Traditional Dhow Exhibition, Katara, Doha, Qatar

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Sonya

This evening we ventured into Doha’s valley of culture, Katara to the First Traditional Dhow Exhibition in the Gulf region. The Dhow is the name for traditional Arab sailing vessels. For the last 13 centuries, dhows were used as the main trading vessels sailing to India and East Africa and were commonly used by fishermen and pearl divers.

Dhows are not an unfamiliar sight in Doha. They are seen docked along the Arabian Gulf on the harbours of the corniche, however the exhibition was a chance to see the Dhow up close. We arrived as the sun was setting providing a beautiful view of the bay. A lot of the dhows seemed to be Omani (probably from Sur), and were built over forty years ago.

Nizwa and Jebal Shams, Oman

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Sonya

Our planned travel itinerary was a loop from Muscat to Sur to Wahiba Sands to Nizwa and back to Muscat. On our fourth day we had woken up in the dunes of Wahiba Sands where we finished off the desert adventure with some mild ‘dune bashing’. We left the desert and headed to our next destination, Nizwa.

Nizwa

Nizwa is one of the larger cities in Oman, and also one of the oldest. It was once a centre of trade, religion, education and art. I was keen to visit the animal souq there as I had heard bedouin women trade their goats and other livestock there. Unfortunately, much of the souq was closed due to the Eid holiday, and in fact most of the city was closed. We did however manage to enter the Nizwa Fort (which is one of the most amazing looking forts we’d seen), and view the Nizwa Mosque. Some of the shops in the souq were open allowing us to observe the wonderful silverware and handicraft the city is famous for. We had some shawarmas at a very local restaurant and then the real adventure began!

Jebel Shams

We headed to Jebel Shams, the highest mountain peak in Oman at about 3000 metres. It is part of the Al Hajar mountain ranges. During our research we had read that the peak is frequently visited and camping on the plateau nearby is quite popular. After a winding drive up the ranges we stopped at a few scenic look out points. There were plenty of mainly Indian expat families doing day trips from Nizwa or Muscat. One of the main attractions is the beautiful gorge which is often described as the Grand Canyon of Arabia. Since we had a 3WD we decided to explore the off road tracks. It was a bit cooler on the ranges and we wondered if our plan to camp was the best idea. Nevertheless we were intent on doing it.

After driving to a few different spots and meeting many of the local children (who were bold enough to ask for sweets – I gave them the rest of our Haldiram’s burfi – an Indian sweet, and mandarins) we found a nice spot on the edge (but not to close) of the cliff… surrounded by some rocks. It seemed to have been used as a campsite before as a few camp fires were still visible. We setup our tent and Travis used his skills from watching various survival shows – to set up a campfire. To our luck one of the local kids had a box of matches (which we had forgotten to bring with us) which he sold to us for 1 OMR – a bit steep but he could sense we needed it. Value selling, I guess. We returned it to him the following morning anyway!

We had set up our tent and the campfire and by then were eating our takeaway biryani when some Indian families looking around stopped by to make use of our fire. They were surprised to find out that we were camping there that night and keen to look inside our tent (perhaps they had not seen one before?). A number of mountain goats had appeared (they have a good sense of smell), interested to see what we could offer them. As the sunset we gathered more firewood and watched as the last of the sun shone on the gorges eliminating them in beautiful red and orange colours.

That night we slept, well, relatively peacefully. The wind was quite strong and it did get a little chilly – thank goodness for sleeping bags! In addition there were some youths parked at another lookout from us and we could hear them partying all night. All in all camping on Jebel Shams is definitely fun experience!

Wahiba Sands – a sandy desert in Oman

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Travis

From Sur we headed east along the Ash Sharqiyah coast through Ras Al Hadd, and then followed part of the Arabian Sea before heading inland.

Our accommodation for that night was the 1000 Nights Camp, located forty kilometres into the Wahiba Sands desert. After a lot of backtracking north-west into Oman, we reached the location marker, a Shell petrol station. From there we drove north passing Al Mintrib Fort, one of the last markers, we reached the last of the paved road, passing many tourist warning signs along the way. I deflated the tires to the recommended 18 psi, this was going to be interesting, I thought.

