Second Time Around Part II

Wahiba Sands, Oman

Second Time Around Part II

While I’m talking about wadis, we had a wonderful swim at Wadi Bani Khalid before we went to the desert.
This was my second time to this wadi so I knew to bring something to wear swimming. The Muslims do not like women to be in swim wear so I had brought shorts and the shirt. Before we got into the water I became mesmerized by looking deep into this blue/green water. The fish, grasses and moss got my attention and I had some luck taking some photos. I hope you enjoy them.

The water was magnificent and the swim will be rememberable.

This was my second visit to the Nomadic Desert camp. The desert itself seems to draw me there but this camp helps with the total experience. What I like about Nomadic Desert Camp is there is no electricity so it’s quiet and the night sky is dreamy.

I love the little huts that are made from Palm branches and the beds are comfortable. The family who runs the camp is genuinely kind and want you to experience Omni hospitality at its best. We have had the opportunity to have Hamid as our host both times there. He is in his late 20’s and is a delight to be around. He does a great job showing people around the world a true desert experience. Jessie was with us and is about the same age and when we met outside the desert at a station to let out the air in our tires, the two of them connected and he invited
her to join him in the ride into the desert. He had music on that he likes and off we all went following him into the sandy dunes. Jessie loved the fact that she now got a chance to hear
music that people her age listen to. After our arrival we gathered together with 2 other couples
and drove further into the desert. Hamid wanted to share some time with the camels while they are being fed. Hamid is really good at encouraging people to go bare foot and to pet the camels. He took me into a fenced in area where the mother and her 1 week old calf were. I was a bit nervous due to the fact mothers of any animal do not necessarily like people near their babies. He encouraged me that this is okay, as he is cuddling with the calf while the mother is chewing away on dry green grass. I did begin to pet the little one. Oh so sweet. I have learned that camels are social animals. When it was time to leave after much affectionate petting with the camels outside the fenced in area, Hamid said, “don’t run, walk slowly”. I asked, why? He explained that the camels don’t want us to go and will follow us to the car if we run they will run too and could possibly run us down by their clumsiness. We hopped in the cars and said goodbye as we drive into the dunes for a sunset. There was a sand storm in Saudi Arabia which made the sky dull so there was not much of a sunset view. Luckily, it was not windy so we sat up on the dune until Hamid had the Omani coffee brewing on the open fire. He insisted we sit close together since there were only 6 of us so it would be more intimate and cozy. Out came the dates and we all chatted.

We became aquatinted with the two other couples and ended up eating dinner together. They are from Netherlands, Germany and Italy. We ended up talking about Trump and they talking about their governments. What I have learned through these different chats with people is that Europe is having similar problems with the changes in their governments and having like fears and concerns. We all decided we should move to Oman. haha!

After dinner Hamid asked us to come to the camp fire that he had made. Around the camp fire there are large Persian style rugs laid out with very thick cushions to sit or lay back on. It is a perfect place to lay back and gaze out into the sky.

Conversations where happening in smaller groups, Hamid, Jessie and I visited for a long while. We did end up talking about the Muslim faith and how the Quran talks about food and eating meat and how the animals are to be killed. Respectfully is a word Hamid used a number of times. He has a healthy attitude towards life and a good sense of humor.

While we were sitting around Jessie turned her flashlight on facing towards the sand. Hamid calls a flashlight a torch. Jessie was surprised to see this huge spider. We all took a look and it was on the creepy side. Very large, cream colored with a little black lines on it. It’s called a camel spider and goes back 800 BC. It lays it’s eggs in the sand and is non poisonous. That was my first question to Hamid. After seeing that spider I learned there are scorpions and poisonous snakes in the area. Thankfully I did not see either one of those. But I did hear stories about how people eat scorpions the shell and all. Creep me out! On my morning walk I did see trail marks in the sand that looked like it could have been made by a snake.

In the morning I did walk into the high sand dunes to find a peaceful place to sit and be thankful and breathe in the fresh air.

When I got back to the camp Hamid had a campfire ablaze and was rolling out his flat bread that he bakes on the hot coals. He makes it look so easy. Stewart and Jessy were sitting near by and having their morning coffee and getting ready for the camel ride.

I did not ride the camel this time. As much as I would have liked. Hamid tried his hardest to get me back on a camel and promised he’d pick out the calmest camel he has but I stuck to my concerns of my neck. The last time I rode the camel, as the camel went down on his knees the gravity threw me forward then when he laid down on his back legs it threw me backwards. I heard a noise in my neck….I had gotten a little whip lash. I am healed from it and did not want to go through the possibility of that happening again. I was fine hanging out by rest of the camels.

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Stewart and Jessie had a wonderful time as you can tell by the smiles on their faces. All is good the second time around. Love Nomadic Desert Camp and Hamid.

We left the camp saying shukran (thank you) to Hamid and headed to the Old Castle Museum in Al-Kamil & Al-Wafi about an hours drive away. Being my second time there and had already taken many photos, I had a few of the photos printed to bring to Khalfan Al Hashim the owner. He is a high spirited man with a huge vision and has done such a lovely job with this castle. We took the tour with Jessy and saw things I had not noticed before. So more photos were taken. When we completed the tour Khalfan served us coffee and dates in the courtyard. The calling to prayer had started and I told Khalfan if he needed to go pray we understood and that he should go. He declined and wanted to spend more time with us. This was a Friday and Fridays are their holy day. The Calling to prayer ends with a person speaking Arabic giving a service. As we sat there visiting I asked, “what is he saying”. Well, you have to understand there are 3 different Mosques in the small town and all of them are giving a service over a loud speaker. So it was noisy.

It was explained to us but a little hard to understand. I had more questions about the faith and it seemed like a good time and place to inquire. Khalfan was gracious and I think he enjoyed doing some teaching since he was not at Mosque praying. Another Shukran was said with my hand on my heart and we hopped into a very hot, hot car.

Sur was our next destination. We drove to the beaches where the turtles nest. We knew we wouldn’t see any turtles being that it was day light and the tide was high and windy which made the sea very choppy. Jessie and I noticed how different the sand was and noticed these extremely tiny pink shells. There were millions of them so we started carefully picking up each individual one and hold them in our other hand until it was so full we couldn’t hold any more. A souvenir to bring back to the US. If it hadn’t been a windy stormy day we would have spent the night but we decided to head back to Muscat. It was nice to take a shower and sleep in our own bed.

Jessie had one more thing to do before she left Oman. She was scheduled to give a lecture at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs. Her talk was on Protected areas in the United States: Visitors use, management and monitoring. Jessie is getting her PHD at Clemson University in this field.

Some of the work Stewart is doing here in Oman is to train and educate the ministry on this topic. Right now they do not have a management plan in place, nor do they understand why they’d need it. So this talk was perfect for these people to hear. Jessie did a great job and they listened and understood what she said. The people there asked questions, which Stewart said they never happens which means they understood what she was saying and were listening. So this was a successful day for her. After the lecture I took her out to lunch at a Turkish restaurant and we had Turkish coffee amongst other things to celebrate.