Starfish Camp Traditional Cache
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The StarFish Dunes located in northern Oman close to the UAE border are pyramidal and stand tall and isolated in a sea of smaller dunes and sabkhah. This cache was placed to celebrate our finally conquering these dunes!
The first expedition was cut short due to work demands whilst difficult driving conditions on the day meant little progress was made. The skipper then tried again planning a camping weekend but one of the cars rolled crossing a seemingly innocuous dune side not that far in. So on the first weekend in March 2013, 5 cars from ME4x4 made a third attempt to complete an exploration of this area.
We started from close to the Omani/UAE board just south of Jebel Hafeet, driving around the mountain then west across the plain towards the red, red dunes that lie between there and the border. Before reaching the border, though with the farms of the UAE in sight, we headed south in sweeping zig-zags. Individual dunes are extremely high and appear as incredible conical piles with arms reaching out into flat gravelly plains, very like starfish in fact.
The campsite at GZ is a lovely spot with some of the few trees we came across on the trip. Once supper was consumed we spent the evening swapping tales of derrring do and exploration round a roaring camp fire. We hope you like this spot too.
The cache is a small screw top poly jar containing a logbook, a pencil and a collection of keyrings plus a TB all wrapped up in a "starboard" sock.
As usual with a location deep in the desert like this, only attempt access as a group of suitably equpped 4x4 vehicles with plenty of fuel, water and appropriate rescue kit. The desert is extremely difficult to transverse in this area. The area is crossed by a series of stretches of sabkhah as you progress southwards. The escape options are to head to the nearest sabkhah and head eastwards until you hit the main road.
If you are coming from the UAE you will need passports for you and your passengers, your car registration and proof of Omani car insurance.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
haqre gur gerr
Treasures
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