The above coordinates are
for the recommended parking spot for your car inside
Mishrif Park in Dubai. From there
you will need to follow a trail of white light reflectors
stuck in various tree trunks. To see the reflectors you will
need a strong torch which is preferably held next to your
eyes. Shine it around in an arc of 360 degrees and look at
the various trees surrounding you in a radius of up to 50 m
(150 ft) until you see a small, bright speck of light shining
back from one of the tree trunks.
Walk to this tree and repeat the procedure until you see the next
reflector. On occasion you will have to circle the tree while
scanning around as the next reflector may be only visible from the
other side of the tree. The trail consists of a total of 14
reflectors which will lead you to the actual cache hiding site,
which is indicated by three reflectors stuck in a vertical row
pointing at the cache.
Mishrif Park is a huge
(5.25 square km, 1300 acre) park within an even larger forest of
Ghaf trees, the national tree of the
UAE. The park lies next to the Mirdif
district with the entrance on the al Khawaneej Road (D89) leading from the airport to Al
Khawaneej. (turn-off at N 25 13.832’ E 055 27.059’). The park is
open each day from 08:00 am to 23:00 pm, with the closing time
delayed to 23:30 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On National
Holidays the park is only open in the morning. Obviously there is
no point to visit the park until well after sunset if you come only
to find the cache. However, the park offers a wide variety of
activities (play grounds, picnic tables with BBQ, swimming pool,
tennis courts, etc.) which can keep you occupied throughout the
day. An entrance fee of
AED 10 is payable for a car with driver and AED 3 per passenger,
although the guards have on occasion waved through cars without
having to pay a fee at night.
The cache consists of a
camouflaged container which itself is adorned with a reflector, so
shine your torch around when at Ground Zero. Apart from the
obligatory logbook and pencil the cache contents are dedicated to
the theme of “light”. Although the trail has been laid out in a
relatively quiet corner of the park, please use your torch light
with discretion. You do not want to attract the attention of hordes
of geo-muggles, wondering what the
commotion in the forest is all about!
AS YOU ARE ABOUT TO WALK
THROUGH THICK UNDERBUSH IN COMPLETE DARKNESS IT IS STRONGLY
RECOMMENDED TO WEAR SUITABLE CLOSED SHOES. DO NOT WEAR
FLIP-FLOPS!