Salalah, Oman in the Dhofar region

Salalah, Oman

Southern Oman, Salalah in the Dhofar region

Our friend Aida made arrangements for all of us to go with her to Salalah in southern Oman. She has a friend, Khalid, who is a well accomplished nature photographer and bird watcher who takes incredible photos. Aida and Khalid made all the plans for our 3 day visit with a focus on bird watching and sight seeing. All we had to do was to get there. David and Stewart left early to meet some people they work with in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

With that said all I had to do was drive to Aida’s house, a 24 minute drive and her sister would take us to the airport. I had arranged my day accordingly. Well……… at 10:30 Aida calls and with her soft, Arabic speaking voice and says “there has been a change in plans. The president of Iran is coming today and the roads are going to be closed. So please come to my house at 1:00 to beat the traffic.” (She lives beyond the airport). The police have to clear the roads. It’s kinda a traffic mess. By the way, the Emir of Kuwait came on Monday and the King of Saudi Arabia is coming next week. I had thought they where coming to say good bye to His Majesty since he has had cancer and may be dying but I got the news tonight that he is feeling better and is able to conduct business. This is good news. The Sultan is a remarkable person and has brought this country from a 3rd world country into a modern nation in the past 50 years..

With this news Shira and I quickly packed and were out the door at noon. We were moving along pretty fast on the road and noticed the other side of the road had already been closed. About a mile from the airport the traffic came to a stop. We sat there for some time and just relaxed. Then suddenly we see these red colored jeep wanglers driving very fast past us. Followed by many other government cars of all sorts. I pulled out my camera and started taking photos, we saw these green jeeps that had machine guns on board, ready to use. With His Majesty behind them and more machine gun jeeps behind His Majesty with many other cars behind them. I’ve been
told they mix the cars up trying to hide which car the sultan is riding in. Slowly the traffic began to move and the ordeal was over until the president of Iran arrived. We did make it past the airport before his arrival.

When we arrived in Salalah, the guys picked us up along with Khalid and we drove off to see Salalah for the weekend. This is a good time to talk a little more about Khalid. He was an excellent guide and could navigate through rough terrain, coastal lagoons and diverse habitats; into areas most people don’t even know about, in his 4 wheel drive plush SUV. Plus he knows all of the best restaurants in the different areas we traveled. The first place Khalid took us to was this outdoor restaurant that serves camel meat. He walks up to the men working and in a short amount of time the staff was bringing outdoors extra tables and chairs while we watched the bread being cooked for us. See video We saw strips of camel meat and goat cooking. We sat down to eat with the full moon shining high above along with a nice mild breeze blowing on us. I like camel… it’s good and from what I understand it is good for you compared to other red meats. No additives added.

In the morning we began bird watching. The first place we went was the landfill and wetland areas. We saw many birds and got plenty of photos. The next place was near a concrete factory that is next to a wadi and a wetland area with pools of water. The water is turquoise and has algae in it but there are many birds there. After a few hours of watching and identifying and photographing birds, we drove through little streams and rough terrain and we ended up in a place where there were many fishing boats and a restaurant. This is where Khalid picked up our lunch which was packed up and ready for us. Khalid announces we will have a picnic, we have no idea what is in store for us next.

Arabic music was turned on and windows are rolled down and off into the mountains we go. This road had steep inclines and many hair pin turns while passing frankincense trees being pointed out to us and watching the camels out onto the horizon. It felt like I was in Oman. At one point there was a road block and we had to show our passports. I understand we are now 80 KM from the Yemen border. We all passed that check in post and shortly after that we took another hair pin turn onto a gravel road. This road takes us past some farm houses and we begin to see more camels, goats, a few head of cattle and donkeys. We end up at a small park/camp grounds and are on the highest peak around looking out onto the turquoise Arabian Sea. There we had the picnic. The fish and rice were wonderful. We wandered around the area talked with campers from all over the world. Some have been traveling for 3 years. One couple was from New Zealand and have the most wonderful camper. They were in the US for 4 months and then shipped the van over to Europe and have now driven down to Oman. They are waiting to see if they can get a visa to go into Saudi Arabia.
The dark blue behind us was the ocean the sky was a little lighter blue.

