Desert Survivor 3

‘Keep the momentum’, I told myself as a steep sand wall emerged in front of me in the pitch dark. As the long bonnet crept up the near-vertical flank, I found myself facing the black starless sky, and once I overpassed the summit, my Scorpio came speeding down. While making my way down the two-storied dune, I saw – illuminated by the headlamps alone – the path of other Scorpios which had passed before me. This path snaked on to another rising dune and I followed suit maintaining my momentum. As I was wrestling with the steering, modulating the throttle and navigating a 4x4 in the sandy desert, I felt fortunate to be experiencing this paradigm of motoring for the first time. Welcome to Mahindra Adventure’s Desert Survivor.

One of the two courses introduced by Mahindra Adventure recently – the other being Snow Survivor which happens in Leh – the Desert Survivor takes place in Jaisalmer’s Sam dunes. After arriving in Jodhpur, we drove down to Jaisalmer in a Scorpio that was waiting for us outside the airport. As we traversed through the arrow-straight roads of Rajasthan, the vast emptiness surrounded us from all sides. We finally arrived at the rendezvous point which was one of the most unique holiday getaways I had ever been to. Called Desert Glamping, this settlement, within earshot distance of the Sam dunes, had tent-like structures spread out under the open sky.

Nighttime Dune Bashing

After a briefing at sundown by Mr Manish Sarser, we introduced ourselves to our small group which had ensembled to be a part of the Desert Survivor. This motley crew comprised of people from different parts of the country, and from different walks of life. But what brought them together was the pure passion of driving. As the sky turned auburn, we got into our respective Scorpios and headed out. The 10 Scorpios (and one Thar, as a recovery vehicle) were led by Mr Madan Chaudhary who knows the dunes like the back of his hand. His instruction through the radio walkie-talkie helped us navigate through the Rajasthani desert.

Once we got off the road and ventured into rougher terrains, Mr Madan instructed us to shift the Scorpio’s 2H dial to 4L for better traction on the rutted and sandy surfaces that lay ahead. It had already gotten dark and before we realised, the rutted and rocky patches under the tyres had made way for the sand dunes. We were continuing in a convoy, maintaining a safe distance. It was when the first car got stuck that we understood where we were. As I got off the vehicle and looked around, I could see nothing but sandy dunes as far as my sight could go in that dark moonlit night.

According to the experts, tackling the dunes at night has one benefit – it prevents the driver from understanding the sheer size of the dunes and hence he/she would only focus on the vehicle controls instead of panicking and backing off. So, going around the loop over the unpredictable sand, we got a hang of the steering, the throttle inputs and most importantly, maintaining momentum to get through the challenges that came in the path. We learned to get off the mark in second gear since the torque supply on first gear is too much for sandy surfaces leading to excessive wheelspin and digging a hole under the tyres. We also learned that the torque of the third gear is enough to keep you moving in most arid conditions.

Driving around on the dunes through varying textures of sand, as the temperatures started to plummet, was nerve-wracking. After having dinner by the bonfire on those very dunes, we called it a day.

Day 2: Daytime Dune Bashing

Next afternoon, it was time for round two of dune bashing, but this time in broad daylight. Once into the rutted terrains, we shifted to 4L and began bashing some dunes once again which, today, got much bigger compared to last night. It was an exhilarating experience to steer the SUV on those gargantuan dunes. The trill of making way through the ever-changing tracks, carrying momentum through the deepest crests, and even driving around slipface (a side of a dune that the sand has slid down opposite to the wind direction) of the dune was unparalleled. Reminded me of those frightening scenes from Dakar Rally on many occasions.

And when any of us got stuck, the simple trick was to back up the path for a good run-up and attempt the same obstacle with enough momentum. I also learned from Mr Madan that when the car starts to bog down, and carrying momentum becomes difficult, making direction changes while turning the steering wheel left and right spontaneously could also do the trick. Also, using gravity in your favour is one of the easiest way of getting out. Nonetheless, the Mahindra Adventure officials were there to instruct the correct way to steer out the vehicle through the radio. Or the recovery vehicle would pull them out if the vehicle had difficulty to yank itself clear off the obstacle.

Each one of the 10 cars was stuck at any given point and the rest of us would wait and watch while the marshals would toil to get the car out. With the day drawing to close, we experienced some of the most beautiful and untouched dunes, drove over extremely rutted and furrowed tracks, and managed to come on top through the worst that Sam dune had in store for us.

At the end of Day 2, we all reached the summit of a massive dune, sat around the car, posed for some pictures and shared our driving experiences. Saying goodbye to the now-beloved dunes was surely difficult. And since our flight was from Jodhpur, we drove back about 300 kilometres from Sam dunes in the very Scorpio we did dune bashing in. This proves why the Scorpio is an incredible car in more ways than one.

Epilogue

So why should you be a part of the next Desert Survivor? Well, firstly, it’s a unique driving experience which isn’t possible for metropolitan dwellers like you and I. Secondly, you need not go all the way to the Middle East to experience the driving thrill of dune bashing; it can be done in our very own backyard. And the fact that Mahindra Adventure officials encourage you to drive no matter how many times you get stuck is an added bonus too.

Pictures by Bilal Firfiray and Zahoor Hassan