Conquering the Sand

 

The adventure began the moment our Nissan Safari hit the red tinged sand dunes. The mountains of glistening golden orange almost shone in the sun until a gust of wind blew over, dancing with the dust in the air. Stephen circled the car around several clusters of standing quads and makeshift tents aiming for the natural runway. Finally, we were positioned and embarked our ascent up the imposing slope.

If you're familiar with walking on sand at all you'll know that sometimes you find hard spots where your feet can stay on top of the sand and other times your feet simply disappear into the softness. Now multiply that by the weight of a several ton car and you can imagine it's no easy task to maneuver over the shifting sands - especially where on one side you have a drop off and on the other side quads and other cars driving up and down the slope!! Normally, a car needs to get a lot of momentum and speed to make it to the top, but with all the obstacles Stephen only made it about 3/4 of the way up. Once we lost momentum, we had two options - move forward spinning our wheels in the sand until we were stuck or move backward letting gravity pull us down to the flat area where we could gain momentum.

Stephen started backing down the slope towards solid ground carefully watching in the mirrors and avoiding all other cars and quads coming up. The problem with sand dunes is its depth perception is very challenging especially when it comes to differentiating the edge of a dune with the distant sand behind it. The bright orange-red colors start to all blend together. There are no rocks or shrubs to mark the difference between a gentle slope and a steep decline. Suddenly, we found the car tipping as one wheel went over the edge of the steep descent that Stephen had been trying to avoid. Not wanting to go back any further, Stephen tried to go forward, but very quickly the wheels dug a hole on my side until I could open my door and step out straight onto the sand. 

Within moments, a friendly car full of "shabab" (young men in Arabic) pulled up in their bedouin car and started to give advice. Our friend with us had tried digging under the wheels and putting a tread under it to give the car momentum but to no avail. These Arab guys started loudly discussing amongst themselves and then gestured asking if one of them could get in the driver's seat. Stephen nodded and a young man in his thobe and turban eagerly climbed into our desert car. We watched him put the car in to gear and then much to our surprise instead of going forward he started to reverse! He let gravity, and a little bit of help from the engine, propel him down the steep side to the bottom where there was firm ground. Wow! 

We all applauded ready for him to come back up the natural ramp of sand we had tried earlier. However, he started to circle around and gaining speed headed straight for the steep incline (which was also very soft sand). He obviously had full confidence that the car could make it up but I wasn't so sure. As he barreled towards the dune I think that Stephen and I were both holding our breath. That is when I realized the true engine power in a Nissan Safari. In the hands of a seasoned driver, our car hurdled up the steep slope as if it was flying with wings of sand and summited the imposing dune with little effort. Then we all really cheered!!

I love this picture of what can happen with the skills and gifts given to us. For example if I start playing guitar today and compare myself to someone who has been playing for 10yrs that's just not fair. Just like it wouldn't be fair to compare Stephen's driving to a bedouin driver who has practically grown up on the sand. BUT what I can do is look at the person who had been playing for 10yrs and let it inspire me - that is what I too can do one day! May we each surround ourselves with those who can encourage and inspire us to further heights.