After lunch we continued driving down more steep backroads and more hairpin turns on gravel roads. During this descent we had to stop a number of times for camels crossing. There were many nooks backed into the rocky mountain base were the camel keepers lived, very primitive. Many of the camels where pregnant. We did see few calves following their mothers. They didn’t seem to mind we were there and would move on when they felt like it. At one point I got out of the car and asked a camel keeper if I could take his photo and he posed proudly. We ended up where the mountains meet the turquoise Arabian sea. There were rock formations like I’ve never seen with countless caves. These rocks look so old. When looking up onto the mountains I can see cave like entrances and can only imagine what animal, bird or reptile might live in there.

Khalid pulled out folding chairs and set them on the beach and got his little one burner stove out and made tea and we all sat and watched the sunset drinking Omani tea with cardamon.. Then started back up the mountain passing the camels with no care in the world, who don’t want to move to the side so we can pass. After my short time observing camels I’m fascinated by how the chew. They seem to continuously be chewing and it doesn’t even look like there is anything in there to chew. When the jaw closes it moves from side to side while moving up and down. My jaws hurt thinking about it.

We did pass camps where the camel keepers live and they all had camp fires ablaze. We drove back into town. Khalid wanted us to see where people buy their bananas. It’s really cool to see. There are all these outdoor markets one by one all selling bananas. Oman grows these excellent, very small bananas that are so sweet with a little tang to it.

Now it’s time to go to the Souk. We all tried on kumas (men’s caps) and bought frankincense and had dinner at the oldest Pakistani restaurant in Salalah. The meal was wonderful. I’m becoming a big fan of Pakistani food.

Once again we had bread they made to order. I’m not much of a bread person and have been trying to not eat wheat until I arrived in Oman. Now I’m fascinated with all the different breads there are and how easy they make it look to cook. The flat bread is cooked many different ways and it’s main purpose it to pick up food instead of using sliver ware. No forks or spoons in many places. Some people take rice between their fingers and squish it around in their hand making it firmer and to form a ball. Eating rice with your fingers is not easy and messy. I watch the Omanis and they are so neat at it. I usually have a mess around where I’ve been eating. Of course it doesn’t help that I’m seating cross legged and trying to get the food to my mouth before it all falls all over the place. I suppose if I had started eating that way as a child I’d have it perfected by now but I’m getting better at it.

Aida has been wanting to get a few new abaya’s made for work. So after dinner Khalid took us to an area where there are a considerable amount of women tailors in one area. We all went into a tailor shop and helped her shop for fabric. She chose 3 different types of fabric and the tailor had these completed before we left on Saturday night. Stewart thought I should buy one. But I’d never wear it. I will say the Muslim women don’t have to worry about changing their outfit everyday or worry about their hair if they are having a bad hair day. We made it back to our flat around midnight.

9:00 am we were to be picked up and we took off for more bird watching. That day we went to a wetland area near the ocean and followed it up north most of the time driving through the desert sands and around wetland areas that are next to the shoreline. We saw many birds and more camels. This time it was a camel train they had formed and they slowly followed one another staying together. I hopped out of the van and took a video. I forgot to turn off video, so you might just want to stop it after the camels disappear on film. opps

Outside of Mirbat, Khalid wanted to share with us a sacred cemetery and to see Mohammed Bin Ali tomb. Dhofar is known for it’s history of important pre-Islamic sites. As we were walking up to the small mosque I saw a little green bird fly by. I didn’t mention it to anyone at that time. I wanted to see and hear about this tomb and what made it so important that Khalid wanted us to see it.

Bin Ali is said to be a descendant of the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, he died here around 1160, Khalid explained. No photos are allowed inside. I set my camera down, took off my shoes and went inside. There stood a very long tomb cover with a velvet cloth. Shira remarked about the size of the tomb. Come to find out Bin Ali’s family are also inside the tomb. We walked around the room listening to stories Khalid told us. In front of the tomb there was a large dark stone with arabic writing carved into it. I thought it looked like wood but it was stone, I set my hands gently on the stone touching the carved letters, I could feel an enormous amount of energy when doing so, which brought tears to my eyes and heart.

It was time to leave so the shoes went back on and we started to drive out when Khalid stopped quickly. He was looking out the window and said a Green Bee-eater. I was on the right side of the car and grabbed my camera. I had no idea what I was looking for or where it was. I finally found it and just then it flew away. I was told to wait a minute and it will come back. So I waited and sure enough the bird did come back to the same place. I was successful getting one descent shot.
That was the bird I saw when walking up to the mosque. This photo will have much meaning to me. Once again I’m so grateful.

