How we roll
We started as a handful of people who wanted to get out of the city more often. It still works the same way. Someone picks a route, posts it on the board and whoever can make it turns up at the meeting point with a full tank and something to share.
There's no fee, no committee and no one gets paid. When we run skills sessions, like recovery basics or navigating without signal, they're free for members too.
Firewood, coffee, dinner for the pot. The event board shows what's covered so nobody doubles up.
We keep convoys to a size where everyone knows each other's name and nobody gets left in a bowl.
What comes out with us goes home with us. Every camp site is left cleaner than we found it.
What we do
Dune runs from easy warm-ups to big-bowl days, aired down with recovery gear ready.
Hajar mountain tracks, rock pools and the kind of shade you only find at the bottom of a gorge.
Overnights in the sand with a shared fire, too much food and a very clear sky.
Longer routes that link places together, planned around fuel, water and daylight.
The occasional evening in town, mostly to plan the next trip.
Route library
Every drive is recorded, and the tracks go into the library with a map, the climb and a GPX file you can load into your own navigation app.
Kit partners
If you make or sell outdoor, recovery or camping gear, we'd like to put it to work. We take new kit out on real trips in UAE heat and sand, tell you honestly how it performed, and share photos you're welcome to use.
Afterwards the kit stays with one of our members, so it keeps getting used by someone who'll talk about it around the next fire. The whole group benefits, and nobody at Nomad Outdoors takes a cut.
Tell us what it is and what you'd like to learn about it.
On a drive or a camp, in the conditions it was built for.
An honest write-up and photos, and the kit goes to a member.
The garage
Plenty of us drive older 4x4s, and a thirty-year-old truck in forty-five-degree heat needs looking after. Two local resources our members lean on:
For GMT400 Chevys and GMCs
A free field guide to keeping 1988 to 1999 GM trucks and SUVs running in the Gulf. It covers cooling, electrics, drivetrain and off-road prep, with UAE part numbers and where to find them in Sharjah and Dubai.
For hard-to-find parts
Specialist sourcing for GMT400 trucks, classic Land Rover Defenders and the Mercedes SL R107. Useful when the part you need hasn't been on a shelf in the UAE for twenty years.
Joining
We keep the group small so trips stay safe and friendly. New members join through someone who's already been out with us. If you know a member, ask them to bring you along on the next easy drive.
Already a member? Everything you need for the next trip is on the event board.