The annual 2 day event kicked off at 7am at the Al Fathiya check point with a warm breakfast completion of formalities and a safety debriefing by the marshals.Daily headlines from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos. Daily headlines from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos
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00:00Good morning everyone, I'm Anjana Kumar, I'm a reporter with the Gulf News and I'm here
00:07in Al-Fatiyah for the 38th Gulf News Fun Drive event.
00:20The 38th Gulf News Fun Drive flagged off at 9am sharp from Al-Fatiyah on Hameem Road,
00:26south of Abu Dhabi. The region's biggest off-roading event kicked off amidst much fanfare and more
00:33importantly, clear skies.
00:37Gulf News spoke to Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, who was present at the starting
00:42point of the fun drive.
00:57And we have now in Sharjah, we make a new museum for off-roading. So off-roading in
01:06this country, as you know, it's our country, the whole desert. People have fun with the
01:13desert. The most important in the desert is the safety. Many people, you know, driving
01:20very dangerous and it's a very dangerous thing. And we hope, you know, the people take
01:26care about their own safety.
01:28Over 800 vehicles registered this year for the fun drive. Hundreds of four-wheel drivers,
01:34many experienced off-roaders among them, took on the mighty dunes to put their desert driving
01:40skills to the test.
01:43I think it's one of the best family events in UAE. If you look at the scale of it, the
01:50number of people participating, there are thousands. You can take them out to the desert
01:55for a good fun ride. And it's all sort of taken care of. There's a lot of security,
02:00there's a lot of safety. Kids enjoy it, families enjoy it.
02:04Over 90 marshals were on duty to help rescue drivers whose vehicles were stuck in the sand
02:10and provide them with necessary support.
02:13I was super excited and wanted to change the driver. I started driving and here it is.
02:19Everyone is excited. When you are new to this area, you don't know how to drive the desert.
02:24So, yeah, we expect people to get stuck. It's part of the fun. I guess they love it.
02:31And we are here to help them.
02:41Hello!
03:00Close to 4 pm, people started making their way to base camp at Morib Dunes, located at
03:05the start of the empty quarter.
03:11One of the most interesting things is this backdrop, which is like literally spectacular
03:21and breathtaking, so to speak. It's the mighty Morib Dunes and what a perfect setting to
03:28finish the 38th Government's Fun Drive.
03:33Needless to say, families were treated for a spectacular treat. What's more, plenty of
03:38activities and entertainment were lined up to keep people busy and entertained at the
03:43camp in the Morib Dunes.
03:46This is my fourth year of Fun Drive and it's just awesome. Last year also we came with
03:52Leiva only. Last year it was in some other one. This year it's awesome. Since morning
03:58we are roaming here and there and it's just going awesome. Believe me, it's really very
04:04good and I'm enjoying it with my daughter. There are so many games over here and since
04:09morning we enjoyed the breakfast. Everything was very delicious and the experience over
04:16there is worth it.
04:18Five years in a row and every year the marshals, the whole idea of getting stuck, getting out,
04:25coming to all these small challenges, the food, the whole atmosphere, staying overnight,
04:30having the experience, the whole experience makes it really special. We love you and we
04:35love Caspian Sea!
04:38This is our first time in 12 years. It has been just a lovely ride. We have been thinking
04:44about going every year but we were waiting for her to actually come in our family and
04:49now we are there. So we did three and a half, roughly four gates in total. It was just wonderful.
04:58We have never had something like this ever before.
05:01It's very exciting. I think it's like you are in a roller coaster and butterflies in
05:05your stomach. It's so scary. It was my first time and I never expected to go up and down
05:10and how it is to go down and then you are in a soup bowl and go up. It is very exciting
05:17and it was sometimes very scary as well. I was never expecting this. I have heard so
05:23much of it and it was really out of this world.
05:26Today's route, first of all, was probably one of the best ones we have had in Liyue
05:30for a long time. It was hard sections at the end where they should be so that the better
05:36drivers can make it and very fair opening sections at the beginning. The weather was
05:41fantastic today, 20 odd degrees, beautiful, the sand was good, the car that I got from
05:47Alphatane they gave me today was fantastic, I had no problems at all and we had a good
05:52drive through. We had a good drive, no incidents, very good event.
06:05Today on the second day people are taking time out to explore the camp, the Liyue region
06:10as well. Just behind me you can see children climbing up the Morib Dune. Obviously they
06:16want to continue their adventure through today. A lot of people we spoke to at the
06:20breakfast table said they would be heading out today exploring the Liyue region as well
06:25which has some beautiful white sand landscapes and then slowly they will make their way back
06:33home. All in all, it has been a great overnighter at the 38th Gulf News Fun Drive.
06:39This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.
06:46We love our ride!