While driving I have noticed watering troughs made from concrete. Some are fed by natural springs some have water brought in. So if you want to see any animals out in the desert, hang out at a watering trough. Some of the pools and little springs have algae in them caused by the animals but I was told in June and July when the rains come it’s all washed out and is fresh water again. And all the vegetation comes back.

Khalid took us through an interesting area of Mirbat where there were crumbling buildings next to large new homes. There was a large amount of dhows there like the ones we saw being built in Sur. These are boats people live in and they fish out of them. It was time for lunch and we where taken to this very cool restaurant that had little huts to sit in. Khalid ordered our food and out came salad, noodles with seafood, rice and whole fish. It was excellent and a charming place to sit under the palm thatched roof. It was in the 80’s the shade was welcoming to us all.

Back into the car we headed into the mountains that eventually took us to the ocean where there’s an area where porpoises swim. It was beautiful but very windy. We traveled a little further to a small village where the government has built this housing complex and a little hospital. Families were all hanging outside of their old homes (what was left of them) and kids were running around in packs and we were their entertainment for a moment while driving through these narrow passage ways. Just down the road from there Khalid wanted us to see these drooping rock formations hanging from high peaks with water continuously dripping and there was a large concrete pool that the water would land in. Very interesting.

Khalid cooked tea on the beach while Aida wrapped Stewart and Davids heads with these wonderful scarfs called mussar she had bought for them.
Shira and I walked the beach and I found 2 heart shaped rocks. We sipped tea while the sun set and headed back to Mirbat where we had lunch earlier in the day. This time we met up with Khalid’s friends for dinner. When we arrived to the restaurant Khalid walked in and the the staff scurried around and escorted us to a back room. Along came Khalid’s friends and we had another wonderful meal eating with our hands and listening to wonderful conversations. We were invited to go to the beach to sit around a campfire and to meet more of Khalid’s friends. Which we did and a nice way to end a long day. We arrived in our rooms a little after midnight.

Day three. If there is a wadi there are usually falajs somewhere near by. When I see something green in the distance there is usually a wadi or falaj near by. As we drove through the sandy desert countryside I saw so many camels grazing everywhere. There is almost no vegetation due to the high volume of grazing. On this last day I began to see many heads of cattle in the mountains, valleys and desert. When looking at the areas where they are grazing, I wondered how there can be enough food for them? And where is the water?

Khalid was focusing on birds this trip and he was taking us to areas where there are wadis and/or small pools of water with different habitats than we had seen. These natural springs are well known to the people who live in the area. And there is usually an area for the people to enjoy. At these locations there is usually some sort of structure built from stone to help maintain the quality of the water and to keep the animals out. This is also where we saw unusual birds.

Here in Oman the drinking water is desalinated. Outside of Sur, last week, we drove past a huge plant where desalination of sea water was being processed.

We had lunch in an area where there was a shaded building for people to sit and nearby there was a formation in the base of a mountain that looked like a cave. I walked over to it and looked in and there was a natural spring. It was dry but the watering trough close by was full. I could hear a call from a camel and it was slowly walking my way I kept my eye on it and realized it was coming for water and could care less about me.
We spent rest of the day in and out of 4 wheel driving slowly in this area and finding new birds and ended up in an open valley next to a cave like space where Khalid made us tea and we ate all the cookies and fruit we had left.
We watched the sun set and took off back to Salalah to grab our bags and pick up Aida’s abayas.

We had one more stop before flying out. That was to go to Khalid’s sister’s home where she makes unique incense and I wanted to buy some. We stopped at her home which is in a dense neighborhood with kids hanging out who did not know what to think about all of us. We went inside her home and the incense burner was hot, Aida would put a little of the different mixtures of bark on the hot coals so I could smell which one I would like. I bought a whole jar for 5 rials which is a very good price. Hope you all enjoy it when you come to visit me after I get back. tee hee !!

By the time we left Salalah we had identified over 60 different birds. Saw loads of camels, too many to count. Herds of cattle, goats, and some mules. We saw three wonderful sunsets and lots of different colored sand. And ate wonderful food.

We rushed to the air port and arrived to our home in Muscat after midnight.

Thank you Khalid for being a wonderful host you have
given me many memories I’ll grow old with.