am half a world away, but I don't think that first one was either and addax or an kind of oryx.

You mean the cheetah? Saeed was just warming up the camera to get to the addax and oryx!

It is Friday, and many people want to go to the desert.

Trouble is it was very foggy!!

Felt more dangerous driving than chasing a wounded buffalo in thick bush!

Took a while longer, but I finally got there.

Hundreds of cyclists take to those tracks in the desert.

The photos taken of the cyclists under the shade is several hundred meters away!

The camels in their camp is over a kilometer away!

The 200-600 mm Sony lens with a 2X converter worked very well.

The ball head on my tripod was not so good, as it won't turn for videos.

I will get a suitable one.

Sadly, photos posted here do not tell the whole story as I have to reduce their size to 1800 pixels.

But the clarity is absolutely fantastic, even when cropped.

WOW!! What great pics again! There appears to be a really good bull in that group-thick bases, long horns, with a slight crook in the right horn near the top. And, then the cow with the nearly full circle horn that goes around her right ear-I've never seen anything like that on a deformed horned animal-that's amazing! The one with the short nubbed horns-is that an old bull that has worn his horns down like a scrum cap buffalo bull? There's also another that has started to lose the sharpness to one of the horns-it's beginning to round at the top. Reminds me of the old Roan antelope that I shot that had rounded ends to his horns-he was so old. There is so much going on in those pics, as that's just some of the highlights! I like the pics of the gazelles up close as well. Man, your camera is reaching out distances and maintaining outstanding clarity in the pics with those lenses! Great job!

I am going to see if I can find another herd.

May be there will be some unique animals there too.

Those camel shadow pictures are so cool!

That day I was out there with a friend.

Late afternoon and very windy.

He was laughing when I got the drone out, saying there was no way in hell the drone would stay up in that wind.

Got non stop warnings on the remote, but still worked.

Had to land it between sand dunes, as there was less wind there.

Wind tends to pick up in the afternoon, may be because of the heat from the sand.