Are we an inclusive community? The study of Wander across the years.

While jumping dunes and curving roads, we have made friends in places least expected. We experienced moments, discovered lands and lived to tell the story. 

As we grow in passion and number, our main focus is to create thoughtful impact on the community through our Wanderers. To listen to their journeys requires a certain degree of understanding and communal efforts to create a cohesive belonging in a land that has seen diversity like no place on earth. But in a rapidly developing country, an overwhelming number of new trends that make the more recent ones obsolete - what is authentic to our belonging? What do we harness and protect as we ride the wave of modernism and how do we do it? 

We are not necessarily trend setters - we are just living the truth of who we have always been. By still engaging in activities that our elders enjoyed is not a statement of us remaining in the past rather revolutionizing a timeless activity into a modern face-lift.

Community is not dead. Naturally, as we continue developing into a metropolitan hub we feel a disconnect from (human nature) and find it much easier to say “we no longer connect”. In reality, this is the most absurd illusion you can live in. With social platforms we have worn our hearts on our sleeves - expressing emotion and interests to the world. Listen to everyone’s story, respect everyone’s mission.

Innate Connectedness. We are far from being strangers. In fact, we are the closest we have ever been because of the little windows in our pocket. The world is closer than we thought, especially when someone in Canada wants a Wander sticker (hey Daniel!). You have more things in common with a stranger as you do with someone that has shared your life. Connectedness is not measured by quantifiable interactions rather emotional connectedness.

Throughout the years of running through this community of beautiful beautiful people, we have come across experiences that cannot be put into words. The synergy of a few people that in turn becomes a mission to cross the deserts of the UAE, Wanderers that carry the emblem on their sleeves, people we have never met creating stories we have never seen, an undying philosophy of travel, adventure and seeking the unsought. But most of all, the soul. The amount of authenticity we have experienced, the raw reality you allow us to exist in, is what we are celebrating today and everyday. Thank you for making Wander real.

The Teachings of Ibn Majed: The Lion of the Sea

At times I find myself pondering the realities of people that have crossed lands indefinitely prior to our existence. What had they prioritised in their travels and how had they imagined a world much smaller than what we see today? The stoic will persuade you to visualise the people of the past as idols that have set benchmarks for our discoveries, growth and achievements — in this piece, we reflect on what one could learn from a man with a passion to ride currents of the sea according to the placement of the stars. 

Ahmad Ibn Majed, born somewhere in between Ras Al Khaimah and Oman, was a man of the sea in the 15th century. Attributed to him were his publications that have assisted and expanded the study of the sea from principles to methodologies to tools that have changed the way travellers looked at crossing seas indefinitely. An Arab navigator that played a pivotal role in establishing connections between the East and the West by mapping the part of the world he existed in (we could go into discussion about his assistance to Vasco Di Gama and the controversy behind who initially got the Portuguese to India — but that isn’t my current concern). 

So, what did this man have that can be of any benefit to our existence today? Other than the fact that half the buildings in Ras Al Khaimah are called Julfar and the vague information we have on his background. A penny for my thoughts and I’d be…confused. 

“The Importance of Memory”

As clear cut as this is, it is a common trend among those that follow doctrines. There was a time we ventured into the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, I remember, where we couldn’t for the love of God remember our path. It was apparent how flawed memory can be. In the next statement, I will discuss the ability to imagine navigation which may contradict the current point. However, the studies of Ibn Majed have reflected three key principles from which he learned while sailing alongside his father which made him The Lion of the Sea. Prior to sending him off on his own at 17, the principles set for him were to perfect his reading and writing, to memorise the Quran and to memorise the books his father gave him about seafaring. Imagine the power of a man that need not waste time digging up a reference but consistently pulling guidance from memory as though his rubric was a recitation. The contents in your head are the contents you are. 

“How Navigation Is Imagination” 

Having developed the “Kamal”, a device made of wood and calibrated string used to identify the point on the latitude in accordance with the Pole Star’s height in the horizon, he ventured the sea with a backing knowledge of current movements, winds, reefs, shoals, headlands, harbors, seamarks and stars in which he spent a lifetime studying. Putting your thoughts together, when you reflect on the night sky you don’t necessarily know what stars you’re looking at or where they are placed in comparison to your current location. A belief of Ibn Majed’s with his work is the imagination of your reality. To imagine the sea you will cross, the placement of the stars above you and the current that can only be felt — this is what made him a master of his craft. 

