We have had a break for the summer, as people are too scared of the heat!

Wimps if you ask me!

Now it has cooled down, we are back to visiting our friends in the desert.

Here are a few pictures from our first outings.

I will update as we go along.

Awesome

I especially like the photos of the dunes and the animals. I was wondering how the animals looked so healthy and now I know…Saeed feeds them!
Thanks for starting this thread.

I will keep updating this thread as we go along.

Beautiful photos and landscape.

Great pictures, but a bit hot for my liking.
One picture shows an oryx with a blue spot on its side.
Did someone pick up a paint ball gun instead of a 30-06?

quote:

Originally posted by rikkochet:
Great pictures, but a bit hot for my liking.
One picture shows an oryx with a blue spot on its side.
Did someone pick up a paint ball gun instead of a 30-06?

That is a wounded animal.

It has been horned by another. And I that is medications they apply to the would.

There is not enough food and drink for them, so food and water is provided for them.

First and second pictures posted are both awesome !

Nice pictures Saeed,

Some abnormal horns on a few animals.

I noticed someone had a flat tire so they turned the quad up side down for ease of wheel changing. Good thinking!

I was wondering what the animals were eating.

Outstanding! Glad to know that you're back with the desert festivities. Looking forward to your ongoing pics!

Interesting.
Wondered how they were all kept so
fat and healthy looking. Glad they're
fed and watered. I'll bet that's a full
time job for a big crew.

Thank you for sharing your country with us.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:
Nice pictures Saeed,

Some abnormal horns on a few animals.

I noticed someone had a flat tire so they turned the quad up side down for ease of wheel changing. Good thinking!

I was wondering what the animals were eating.

That buggy was over turned by the driver.

She managed to get away from underneath it!

The oryx are fed hay and alfalfa.

They made areas for them where food is left.

They have surrounded these area with a high horizontal fence, so the oryx can pass underneath it, but camels cannot.

The camels are eating biscuits and carrots, brought by the kids especially for them.

This time everyone is familiar with the camels, and no drama.

Sometimes we have visitors who object to the camels being very amorous, which leads to some hilarious situations.

Women screaming running away and camels chasing them.

For those of you who hunt dangerous game, be very careful!

As you can see in one of the photos above, someone actually managed to draw blood from himself peeling a hard boiled egg!

Thanks for posting, great to see those Oryx, they are very cool looking animal.

A lot of the Camels look a bit poor compared to the Wild ones I see in the Aussie Outback, are they low on feed to ?

Nice photos,Saeed. Good to see that these herds are cared for. They look so well fed.Portly in fact.

Great images, as usual, Saeed. It always seems a miracle that anything can make a living in that desert of yours.
Was the little blue circle with the H on it a landing pad for your drone, to keep the sand out of the mechanism?
We have African oryx here in our desert, too, transplanted in the early 1960s to occupy the "vacant" lands on White Sands Missile Range, and the oryx continue to spread and appear unannounced. Here is a photo from Otero County, NM, not mine. Some of the hunting tags issued are for broken horned oryx.

oryxinyard by ComeWatson, on Flickr

Yes Bill.

It stops sand getting everywhere.

Very early in the morning one finds tracks of all sorts of small animals.

And same as you, we wonder how they survive.

But they do.

And thrive!

Based on shadows it appears most activity is early and late in the day. Reminds me of the two years I spent on the edge of the desert in Iran (Peace Corps '69-71) and the Persian saying, used as a way to say thank you, "Siatun cam nashe" (Attempt at phonetic spelling of the Farsi) which translates as "May your shadow never grow smaller". Emphasizes the value and importance of a shadow in the desert.

These are taken before 8 in the morning and after 4 in the afternoon.

Cyclists start around 5-6 in the mo.

We normally meet around 7 for drinks and snacks.

Camels are taken out around 7 in the morning, and return back to their camps about 4.

We generally out in the desert by 5.30.

The sun is up here now just before 6.

Thank you for posting these sir.

It was very humid this morning.

Lots of mist and visibility was not so good.

This did not stop so many cyclists going.

Left home at 5, and the cycling track was packed almost all the way to the top.

People are beginning to camp out.

The brave ones going deep into the dunes, others stay where it is not so hard to drive.

Many 4 wheel drive cars dune bashing.

Got a few pictures which I will post later on.

I keep waiting for the pic of Omar Sharif coming out of the heat haze...


Very cool stuff

Just watched Lawrence of Arabia for the umpteenth time! Your comment was so fortuitous!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Just watched Lawrence of Arabia for the umpteenth time! Your comment was so fortuitous!

Ha! I love that movie. On the 50th anniversary they actually played it on the big screen In Seattle. Was tremendous to see it in a theater. Until then I’d only seen it in my living room.

Very busy in the desert this morning.

All sorts of activities than the weather has cooled down.

Falcon hunting season is starting, so falconers are training their falcons now early in the morning.

Lots of motor cyclists, and of course so many cyclists too among the Arabian Oryx.

Dune bashing by four wheelers.

I watched one who was left behind, and started a few minutes later.

As usual in the desert, one dune over and he could not see his friends!

He drove along until he got to an area he could go no further, turned around and went back to another lot.

