Kitesurfing Mishap OSINT Write-up
Welcome to my first OSINT write-up. You can try this yourself as well before reading my process.
The brief:
A video was posted on reddit on r/Wellthatsucks. The video depicts a kitesurfing mishap, where one person lands on top of another. Video can be watched here.
Reddit post of kitesurfing mishap
In the comments one Redditor asked where this place was. Another Redditor replied: “Dakhla, Morocco.”
I decided to put my skills to the test and confirm if this indeed is Dakhla, Morocco. Furthermore I answered additional questions about the location and person involved. Here’s the breakdown:
-Is this Dakhla, Morocco?
-What are the coordinates of the location shown in the video?
-Who were the two people involved in the mishap?
Is this Dakhla, Morocco?
To begin, the location had to be determined. A visual analysis of the video was done to see if anything noteworthy was present. What stood out the most were the graphics on the beach tent.
Beach tent graphics
Reverse image search of the cropped tent proved to be ineffective so googling was the next option. First, the contrast of the image was turned up with Preview and graphics were manually outlined with MS Paint to provide a clearer picture. Different possible spellings of the graphic “SUZR”, “SUSR”, “SUaR” and “SOaR” were googled. Since “SOaR” was the only English word, googling “SOAR kitesurf” yielded results.
Soar kitesurfing school website contact and Instagram post
“Soar is a kitesurfing school […] here in Kuwait; where you can make good friends to spend your day on the beach all-yearlong. We provide all services needed during your day on the beach. Also we organize different kinds of Kiteboarding trips in Egypt and Oman.”
From the information provided on their website it appears that Soar- the kitesurfing school based in Kuwait- does not offer services in Dakhla, Morocco.
-Is this Dakhla, Morocco?
No, this is not Dakhla, Morocco. The logo on the beach tent indicates a kitesurfing school that operates from Kuwait and only offers trips to Egypt and Oman.
What are the coordinates of the location shown in the video?
Now that it has been defined that this isn’t Morocco, there were three possible countries: Kuwait, Egypt and Oman.
The first location that was cancelled out was Kuwait.
Images from Soar house website of lessons offered in Kuwait
Original video of kitesurfing mishap
Soar offers lessons off Kuwait, however, none of the lesson images on their website had a close match to the video. The video is crowded with boats in the background, which suggests that this location is difficult to get to by foot, meaning that the original video was most likely filmed in an island rather than a coastal beach as pictured on Soar’s website.
Furthermore, we can see that the colors of the sea do not match, and the beach in Kuwait has murkier water. Even when googling beaches in Kuwait there were no similar matches in terms of the colors of the sea that might suggest that the original video was filmed there.
At this point, a higher quality video from Soar’s Facebook profile was found, which depicted the same location and same mishap (but it was edited out!). All of the short clips in this Facebook video were recorded in the same location. This provided ample opportunity to take in all of the geographical markers.
Before addressing the geographical markers, my initial hypothesis was that the original video was filmed in Egypt. From this Instagram post and from Soar’s website, it is evident that Safari trip = Egypt trip. The picture depicted on Instagram with the Safari trip matched well with the original video and the higher quality Facebook video.
The three reasons for coming to this conclusion were: the color of the water, the rocky nature of the soil and the shape of the island.
The color of the water in both pictures is very similar, from the light to dark segmentation, and the shape of the beach as well.
Facebook video, higher quality of original video (left), Instagram promotional video
In the Facebook video that was filmed in the same location as the original video, there is an aerial shot. Another bird’s eye view shot is present in one of Soar’s Instagram video labeled “EGYPT KITE TRIP”. One important thing to keep in mind is that this is a beach. The tides will change the shape of the beach, so looking for a general resemblance while relying on other markers to cross-reference will improve the validity of my hypothesis.
As it can be seen from the images the beach does a curve on the right side (if camera is facing the sea) of the shore. The same “C” shaped curve is present in both the Facebook video that corresponds to the original video and also the Instagram video labeled “EGYPT KITE TRIP”. In addition, from the same videos that were referenced, there is a rocky grey texture along the “C curve” which also matches in both clips.
The “EGYPT KITE TRIP” aerial shot also offers a view of the back of the beach, where the soil becomes darker, with possible rocks or small hills. Not only is the “SOAR SAFARI” post labeled with keywords indicating ‘Egypt trip,’ but the presence of the sea color and rougher patches of soil are also present in the post’s background.
(I did also check if this was in Oman in case the digital marketer for Soar was clueless or misleading and mislabeling the content. However, when I looked at pictures of Masirah Island in Oman- the location where Soar does their Oman trips- it didn’t look like the same beach.)
Now it’s time to find where in Egypt this is.
Where in Egypt?
On their website Soar has a map that pin-points their kite trip locations in Egypt. All the islands were compared with the aerial shots provided until a match was found in Tawila Island.
Kite spot, Tawila Island.
This Kite spot place is the most likely contender. The general shape of the island, the color of the water and the rocky variations as you get further away into the beach indicate that this is where the original video was filmed. Furthermore, when measuring the distance from one end to the other in the part of the beach that looks like the location where the camera person jumped over, a distance of around eight meters is reasonable.
From cross-referencing Instagram posts that were taken in Kite spot commonalities between the original video can be seen. Such as the mountains to the west of Kite spot, which correspond to the geographical composition of the mainland in relation to the island as well.
The same background structures that are present in an influencer video that has been filmed in Kite Spot, Tawila is also present in the Facebook video.
Another island that is present in the Facebook video that was filmed in the same location as the original matches with the geographical composition of the surrounding islands.
From the presented evidence it can be concluded that:
-What are the coordinates of the location shown in the video?
The video took place in the following coordinates: 27.542857405152404, 33.7821766192047 in Kite spot, Tawila Island, Egypt.
Who were the two people involved in the mishap?
Original video.
Beginning with the person holding the camera, the defining features are: a dark skin tone, an orange UV shirt, a yellow kite, a dark blue board and blue shorts.
Through these defining characteristics our camera-person was found in the higher quality Facebook video, providing more detail regarding his face, hairstyle and anklet accessory on his right ankle.
Looking through Soar house’s ‘Tagged’ tab a familiar and prevalent figure was found in their feed. Someone who looks just like the camera-person in the original video. The skin tone and hairstyle match, and the anklet accessory is present as well on his right ankle. The camera-person is Jhon Perez a.k.a @jhon_oceans.
In Perez’s profile, the original mishap video can be found. As per Perez’s post, the other person involved was عمر هشام المنيّع a.k.a @omaralmunayea.
-Who were the two people involved in the mishap?
The camera-person: Jhon Perez a.k.a @jhon_oceans on Instagram.
The person Perez landed on top of: عمر هشام المنيّع a.k.a @omaralmumayea on Instagram.
Conclusion
This is it, I hope you enjoyed my first OSINT write-up. Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or ideas.
Much peace and love!
