Ever heard of a friend who just modified his 4x4 and ventured into Sahel's sandy beach only to humiliate himself by getting bogged down in sand? (Arabic: يغرز فى الرمل) This is to help those poor machos.
Well, few years ago, Jeep Wranglers got so many in Egypt suddenly. They claim those 4x4 SUV cars can get you everywhere but they never told you that Desert requires extra driving skills (a lot more than driving actually) to use those cars right.
Our SaharaSafaris Club has been around since 2001 and offers the best courses for 4x4 Dunes Driving in Egypt but, we have learnt that we don't have to advice strong-headed juniors thinking they can move mountains with their new capable "highly-modified" 4x4s :) , because they will come eventually asking where did they go wrong.
So we decided that for the first time we'll throw few advices to help you avoid it and if already gone stuck down, how to recover.
Don't venture into Sahel's sand beaches: it's much looser than dunes because of the continuous disturbance of its sand by people. We call it Balooza sand for a good reason!
if you have to, lower the air pressure in the 4 tires to 10psi (dangerous to drive on road with that on high speeds)
If you choose between one 4x4 and another to venture into this (some emergencies are inevitable), we give priorities to the following: lighter, wider (not taller) tires, diff locks (a bit complex to explain here. call us or join the course), 4x4 better than 2x4, has 4L in its transfer case (Arabic: فتيس الغرز)
If you get bogged down (Arabic: غرزت), NEVER push your gas pedal too much. Bogged down means you tires are digging now. The deeper you get (by more gas) the longer it will take to recover and the more humiliated you may become.
If you get bogged down with your tires sill on 10psi, try 5psi, clear sand in front of the wheels in intended direction of moving, and try ever slowly with your gas again.
There are many excellent technical recovery tools we use, BUT in Sahel, you have another. While trying to go slowly with the gas out of the holes the tires have dug, ask at least 5 gym-addicted macho triceps and six-pack formed well-tanned guys to help by pushing. Don't turn your steering and keep it straight and make sure you raise a long tanned arm with victory sign to show how man can turn defeat to victory (and cover on the guys pushing in the back!)
Guys, join our trips or courses starting October with your 4x4s to put all this adrenaline and calories in the right place with the right people. You won't feel this strange weird urge, inexperienced juniors to use the cars without ever calculating the risks.
Now if this helps decrease the humiliating incidents to less than half from now on, we'd say we've made a few machos (some are girls of course) all the wiser, which is a much needed development in this country these days.
Stay with car roof up and engine air intake away from the sea-water!