Wadi Naqab Trail hiking Ras al khaima UAE

Hiking : Wadi Naqab

Trail Hike Location : Ras Al Khaima, UAE

 Level : Beginner Recommended

Gears :
Hiking shoe / runners with good grip,
Water min 2 liters,
food,
snacks,
chocolates

Recommended season : Winter.

Wadi Naqab is a fantastic off-road destination for a bit of everything. A classic (if rather short) wadi-bashing experience with different levels of challenge, great camping spots and viewpoints, this all-rounder also offers an abundance of opportunities to get up to elevation for rewarding hiking.

Ras Al Khaimah's impressive Hajar Mountains lean from Wadi Naqab towards the sea, showing their many colours and formations.

Reaching the starting point of the journey is bit tricky. If you have a 4 wheel drive you can cover most of the unpaved roads till the bottom of the mountain. If you don't have a 4 wheel drive you can use your driving skill on your sedan car to reach as close as possible. I insist not to try any risky drive in the morning itself. You could spoil your entire trip.

Once you find nice good parking area you can park your car and gear up. After the parking you will have to travel approximately one kilometer to 2 kilometer through big round gravels and rocks. These pictures will give you an idea about the view that you may expect in early morning around 9 o'clock.

You may still find some houses and farmlands nearby. You may also find some random goats and dogs. You don't have to wonder if you find any local people there. You may also find some other trekking groups travelling along the same road.

 The first 5km are through the wadi bed and up to a bat cave (with some scrambling you can go inside if you would like). After a short break and snacks we'll start up a managed path with beautiful cliff views to an old settlement where we will have lunch.

Be prepared for surreal views! you need a 4wd to reach the starting point. nice hike, not very technical but need good level of fitness. some steep uphill ascend, but the view and village at the top made it worthwhile. good hiking boots with ankle protection are recommended.

Showka pools - Ras Al khaima - UAE

A short 5 minute video of our Hiking trip to showka trails.
 Located in the Ras Al Khaima, UAE. It is one of the popular hiking trail near to Dubai and excellent place to warm up. There are many hiking trails and plenty of opportunity for exploration as well. 

Precautions & Rules:
 No littering, fine upto AED 2000
 No network coverage,

 Mandatory list of items:
 Water, Food,
 High energy snacks like chocolates,
 Cola,
 Sweater for winter season,
 extra socks as you are going to jump into water,
 proper hiking shoe,
 proper clothing,
 hat, sunscreen,
 light, knife, GPS / Offline map,
 extra battery

 Travel Description :
 Start early morning and try to get to the starting point before the sunrise. Remember this is a day trip. Even though we start little late. I would like to recommend a trip to start it early as possible. So it is highly recommended to reach the starting point before the sunlight hits. So if you want to start little early you should have packed your bag the day / night before. Hopefully this will make your life easy so that you need to only brush up and start the engine of the car. Make sure all the necessary stuffs are there in the back before starting up from the home.

All the items which I mentioned here are mandatory stuff. Life without those thing would probably will be difficult during the Hike. Given the list as a checklist for the beginners and if you forget something you can always buy on the way from any gas station or supermarket. Make sure you hit any gas station and fill the gas in your car if you're going to the station, because the roads are not set very well and you can get easily lost.

For beginners it is highly recommended to group up and travel in a group. Hike is a physically challenging activity and make sure you are physically fit for travelling few kilometres without any problem. Once you reach the destination as mark in the map, you may find a place to park your car. Remember always to travel in a group because in case of physical injury the other one will be able to support.

 If you are beginner respect to set your GPS and track your movement all the way up and down during the Hike cause you may get lost anytime and all the different look almost similar or different and you will not be able to distinguish the exact way you want to go back. For experience it was you know the things, you know the rules, just keep going straight up the trail. What's your time as it will be very difficult and very dark on sunset.

Asses your physical condition all the way up and down, and make sure to take risk only that is acceptable. Climbing up on top of the steep Hills and mountains for selfies are good but kind of risky. You will find lots of sports to take selfies. You may find smallpools of water bodies and some animals living nearby. Some pools are very deep so you may as before getting step into full.

 You can Hike as much as you want and as far as you can go but keep in mind that you will have to return all the way back. Assess your physical condition and your teams physical condition before keeping going forward. Keep some emergency lights with you, in case if you may fail to turn on time you'll end up in Pitch Black dark night.

 Hiking is risky, travelling in a group makes much less risky. Highly recommend it.