“The Shooting Star”

…he was named. For his fearlessness, grit, and resilience to take on seas rougher than a human can bare. A reflection of a harsher reality that they must have lived. In link to the earlier statement of the Stoic placing idols of the past as guidance, Ibn Majed may very well be a character that has reflected resilience and knowledge in his time. An indication of innovation and perseverance and what it looked like in times before ours. 

The reason we learn about what people have once done and where they have ventured allows us to discover more than we think we can. To think there was once a time where the seas were not discovered like today, or the lands have not been mapped to accuracy, even the language we speak varied — yet they still brought us to today. A globalized world framed and established by stones set before us. This is an ode to all the travellers that have opened the doors to discovery and curiosity and taught us how to wander. 

Stories

Wander to Mleiha

A trip to a place foreign to the modernist and familiar to the heritage. Where the sand meets the rock and where the terrain changes in a short span of time. Mleiha is home to a lot of tombs from the previous times and a haven for archeological sites - if you're curious. This place holds a diversity of terrains from red-orange sand to mountainous paths and a whole lot of farms. It is said, in previous times, this area used to trade with those in Umm Al Quwain. It was like a trade-off between the sea merchants and the land herders. 

Coming into the new year, Wander thought of throwing a dropped pin somewhere new, somewhere authentic (not to say that the other locations weren't that too). Hosting its first session of the year, equipped with enough brownies and conversation, Wander wandered. 

Soul Conversations.

Among the dunes of Dubai. Wander got out with a bunch of souls to bring the winter season to a start. Our seasons are two, hot summer and cold summer, unlike the rest of the world. About 30 minutes down the road from the city we all know too well is a playground that runs for as far as your eyes can see. The desert connects the cities around the Emirates and, contrary to popular belief, there lies plenty of opportunity for discovery and driving routes never driven.

With a growing drive to road trip the world and meet like minded souls, Wander has seen people embrace the concept and run with it - their own way.

How do you celebrate originality?

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Drive With Wander

For sometime the Wander headquarters has been contemplating shooting through mountain silhouettes and curvy roads. As the weather gets better in this region here on-wards, we decided to kick start our season with what we've been contemplating. So! to the mountains we went!

On this Wander, we took along with us a few coffee lovers from town (a.k.a @dropdubai) and they provided our Wanderers with cold drip coffee specifically brewed for the trip (as seen below). 

It humbles me to see the individuals that yearn for nature come together. We all share a passion, and a drive for wanderlust. This is who we are, and this is what we do.

Yours truly,

Miral Bushnaq

What Makes You Wander?

We have an undying curiosity to understand the drive behind peoples wanders. Why do you do what you do and why do you get out the way you do?

Leave your thoughts below.

Makeshift: How Camping Is About Improvisation

We rode out to Ras Al Khaimah one afternoon, four people ditching the work life and a few responsibilities seeking peace on a ledge in the mountains - let me tell you about our makeshift strategies.
For starters, we definitely did not keep in mind the weather and how windy it may be, secondly we definitely did not expect one of our tents to have damaged rods. From placing an umbrella into a tent to keep it raised to tying a tent down with a car tug rope, we definitely compromised and allowed nature to take its toll on us.
This is what a camp set-up ordinarily looks like at the WANDER headquarters,

When you're out in nature, you improvise. When you've got a few things at hand, you improvise. When nothing seems to go your way, improvise. It's the only way to wander.

Photo credit @m.mnasria

Caffeine Cruise meets Wander

On a corner of an intersection lies a tree-house haven, a fusion of motorbikes and good good coffee is Cafe Rider - a home grown coffee hub built on authenticity and good vibes. Throughout battling the concrete jungle and pushing through the metropolitan lifestyle, people seek comfort in the road most Friday mornings by heading to the furthest point in the Arab Emirates - be it on two wheels or four wheels. The Caffeine Cruise paired with Wander and created memories.