Today was our last day in beautiful Oman. And we still had lot’s to see before our flight at night! So after an early wake-up call, we had a quick breakfast.
On offer was a ‘dosa’ made of maida (unrefined flour) and yellow daal (lentil curry) among other dishesDidn’t eat “much” because we really had to leave the desert camp soon
When we all collected our bags, checked out and made our way to the jeep, our driver Majjid was in a sleepless state. He was out all night with a group of drivers in search of an SUV that had gotten lost in the desert! 🙁 It was one of their friends along with a group of elderly tourists, and they lost communication with them after a few hours (phone batteries must have died).
Fortunately they found the group… but only today morning. They found them after the driver burned one of the tires and used the smoke to pinpoint their location. It was tragic to hear considering the elderly tourists were weak and had to be taken to the hospital.
But despite the lack of sleep, Majjid had to stick to his job and take us around.
When we left Oryx desert camp, I mounted the GoPro on the hood of the Prado once again
Here’s a video of our drive to the bedouin home Majjid wanted to show us on the way (some segments have been sped up):
That’s the Bedouin home down there. Imagine living out here.This is your only viewWe got down from the dune and entered the Bedouin homeWe sat down to have some tea with the hostsIt wasn’t sweetNone of the modern comforts… except for mobile phonesBut they had this home decked out for touristsOutside, there’s not much else around hereBesides desert bugs…And goats (and lots of goat poop in the sand)Here’s a panorama of where we were
Before we left the Sharqiya sands, we did some more dune climbing:
One group selfie from the inside
It was time to say goodbye to the sand dunes and return to tarmac.
Back in town, we returned to the garage to fill air back into the tyresOff to our next destinationWe were on the mountain highway heading to Wadi Bani Khalid, a very popular oasis
The drive was an another uphill-downhill drive. So I made a video of it:
Majjid dropped us at the parking area and told us we had 30 minutes hereWe had to walk some 5 minutes to get to the wadi (oasis)Don’t know if this water canal was flowing into the oasisBeautiful isn’t it? But this isn’t itThis is a panorama showing how big Wadi Bani Khalid is!There are rules to followThere was a bit to explore… but not enough time 🙁If you have the time, you could explore the caves here too and go for a trekWadi Bani Khalid seems like a good place for an adventureI would have liked to know how far this stream flowedWe didn’t even get time to get in the water 🙁It’s not too deepI took this underwater photo using my GoProI walked backAs soon as I reached the parking lot, the skies had changedOman seems like the best country in the Middle East for road trips. It’s perfect for scenic journeys.It rained on the drive back. We stopped along the highway for a toilet breakIt was at a public park… which was hauntingly empty
We reached the town of Sur by lunch time. We were here to stop by a dhow factory. (A dhow is a traditional Arabian boat)
There was a typhoon passing through Oman. It was raining in Sur… a lot more.Despite the rains, we made a dash for the factory while Majjid waited in the PradoReally more of workshop than a factoryAnd there wasn’t much work going on either due to the rainThe dhow factory was by the riverThat’s the Khor Al Batah bridgeA lot more boats were supposed to be seen docked by the river… but we didn’t see manyWe ran back to our jeep and drove off to Sur beach road. Look at the sea!We stopped to take a few photosWe had to leave Sur before the weather worsenedFor lunch, we made a quick stop at this eateryIt was nothing fancy. Run by Keralites (surprise, surprise). I had fish biriyani.Poor Majjid was really tired
After lunch, we left Sur through its flooded roads and made our way back to Muscat. And what drive that was! That’s the next, and final post.
