Salalah

In southern Oman lies the region of Dhofar and and on its southern most tip is the city of Salalah, looking out onto the Arabian sea, famed for being the only place in the Arabian peninsula for having monsoon weather in its summer months. Given the average temperature here in Al Ain during the summer months is almost in the fifties, off we set on the epic 1000km (that's right, you heard me!) adventure across the desert.

For hundreds of miles all there is to see is the barren empty desert and the dusty road ahead. this is a solid 12hour drive (without stops) which is only broken up by the occasional petrol stations and on this occasion the tourists flocking southwards as we were. Though the road is empty here, at times it was a little like wacky races as everyone was going hell for leather to try and reach Salalah!

After what seemed like forever (driven all night and arrived the next morning) you eventually reach the Dhofar mountain range shrouded in a blanket of mist. Given the air temperature is still in the mid to top forties where we took this picture, a strange but welcoming sight.

This is where we start the ascent up into the hills...

Once inside the hills the weather changes dramatically with temperatures plummeting to the low twenties, mist, fog and drizzle abound not unlike an autumn day back in blighty but the most shocking sight of all is the greenery....there's vegetation everywhere!

Once over the mountain range we enter salalah city itself, a very naturally green place with an abundance of palm trees everywhere but hang on a sec...these arent date palms...they're coconut palms!!!

Here's me checking out the local fare, as well as coconuts, there are banana's, mango's, sugar cane, papaya etc. You would be forgiven for thinking that you were on some tropical island on the Indian sub continent instead of Arabia.

The man from Al-Ain says...yes!

After getting some rest, the next day we went off exploring. The area pictured is Mughaysal beach.

A spectacularly carved shoreline with monsoon waves crashing down on the cliff face made this an awesome sight to behold!

Duh...enough with the words, heres a video!

Mughaysal is locally renowned for the spectacular blowholes that have been carved into the rocks!

Two nutters...all it would take is one abnormally large wave to come crashing down and off they go to meet their maker!

This is Khor Ruri (or Ruri creek), an inlet to the ancient ruined seaport through which the lucrative global trade of Frankincense (once, weight for weight, more valuable than gold!) was once conducted.

And this is the ruined city of Samharam, a UNESCO world heritage site overlooking the creek. It is very likely that the frankincense, as in one of the gifts carried by the 3 wise men, would have come through this city on its way northwards and also reputed to be where the Queen of Sheba would have appropriated her supply of frankincense.

after driving down the hillside we reached mouth of the creek.

with a very nice beach...

and what are the chances...camels on the beach!

Wadi Darbat

This is one of the reasons why thousands of people flock to Salalah` from miles around. Wadi Darbat is a valley of picturesque green that could be something straight out of our own Lake District.

surrounded by misty hills...

and a tranquil lake at its centre next to which you can relax and while away the hours till the cows come home (yes that is actually a herd of cows on the other side of the lake!).

Whilst out exploring, we came across this travertine (type of sedimentary rock) cliff face.

normally there is a water fall here as the rain water that collects in wadi Darbat comes cascading over the cliff face.

Its not obvious but it was quite a mission scrambling up here in the 4wd with a very potholed graded track that required me to engage all the the gadgets on the 4wd (low gear, centre and rear diff etc.) and some skillful driving to negotiate the climb hence the look of achievement! I only wish i could have caught it on video for you folks at home :-(

In and around Salalah there are a number of historical claims to fame including the tomb of the prophet Imran (and family, as.) and the tomb of the prophet Ayub (biblically known as Job as.). Personally i thought it would be more appropriate to buck the trend of turning the ritual of paying ones respect to prophets deceased into a touristy photo shoot frenzy. Hence there are no actual pictures of their respective tombs. On the other hand when we went to visit the tomb of Ayub (as.) it was a winding and at times treacherous journey through steep and narrow mountain passes (I wonder how he ended up there - it really was a mission to get there!). As the time for Magrib (evening prayer) approached the mist and fog really set in reducing us down to zero visibilty and with the onset of drizzle really did turn the mood into one of foreboding dread on the thought of the journey back down the mountain when suddenly the mist cleared a little and out in the middle of nowhere was this mosque that came up on us as an abandoned ghost ship would do out of some Victorian horror novel. The mosque was very eerie, no doubt due to its location, so we made haste to pray quickly and be one our way.

On one of our last trips exploring the local sights and terrain before we left Salalah we went to visit the Tawi Atayr (or well of birds) sinkhole, at 180m in diameter and 211m deep, one of the biggest in the world and a surprising find in one of the more quieter neighbourhoods that is planet earth.

If you listen carefully you can actually hear the birds! however as always I just couldn't capture such a spectacular scene with my camera phone so here a better picture...
http://www.ngsprints.co.uk/popup_image.php?pID=118271ℑ=0