Jebel Hafeet... I want to have it's babies

A huge black snake shimmers in the heat haze, curled around and over the jagged stone jutting from the sand. I approach the tail, the straight six seeming to rev just a little harder willing me to push it up this long beautiful stretch of lonely road.









Sweeping into the first corner my foot pushes into the carpet as I urge the saloon to take me hard through this luscious on-camber right hander. The nose pushes out of the corner as the engine howls its approval. Keeping the foot planted, flipping through the gears, urging to the next curve in the spine.









Up and up I push, wide open curves through to tight hairpins, with each the smile growing.


















Then I see it appearing out of the haze









A Toyota Echo doing 30 kph.

Blew his doors off but still, WTF mate!

This is Jebel Hafeet, a gorgeous 12kms of blacktop that is every pure driver's dream. And populated by ridiculously small hatchbacks and 4wd's packed to the rafters with gormless faces. Just struggling up the mountain, there is no appreciation for the road.

I was easily the fastest guy on that mountain... I could have been doing 1/2 the speed and still been the fastest.

And at the top?

A huge parking lot and a dodgy cafe in one corner. Remember those weird looking FJ cruisers? there was 4 guys in one of those driving up and back... up and back. Literally 20 minutes up and down the parking lot. Why would you drive up and down the parking lot at the top of one of the best mountain roads in the world?











Ok, through the haze we did see some ground. At least I think it was ground.










The mountain seems to be a continuation of this range of rock spearing out of the ground. In and around Al Ain there is stone jutting from the sand like something from a bad sci fi movie. Even Jebel Hafeet seems to just be totally without structure, just a larger rock in the sequence.























We thought about forking out the cash to stay at the Mercure on the mountain, glad we didnt. There was literally nothing to see unless you were looking hard. Would I go back? HELL yeah, I would be up that mountain again in a heartbeat. If I lived there it would be a daily event.









Had to wring its neck though.