Barzan Towers (Umm Salal Muhammed Fort), Qatar

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Travis

Barzan Towers, also known as Umm Salal Muhammed Fort is a fortification built by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Jassim Al Thani in the late 19th to early 20th Century. The word Barzan in Arabic means ‘elevation’ or ‘high place’, this name given due to the sixteen metre height of the watchtowers. Not to be confused with the similar named modern skyscraper located on the Corniche at Doha city.

Barzan Towers is short thirty minutes drive twenty-five kilometres north-west from Doha city. An easy attraction to reach, it will most likely be the first found when exploring Qatar.

Umm Salal Muhammed Fort features traditional Gulf and Arabic style architecture with wooden elements, including doors and roof. A mosque is located in one of the adjacent buildings to the towers.

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.