Winners back home after successful Dubai Desert Challenge 4X4 trip

Entebbe.

Entebbe International Airport was a bee-hive of activity yesterday as the 34-man contingent that travelled to Dubai for the Desert Challenge returned home.
The 34 are winners from a City Oil and Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) promotion that ran from September 2017 to last month. And they returned home with stories they will tell for a lifetime.
“Driving in the desert is a memory that will stay with me for long,” Yoram Yamulemye, who was referred to as Mzeei by most of his peers, said.
The contingent enjoyed four-wheel drive experiences that Anita Kantono described as “peace of the mind experiences” thanks to the special permission tendered to the group to drive in the desert. Usually one would need a license after proving oneself in training to compete in this event.
“We are all experienced drivers so we managed to do it with relative ease but it was a fun experience,” Yamulemye added.
“But I generally want to thank City Oil and Enoc for making this dream come true. At my age I had never been on a plane. I will now become their agent to ensure they get more customers.” For most of the travellers, however, the sites seen in Dubai, the weather and the general conduct of the Emiratis will be etched forever in memory.
As they gathered for photographs, with families and friends, on their return, one made a passing comment saying; “it is 4pm but the heat here is what you will experience in Dubai at 9am.” Another claimed; “I wish I we had stayed there for a little longer.”
Such is how much they relished the trip that returning to a less developed place, even though they call it home, felt surreal.
“It is amazing that they started developing in the 1970s. In 1984, the place was like Katwe but right now they are trying to become New York,” Jimmy Lubega, a taxi tout, and one of the very first winners, shared. “They have built islands on which some of the world’s most beautiful buildings stand. I will never forget the Burj Khalifa. We climbed up to the 125th floor and we felt like the rest of the world was below us.”
City Oil marketing manager Herbert Bashasha received the group at Entebbe Airport before they were taken for lunch at Café Javas – Victoria Mall.
“We are happy that they had fun. For us this was one of the biggest contingent we have taken to a foreign country and it is important that they had the best experiences because this is one way we give back to our customers,” Bashasha said.
Their sister company City Tyres do take fans to an F1 race every year.