Trip to Fossil Rock, Dubai

Fossil Rock also known as Jebel Maleihah or Camel Rock is an inspiring monolith that is embedded with fossils. Some of the fossils are said to be over 80 million years old. Address: It is located about an hour out of Dubai off the Hatta road.

Last weekend, me and my brothers made a trip to Fossil Rock, Dubai in my Jeep Wrangler, Sahara. We started from the Al-Hibab roundabout in Aweer and then I followed the satnav points from the Off-road explorer which is an amazing guide to off-roading in Dubai. The site is about 37 Kms offroad from the start and quite easy going till we reach the end.

Here there are some steep inclines and drops enough to unsettle most SUVs or newbie drivers like me. We took turns driving and stopped before each major dune to see what was on the other side on foot.

“The last time I tried dune bashing with some pros from my office, I went over a dune too fast, only to find nothing below me on the other side. The Jeep tanked straight down and landed on the front bumper. I must say I got off pretty cheaply with just a small dent and some sprained neck muscles.”

All-in-all we managed to negotiate the most extreme of dunes because we took the time to check them before driving over them and just as well, since some of them had really steep falls on the other side. The Wrangler handled all of them quite easily, and then I got a message in my dash – ‘Hot Oil’ which according to the manual meant my transmission oil had heated up too much. I don’t know if this normal with JK Wrangler, but the message disappeared after we took a 10 minute break.

I must say my Wrangler Sahara 2009 version, even in stock condition is a phenomenal off-road vehicle. If you manage to get this vehicle stuck in the sand, you have obviously done something very very wrong. There were times when I thought the Jeep would not get down some of the steeper inclines without damage, but the Wrangler managed to pleasantly surprise me each time.

We had started at 10 am and finished the trip at 2.30pm at home, so not too bad for a outing on the weekend. No damage, no injuries, some great photos and nice weather. All is well !!!