SULTANATE OF OMAN


Kuwait Airways flew us to Muscat and we got keys to our vehicle for following 10 days: Toyota Prado 4WD. We packed our stuff into it, enough space: phew!
First impression when started driving towards Muscat from the airport, was that the traffic is easygoing, rules are obeyed, roads are in fantastic condition and Oman is absolutely gorgeus!
Clean, organised, hilly. Sea. Sun.
I won't tell so much about Muscat because what we did there was mainly to buy items for our big road trip. Of course, the corniche was nice, and the souq was good, and the city itself is relly pretty.

Water

The direction from Muscat was south, following the road next to the sea. Though very first we drove towards the mountains, where we eventually found our first wadi, Wadi As Sywayh. The best wadis require a 4WD to reach, in deed, driving in the mountains and canyons on bumpy gravel, and after some time the oasis just pops up in front of you. Here we prepared lunch, got a swim to wash away the biggest exhaust of the sun. This was the most beautiful place I've been to. However, we didn't camp here due to the near location to this one remote and apparently inhabited village. We drove back to the coast, and found ourselves camping next to the ocean. Here we slept our first night outdoors, under the stars.
Next day we continued along the coast side. We stopped at the famous White Beach of Oman, to do some snorkeling. It supposed to have good view for coral, but we didn't find it... So we continued driving, and eventually reached Wadi Tiwi, where we set our next camp. Here we had an easy-going evening, swimming, eating and walking about to wonder the beauty of the nature. Under the stars again, we had a great time, even did some naked-swimming in the dark and as we had a habit, washed our throats with whiskey before going to sleep. And sometimes repeated this first thing in the morning.
Next day we drove to Ras Al-Jinz, which is the eastern-most point of Oman. Tomi named the place Möhkö of Oman because of this.
In the evening we saw a turtle lying her 100 eggs in the sand. The guide told us that this turtle was some 80 years old and weight 60 kg. The turtles can reach some 160 years of age and 100 kg. Very moving to see this ancient ritual, this was one of the great highlights in the trip. Morning time it was free to go to the beach to find more turtles and we saw one crawling back to the sea after hiding her eggs. It seemed to be a huge job for her, and I was happy when she made it back to the ocean.

Desert

"The great Wahiba sands are longitudinal dunes 200 km long and 100 km wide running south from the Eastern Hajars to the Arabian Sea. The dunes are 100-150 metres high in shades of colour from orange to hues of amber." (Source: http://www.destinationoman.com/destination.html)

We found ourselves to the Wahiba Sands Camp at the beduins and experienced another thing we never experienced before: Desert. Hot sand burning toes and sun burning neck. Wondering about this amount of sand, sitting in shadow, sipping water.
The camp here really is held by real beduins, friendly folks with great sense of humor. This is something totally anti-arabic really!
First day activity here was the dyne-bashing. The air from the tires was reduced to some 80% and so driving up-and-down the dynes became possible. As rollacoster is too much for me, dyne-bashing gave biiiig adrenaline. But so much fun! Only thing I was worried about was if the Prado is going to survive this, but it did. Fantastic experience, though our Finnish team was called 'Team Turtle' after we made it back to the camp: our driving skills weren't that great after all!
In the evening it was time to relax by eating great supper and sipping some beer (and whiskey and baileys) and sheesha as a dessert.
Morning time we were greeted by (not so friendly) beduin women, who sold out camel-rides for some 200 metres. Fun to try that for 2 euros though.
Afterwards, the desert was propably the most memorable experience on this trip.

Mountains

Western-Hajar mountains and Al Jabal Al Akdhar was calling us next. After spending over a week in around +40, climbing up the mountain road and watching the thermometer dropping degree by degree, 2000 meters altitude greeted us with chilly +25. The roads even to the mountains are in real good condition, though pretty steep (4WD required).
One (expensive) hotel was up there, the clerk asked for 120 euros per night. No thank you, and continued even higher up, to the small but relatively new village called Sayq. Here we eventually found a great apartment -hotel, for some 15 euros per person per night. And really comfortable. The owner was an old, well respected man, but for us it seemed the reception was held mainly by his son (23 years old) Nabil.
Nabil was very kind and helpful right from beginning, told us about Omani history, and even invited us for a late night coffee to his home. This was an honour not to skip, so we went. Nabil guided us to his house and to a guest room, where he served us Omani coffee (arabic, with cardemom) and dates, fresh grenade apples, oranges and bananas. All this grown near by, he told us. After a nice visit, we were ready to sleep. We really felt, all of us, the 2000 metres altitude difference in our bodies.
After a good night sleep we all were really tired still. Virve got fever. Anyway, she wanted to join as we completed our first trek. It was an easy one, through some abandoned and not so abandoned small villages. Beautiful and easy trek through plantasions, between the mountain and the wadi, ending to Diane's Point, where the view is something like breath taking. Also, Al Jabal Al Akdhar offers Wadi Bani Habib, where I got bit by a bee and I don't want to talk about this place.
After 2 days in Sayq, we drove to another mountain, Jabal Shams, where our mission was to conquer the highest point of Oman (3000 meters). We did our longest trek here, a daytrip really, and reached some 2500 metres where we prepared lunch, rested and turned back. But how high we got was not important. The views, again, were. This trek was to Grand Canyon of Oman, and it really reminded me about the one in Arizona. If possible to say it, this was the best of the Western Hajar. Very good trek!
When we drove back down from the mountains, we saw some ancient tombs, visited Nizwa and returned Prado to the airport.

What I knew about Oman 6 months ago: Nothing. And this is a good thing I guess; If there is no news to media, and it is an islamic country, this got to be good place to visit. And it sure was. In every possible way.