Articles and Stories

January 4, 2017

The Liwa Oasis belongs to the Nahyan family, who are the leaders of the Abu Dhabi emirate and the United Arab Emirates. To this day, the Bedouin tribes are cultivating date palms there, an impressive sight in the middle of the desert.

The Moreeb Dune, which means ‘Terrifying Mountain’ at the Liwa Oasis is one of the longest sand dunes in the world; its height reaches approximately 990ft, about 300m, and its width is 5,250ft, or 1,600m.

The Moreeb Dune is well known for an annual sports festival at the beginning of each new year. Hundreds of thousands of people gather to enjoy uphill sand drag races, sandboarding, motor cross challenges, bike riding, camel and horse races, classic car competition, freestyle drifting and much more.

This year, the festival started on December 29, 2016 and will end on January 6, 2017. The main event, the Moreeb Cars Championship takes place on the 5th and 6th of January. It is an adventurous race to the top of the Morreb Dune, where the cars have to battle a 50˚ angle. There are various competitions for different cars and bike types.

Another thrilling race takes place on Friday early morning 13 Jan 2017, the 4×4 off-roading that lasts eight hours and leads you through a tricky and tough region of the desert, the finish line is the camp at the Liwa Oasis.

For a festival brochure, click here

Admission is free.