Damn, there's a couple of nice Oryx bulls in those pics! Saeed, from all of the vehicles and people that I see, I think that Mr. Nice Guy has created a monster!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Damn, there's a couple of nice Oryx bulls in those pics! Saeed, from all of the vehicles and people that I see, I think that Mr. Nice Guy has created a monster!

Nothing to do with me my friend.

People have been going out to the desert as far as I can remember, but not at this scale.

It used to be the hardcore "Bedouin" mentality foreigners who did.

Now with access to 4 wheel drive vehicles, lots of people enjoy the desert.

And the government making lakes, cycle tracks and generally making things so easy - even for those who have no access to 4 wheel drive - all the lakes in that area are accessible by two wheel cars.

Yesterday I was on my own going there - met friends who were cycling, and med some cyclists who were up in the dunes in their fat bikes too.

quote:

Nothing to do with me my friend.

People have been going out to the desert as far as I can remember, but not at this scale.

Nah, the word has spread far and wide about Saeed's recent ultimate desert adventures! The curious are coming in droves!

"Now with access to 4 wheel drive vehicles, lots of people enjoy the desert."

Yeah, it looks like the car lot at our local Jeep dealership!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:

quote:

Nothing to do with me my friend.

People have been going out to the desert as far as I can remember, but not at this scale.

Nah, the word has spread far and wide about Saeed's recent ultimate desert adventures! The curious are coming in droves!

"Now with access to 4 wheel drive vehicles, lots of people enjoy the desert."

Yeah, it looks like the car lot at our local Jeep dealership!

JEEP are the most popular among the Western people.

The Bedouins won't touch them with a barge pole!

The JEEP is known as the DIY desert vehicle.

They come relatively cheap - and so many add on one can purchase later on.

Thing is we have dug out more people driving American made cars than any other make.

People who are using their cars in the desert daily will only buy Toyota Land Cruisers and Nissan Patrols.

Saeed, that is a spectacular building floating in the sands out there. The design reminds me of the ancient zigurrats.
Were you letting air out of your tires to increase traction in that one photo?
Even here in the States, I would prefer a Toyota over a Jeep. Nothing but Toyotas on my hunt in Namibia years ago.

Bill,

That is someone else.

I generally drive my Landcruiser with 20 psi in the tires.

That is fine for driving practically anywhere - asphalt roads and normal desert driving.

On rare occasions when we drive deep into the dunes I let them down to around 15 pounds.

That building houses the control room for our solar farms.

As it is getting cooler, the desert is getting very busy.

A bus was stuck by the side of the road near the solar plant.

The amazing thing is he wanted to make a U turn.

On one side of the road is a car park - right opposite where he got stuck.

But instead of turning in the car park, he turned in the sand!

quote:

As it is getting cooler, the desert is getting very busy.

A bus was stuck by the side of the road near the solar plant.

The amazing thing is he wanted to make a U turn.

On one side of the road is a car park - right opposite where he got stuck.

But instead of turning in the car park, he turned in the sand!

Stupidity has no national or international boundaries, Saeed!

I stopped and asked the driver why he did not turn into the car park.

His answer was he was on the right hand side of the road, so he turned right!

I said did he mean only the right side of his head has brains?

All hell broke loose!

Everyone was screaming that he has NO brains!

I suggested one of them walks to a workshop not far and get a truck to pull them out.

Half an hour later they were still there, digging!

Is he related to Walter?!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Is he related to Walter?!

Hard to believe, but I think Walter is an Einstein compared to some I meet in the desert!

I went out one afternoon to meet a friend who lives in the desert, an old man.

He was waiting for me under a ghaf tree.

Not far from him were two Subaru 4 wheel saloons doing donuts, creating al awful lot of dust.

My friend was hopping mad when I saw him.

I said let me go talk to them, may be get them in a fix for a change.

He laughed, and said "what are you going to do?"

I said I will try to encourage them to go up the dunes.

He said if they went up the dunes they will never get out.

I said that is their problems.

So I went and had a chat with them.

Two in each car.

I told them what fantastic cars were those 4 wheel Subarus, the Bedouins drive them all over the place.

They were not too sure, so I said why don't you try going up that dune there, don't go over the top, get close to there and turn around.

I am going there, but I am continuing into the desert.

You turn back from the top and you will get a feeling how great it.

Off I went, and they are behind me.

I put my Landcruiser in second gear, and flew over the dunes.

Once I got over the top, I stopped and called my friend, who could see what is going on.

He was laughing so much, he could hardly talk.

He said in Arabic "Holly Molly! The F&*#$@rs are digging themselves deeper and deeper! They would need a crane to get them out! I am coming, will meet you by the camel camp ion the other side!"

Two days later I went back there, and I could see how deep they managed to get themselves in.

They apparently had to call for a recovery truck to dig them out, according to the camel guard!

You see, Walter is not half as bad compared to these guys!

Damn it, Saeed! You have some of the best stories! And, the fact that they're all true makes them even better!

Well, we are back from our safari and the desert is back on our time table.

Had friends from Sweden last Friday on our desert breakfast.

Great time was had by everyone.

Will post photos later on.