The driving to the camp was easy, even though located deep within Wahiba Sands desert, the road was frequently travelled, with many signs and other cars to follow, we were glad to not have paid the 20 OMR for the escort service. The camp was located at the floor of a valley, though it was it the middle of nowhere, it was a surprise to see it offered, electricity (though temperamental), a swimming pool, luxurious glass windowed accommodation with balcony, mobile phone signal, and even wireless (though we couldn’t get it to work). Our accommodation for the night was a cosy Arabic Tent, which even had a single electric light.

Prior to dinner, Sonya and I decided to do a bit of ‘dune bashing’, having never driven in the sand before, I was surprised how easy the four-wheel-drive made it, though I and especially Sonya were always uneasy with what I and the car would be capable of, and as we were by ourselves, I didn’t want to take too many risks.

Back at the camp we had a buffet dinner of various Omani dishes, with the highlight being the traditional Omani Shuwa (Showa), spiced lamb wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked in an earth oven for the whole day. After dinner we were treated to a performance of traditional Omani songs and dancing, which even got the camp guests participating.

In the morning we spent a little more time enjoying the desert dunes before heading north towards our next destination, Nizwa.

1000 Nights Camp

Muscat to Sur, Wadi Shab and Wadi Tiwi, Oman

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Travis

After Muscat was when the real outdoor adventure that Oman is famous for started, we picked up our Toyota Prado rental, the first time I had driven a true four wheel drive, this was going to be fun, I thought.

After stopping to pick up some supplies from the supermarket, plenty of water and non-perishable food items, we drove east towards Sur. After one hour we reached the tiny town of Yiti, this was where we realised we had driven in the wrong direction, so we backtracked back to Muscat and went south instead.

Wadi Shab

There wasn’t too much to see until we reached the first of the Wadi’s in the afternoon, Wadi Shab. The entrance to the Wadi is marked by the main dual carriageway slung across the entrance, we parked the car and headed into the Wadi. Throughout the Wadi is lush vegetation and turquoise pools of water, at some points shoes need to be removed to cross small streams. After about one hour we reached a large pool of water, continuing past, mostly by swimming we reached the final pool, there was a tiny crack in the rocks with which only our heads could past while remaining above water. Inside the enclosed cave was a beautiful water fall.

This would have been all the more enjoyable if I wasn’t holding the camera and passports in plastic garbage bag all this time.

From there we made our way back to the entrance of Wadi Shab walking in dusklight, we were surprised by the now risen water which we had to wade through.

At nightfall we drove to Wadi Tiwi where after driving a little into the Wadi in pitch black, decided it would be much safer to either turn around or camp for the night. That night we slept in the roomy four wheel drive.

Wadi Tiwi

Roosters woke us up in the morning, and we found ourselves in quite a nice spot, a bit of water and dense palm trees. Also, the first of the hikers passed us by foot, who must have parked at the main road.

We continued following the road into the Wadi, not as beautiful as Wadi Shab, I thought, but it may have been the driving into the Wadi was not the same as walking. We left Wadi Tiwi for Sur.

Sur

Sur was a really nice little town, plenty of small historic forts and castles and a great location on the port with many dhows (Arabic boat). Our arrival that day also corresponded with the start of the Islamic holiday Eid, and many families were slaughtering goats, not just to enjoy the meat during the three day holiday, but also as a tradition where the sacrifice of an animal commemorates the sacrifice of son Ishmael by his father Abraham.

A few of the places we visited in Sur were;

Ayjah Lighthouse
Al Hamoodah Fort
Alayah Watchtowers
Al Sunaysilah Castle
Bilad Sur Castle

From Sur we travelled further east along the coast, past Ras al Hadd (marking the joining of Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea) to our next destination, a camp located somewhere in the vast Wahiba Sands Desert.