Oman
b
From the Emirates we would first like to visit Musandam, this
peninsula belongs to Oman but is circled by land of the United
Emirates. This peninsula has a fjord like coastline with many
inlets and bay’s and is mountainous. It occupies a strategic
position on the entrance of the Persian Gulf and has several outlook
posts still in operation. You can actually take a trip through
the fjords with a dhow, a dhow is a traditional boat build of
wood. In the past a dhow was powered by sails, but now many have
been motorised. To travel from Musandam to Oman we will have to
pass through the UAE again. We visited Oman in December 1998;
at the time we flew there and rented a car. We travelled through
the country and slept in a tent. We really enjoyed Oman at the
time and would like to return there but this time in our own car!
This time we hope to stay a little longer in Oman to get a better
impression of the country. We plan to start in the north, which
has many mountains and an abundance of wadi's. Also a Dionysia
species grows here, the only species that grows as far south as
this. (Dionysia mira). We also would like to visit the modern
city of Muscat, Oman is an oil producing country and has changed
in a very short time from a country with only travelling Bedouins
to a country with modern infrastructure and capital. To give an
example how fast things have changed: until 1970 the city gates
were locked every night! Also strangers were not welcome in Oman
those days. Wilfred Thesiger was probably the first European to
enter Oman, disguised as a Bedouin. Anyone interested in this
region should read his book Arabian Sands, its an absolute must.
From Muscat we plan to travel south along the coast, to arrive
in the so called Wahiba Sands. This is a beautiful desert area
that runs towards the coast. We also want to visit the island
of Masirah, which we didn’t visit the first time. We will
continue on this southerly route along the coast of the Indian
Ocean, over the flat stone desert where you often can observe gazelles
and oryx antelope,to arrive in the Dhofar region. This southern
part of Oman is very special, in the first place because incense
trees grow here(Boswellia sacra). Traditionally the trunk is incised
to collect the sap and let it harden. The hardened sap can be sold
as chunks of frankincense. In the past caravans left from here
to travel through the so called Empty Quarter, this is the great
desert in Saudi-Arabia, to cities such as Petra in Jordan and
Palmyra in Syria. From here the incense was transported to the
west. Incense was very precious then, its own weight worth in gold.
Secondly Dhofar is peculiar since it is touched by the tropical
monsoon during the summer months. This means that it rains regularly
and the area is much greener than the rest of the country. You
could possible find grazing cows here. Many Omani’ spend
the summer months here since the temperature and humidity are
often extreme in other parts of Oman. For us a main reason to go
to Oman in winter, temperatures are then between 20 and 30°
C. The rainfall during the monsoon only falls in a small mountainous
region along the coast .As soon as you go to the other side of
the mountains the land is very dry again and the desert begins.
The largest city in this region is Salalah, with many palms and
other fruit trees a real oasis. There is a museum here where the
photo’s of the explorer Wilfred Thesiger are on show. From
Dhofar we want to go back to the north along the edge of the Empty
Quarter, and possibly enter further into the desert. We plan to
travel back to the northern mountains, where we find Nizwa once
the lovely capital city of Oman. We also want to go to the Jebal
al-Akhdar, the highest mountain of Oman , to look for the only
Dionysia species which grows so far south and only grows there. Dionysia
mira is not so spectacular as some in Iran and Afghanistan, but it is always
interesting to see those plants in their natural surroundings. From Oman we
will go back to the UAE, and from here back to Iran where we probably arrive
around the beginning of March 2003. It is here that spring begins and we
want to travel along in northerly direction through the mountain regions of
Iran to enjoy most of the flowering Dionysias and other alpine species. In
the summer of 2003 we hope to return to Turkey and Greece.
