Advertisement
Published: February 12th 2010
From Dubai we did a short sidetrip of one week to Oman. Short, but enough to see some highlights and get a taste of a country we probably would never visit otherwise.
Oman is a wealthy country with a high living standard, and is still a very traditional muslim country: all men wear white jalabah's with traditional hats and the woman are dressed in black clothes with veils or burka's. Small mosks can be found on virtually every corner of the street. We can honestly say that Omani people are some of the most welcoming people we met on our trip. Locals are extremely happy to see you and are very helpful. They all want to have a chat with you to practise their English.
Tourism in Oman is still in its infancy and most tourists seem to be coming from Dubai or Abu Dhabi (like us). Oman is still unspoiled by mass tourism and there are a lot of hidden corners in the desert inland, just waiting to be discovered: secret wadi's, ancient fortresses and watchtowers, small mud-brick villages, oases, etc......
It would be ideal to rent a 4-wheel drive in Oman and just head out for
the unknown. We used mainly public transport however (yup, we are on a budget you know). Not always easy. Public transport is very erratic and only between the main cities. All Omani's seem to have their own car as cars and petrol are extremely cheap here (only 25 eurocents for one liter of petrol!!!).
Public buses, food and drinks are also very cheap. Still, Oman is a very expensive destination and that is mainly because there is no budget accomodation: no youth hostels, guesthouses or budget hotels. You really have to look hard to find a hotel under 100 euro per night. Perhaps that is also one of the reasons why there are not so many tourists....
We visited the capital Muscat and Sur along the cost and made our way inland to Nizwa where one of the most famous forts of Oman is located. We hired a 4-wheel drive with driver for 2 days to visit some small traditional villages, explore off the beaten track wadi's and visit Jebel Shams, the highest mountain range in Oman.
We were verry lucky that we hadn't planned these trips one day later because in the whole north of Oman
there were massive rain showers that overfloaded wadis, washed away cars, put streets under water,... There were a lot of accidents with injured and deaths that day and dozens of people had to be evacuated (while we were save in our hotel playing some pool).
The evening visit of the turtle beach in Ras Al Jinz was also an exclusive experience : female green turtles that are born on this beach return at the age of about 37 years to lay more than 100 eggs and they will continue to do so every 3 years. They can reach over 100 years. It's still not clear why they return to the same place and that they use only that beach as nesting area (has it to do with a magnetic field,...?).
The high season for nesting is June to August when the beach is full of them (but when temperatures can reach as high as 55°C!!! so no thanks :-) ). However, normally all year round turtles can be spotted and we were lucky to see 2 green ladies doing some hard labour! End yes it's hard, because they first make 2 deep holes to mislead foxes and other
predators (we saw a white fox looking for some juicy soft eggs...) and then they start making the hole where the eggs will be dropped. After that that hole is completely covered with sand and slowly, step by step, always swinging sand behind her back, the exhausted turtle makes her way back to the sea.
After about 35 days the little ones are ready to crawl out of the shells to make it as quickly as possible to the water. They do so early in the morning and follow the light of the sunrise above the sea. Only 2 % survives because of the predators and other circomstances. We didn't go back in the morning to spot this, but it must also be an amazing sight.
Well, that was Oman. Now only a few more party and shopping days in Dubai and we are back!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0633s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
eve
non-member comment
almost there
Jullie zijn er bijna in geslaagd jullie doel te bereiken, er wacht jullie dan ook een beloning van formaat! Tot snel, Eve