Pakistani adventurers crossing the desert spanning four Arab countries

Rub al-Khali is one of the vast deserts in the world, spanning parts of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Yemen, which was crossed by Pakistani adventurer Shoaib Khan.

Spread across four Arab countries, 'Al-Rubb al-Khali' is one of the world's largest deserts covering about 650,000 square kilometers, which Pakistani adventurer Shoaib Khan has crossed.

Covering parts of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen, the Rub al-Khali desert stretches for about 1,000 km from north to south and about 500 km from east to west.

Hailing from Pakistan, Shoaib Khan is fond of adventure.

He vowed that he would cross the desert of Saudi Arabia 'Al-Rub Al-Khali' in 10 days.

They spent months preparing to fulfill their passion and then waited for the weather to change.

As the summer drew to a close, Shoaib set out on his adventure.

Sharing his perilous desert journey with Independent Urdu, Shoaib Khan said that it was not an easy thing to see Al-Rubb al-Khali or to spend 10 days there. This desert is a desert with a unique geographical shape and form in the whole world, which has to be crossed by risking one's life.

'It is my passion that has brought me this far. I like exploring new places and traveling there so I planned to cross Rab Al Khali in ten days. But it was not possible to see the entire desert in one day, nor was it possible to go there alone. People from different countries were traveling with me on this trip, which belonged to Germany, Italy, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and I was from Pakistan.

Off road driving

According to Shoaib, off-road driving in Rab Al-Khali desert is the biggest danger.

"We made our vehicles capable of supporting us in the sand," he said. Got our car uplifted and we took up the challenge of driving 1180 km across the desert in 10 days. We took 10 days worth of food with us and installed a 120 liter water tank in the car.

'Keep extra water with you. I had 150 liters of water with me and made all the waypoints where to stop, where to refuel and where to spend the night before leaving for the journey. Everything was done according to plan because traveling in this desert on empty guesswork could have led us astray.'

Sandstorm and breathtaking scenery

Shoaib Khan also faced a sandstorm for three days during this dangerous journey.

Shoaib said: 'In Al-Ruba' al-Khali, only golden sand can be seen as far as the eye can see. But desert nights are very attractive. Darkness spread everywhere, cold winds and clusters of stars, these scenes were such that the heart could not distinguish between night and day and when the day came, the desert would shine as the sun's rays fell on the golden sand.

There were scenes that dazzled the eyes, and sometimes these scenes felt like a nightmare. Because there were more than 250 meters high sand dunes from which it was a difficult step to get on and off the vehicle. At some places, the car would sink in the sand and sometimes the sand mountains would move. We spent three days in a sandstorm. Such dangerous gusts of sandy winds have never been seen in life.'

While sharing the memories of the campaign with Independent Urdu, Shoaib Khan said that 'desert spiders would come out at night when the tent was pitched. Which was quite dangerous to look at. They were about the size of a human palm and we avoided these spiders throughout the trip. However, there was a point that the vehicle was low on fuel and had to switch off the air condition of the vehicle to save fuel, but I am glad that I explored 'Al-Rub Al-Khali'. These ten days were full of adventure. I had a dream that came true and now I will move on to the next campaign.'

Conscious with passion

Shoaib Khan advised the tourism enthusiasts not to lose consciousness in the excitement. Never do any adventure without a plan and if you ever want to come to Rab Al Khali desert, don't take the risk of coming alone because there have been many incidents of going astray here.

God Khalid of Rab Al-Khali

Al-Rub al-Khali is the largest desert in the Arabian world, covering the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula.

Al-Rub al-Khali desert is another name for sand dunes.

Here, some sand dunes are active while others are fixed in place.

Some hills in the west are 1500 feet high. Some are as high as 500 feet in the east, 2000 feet in the southwest, and 1500 feet in the north.

The climate of Rab al-Khali is hot in summer and cold in winter and there is hardly any rainfall.

Sandstorms occur here throughout the year.

The temperature in summer ranges from 40 to 50 degrees Celsius. Sometimes it goes above 60 degrees Celsius. In winter, the temperature remains below minus seven degrees Celsius. 

The signs of life in this desert are negligible. Just spiders, rodents, plants, rabbits, migratory birds and reptiles live.