Road Tripping in Oman

People say that Oman is the Gem of the Middle East and after hiking through it’s canyons bathed in golden light, swimming in it’s turquoise waters and watching the sunset into the red sands of it’s Empty Quarter I most certainly do agree. We spent the week road tripping through this beautiful country and I must say it is world’s away from it’s very close and glitzy neighbor-The UAE. 

It is hard to compare to the lush beautiful vistas of the Colombian rainforests but there is something to be said about the true comfort of safety. The guide book states that the only two dangers in Oman are flash floods and getting lost in the desert. Which means you can comfortably hike and explore with out fear of being robbed, kidnapped or harassed. We would leave our truck parked on the side of the road loaded with all our belongings- all with out even a thought. (More than I can say when we lived in Hawaii) We camped wherever we wanted, and were always greeted by a smile from the Omani people.  I have to say that I felt more secure road tripping and camping in this country than I have in the US. There are no crazies, drunks, bad neighborhoods, thieves or the idea of trespassing or camping illegally-everywhere is accessable. How funny to find so much freedom in the Middle East- A place notorious for it’s conservatism.

Here were a few of our amazing camp spots...

But with that said I have to say “It is a man’s world!” Living in Abu Dhabi is very international, it is a city and there are a ton of foreigners. But here out into the villages you quickly learn the role of the woman. Basically it is non-existent. I just came from a culture that taught me to greet everyone at every moment- no exceptions. But here woman don’t greet men and Men surely do not greet women. I felt invisible as everyone addressed Aaron and never made eye contact with me. There were times that I liked this, it was easy to be anti-social. But for the first time in my life it felt strange to be a woman, I almost felt guilty or ashamed. It is not necessary for woman to cover here but there were times I did and more times where I wanted to but didn’t.

After mistakenly driving up to this village with the idea that there was a road on the other side, I decided to cover. This was by far the scariest road we have ever driven up. We were squeezing between buildings and people had to get off their stoop to let us by. Then we realized it was a dead end and wondered how we would turn around!

This young country tells a fascinating story. Less than 40 years ago it had no secondary and only two primary schools, two hospitals run by the American mission and a meagre 10km of sealed roads! And now, the beloved Sultan has taken a unique and sophisticated approach to modernizing this Country. In building a modern state, the Sultan’s strategy has been to create a highly trained local workforce through intensive investment in education. Schooling is free, and available to all children even in the remotest villages. There has been no distinction in this approach between the genders. Oman does not have the wealth of oil like it’s neighboring gulf states and therefore cannot afford to import all it’s employees. I have to say that it was quite refreshing to see Oman’s working in their own country from the gas pump to the bank’s it is an all Omani work force. A huge difference from the UAE. Omani’s has come a long way- it is possible to drive to even the most remote villages on roads and the Sultan has earned numerous awards for his stance on the environment and what an environment it is! Oman may not have the oil but it has the geography to attract tourism. Oman has a huge coastline with beautiful reef for snorkeling and remote beaches were 4 out of the world’s five sea turtles lay their eggs year round. This country also has breath taking Wadi’s (deep canyons) where one can hike, cave, cliff jump, swim and explore. The Omani’s are smiley people who are proud of their country. They are rich in culture and preserving their way of life but are open-minded and tolerant of other sects of Islam and other walks of lives.

Two friendly Omani's. They asked if they could take my photo- which I thought how boring...why would they want a photo of me- especially since I had been camping for 5 days straight! I in turn wanted a photo of them. They are wearing the traditional Omani clothes...the long robe of the dish dasha and the embroided hat (which is suppose to be embroided by a loved one)

This was a well needed and a well spent holiday. Despite the painfully long wait at the border and my case of bronchitis we are coming back feeling good.

Oddly and luckily we bumped into one of Aaron’s student’s and their friends at the border and since they had traveled here before they invited us to camp with them for the first night since we had no idea and no plan at all. This turn of events brought us to some amazing spots and we in turn made some really cool friends. The parent’s of the student are Arab (Syrian) and taught us a lot of the culture and language. They had us entertained with some Syrian stories (that I would say are radio worthy) The strange thing is that before living in the UAE they had been living in Bend and the other couple we were with were also from Oregon. I got on really well with the woman who had coincidently worked in the fisheries of Alaska both in Prince William Sound and in the Kenai.  I found her to be so fun, humble and interesting and perhaps the most likely candidate for a friend here in the UAE.

The crew we hung out with the first few days

We stuck with those guys for a few days and then after some 4x4 damage to our car we went our own way and well I guess the photos can tell the rest of the story…..

We did a bit of off roading...

And then we ended up here....

We blew a bushing- okay well broke a bushing and here after literally knocking on peoples door and asking people in the street for help we finally found someone willing to help us on the Holiday. You see EVERYTHING during the Eid Holiday is closed. But this group of Pakistani men offered their help but it was a bit less then proffessional- since before seeing if they could find the part they took the car apart and then when they couldn't find the part they just decided to make one. The told us it would be fine for at least 6 months or so. Real reassuring.

While they searched for the part we drank tea with them and watched them cut up some cow leg for some soup.

But before the car trouble we had two amazing days of hiking, swimming, climbing and jumping through wadis (canyons) The second day was the highlight as we explored up a quiet wadi and even crossed some remote villages.

We all just jumped....and Aaron of course did a back flip

Oasis

After repairing the truck we headed to the capital city of Muscat and down the coast. Where we snorkled, and camped on a beach where huge turtles came in the night to lay eggs.

Aaron swimming in a  sink whole full of brackish water just off the coast

The goats perhaps found the only patch of grass in town. Did I mention that the goats in this country have a stronger presence (and more social freedom) then woman. In towns you would find hoards of men and tons of sheep but a woman was hard to find.

Dows at low tide

What you wear to the beach....

Drying fish in the sand=stinkfest!

One sea turtles fight for survival. Out of 10,000 eggs 2 will make it to adult hood. We woke up at 5am to walk the beach and what we found where HUGE holes with a tracks of a very large sea turtle leading to the ocean and then as the day light broke the babies emerged from the shells beneath sand and made their way to the ocean. Pretty spectacular show. 

This Wadi was an real life water park....with slides, chains, rocks for jumping, and caves...

We drove into the sand dunes for the first time on the edge of the empty quarter that eventually leads to Saudi Arabia. Camel racing is a popular sport and here people practice riding their camels.

From the desert we traveled up a long way into a completey different environment. Cool weather, steep cliffs, remote villages, pomegranate orchids and ruins. Oh yeah and a huge rain storm that soaked us in our tent.

Souq in Nizwa (a market) where the most popular items where spices and Oman's treasured frankincense.