Fisherman’s Beach, Dhofar, Oman

One of my favourite places to camp, ever.

Around 1.5 hour’s drive from Salalah – you will definitely need a 4×4 with good clearance to tackle the mountain road section of the route.  Driving Eastwards on Road 42, pass Mirbat and continue until you reach “Dragon Gatch Entry”.  Then follow a good gatch track in through the wadi until you reach the turnoff for the mountain road.  Proceed carefully after this – last time we were here the locals got a 2WD Nissan down to the edge of the beach but after a year’s worth of weather the road is now in a much worse condition.

The beach is used by fishermen at the weekend, so if you camp there Thursday or Friday expect to hear pickup trucks arriving in the early hours of the morning.  After a short time the occupants will settle down for the night, until they start up their power boats at first light.  That being said, the ones who were using the beach last time were very polite and didn’t stare at me, which is a good thing.   There is some rubbish on the beach but no worse than you can expect at any other beauty spot in Oman.  This time round there was a bank of seaweed which was a bit smelly – thank goodness for frankincense!

A picture is worth a thousand words so here’s quite a few photos to illustrate the beauty of the bay.

The Road – a wee bit challenging in places!

The Bulbul – literally “jumping” from point to point.  Settled on my Patrol’s aerial though!

The Other Birds – heaps of them.  The herons, including the young one on the small rock hung around for ages!

The Sunrise – a really incredible start to Christmas Eve!

The camels – strange to see them wandering over rocks and in wadis!

The Beach and Surroundings – sheltered beach with amazing rock formations and plenty of fish in the bay!

Fisherman’s Beach, Dhofar, Oman

Nearby – a wadi that goes nowhere and a “sleeping dragon” rock

GPX track and waypoints downloadable here.

Sunrise and Sunset in Oman – Dec 14

8 nights, 9 days.  8 sunsets, 8 sunrises.  3 nights hotels, 5 nights camping.  Here’s the sunrise/sunset views from our tent and one from a walk along the beach at Salalah. I’ve included one or two late in the day shots with the last rays of sunlight kissing the dunes goodnight.

Sunset 26.12.14 – near Haima

Sunset 26.12.14 – near Haima

Sunset 26.12.14 – near Haima

Last camp 26.12.14 – near Haima

Sunrise 27.12.14 – near Haima

Sunrise on Christmas Eve – Fisherman’s Beach

Sunrise at fisherman’s beach 24.12.14

Sunset on way to fisherman’s beach – 23.12.14 – over a mountain road, yikes!

Sunrise 23.12.14 Wadi Aydam

Sunrise 23.12.14 Wadi Aydam

Sunset 22.12.14 Wadi Aydam

Tents bathed in late sunlight – 22.12.14 Wadi Aydam

Footballers on the beach at sunset – Salalah 21.12.14

Birds at the beach at sunset – Salalah – 21.12.14

Late sunlight at Umm As Sameem – 19.12.14

Old bird on the beach at sunset – Salalah 21.12.14

Sunrise in the Empty Quarter – 21.12.14

Sunrise in the Empty Quarter 21.12.14

Sunset in the Empty Quarter – 20.12.14

Last rays of sun – EQ – 20.12.14

First night’s camp – on the edge of the Umm As Sameem – 19.12.14

New Road from Hasik to Shuwaymia

In the past residents of Shuwaymia wishing to travel to Hasik have had to drive a tortuous 450 km to reach there – or go by sea – this, despite there being less than 70kms between the two settlements as the Verraux’s Eagle flies, so to speak.

In January 2014 a new stretch of road was opened up, cutting the journey to a more manageable 97kms – and what a fabulous piece of civil engineering it is!  The work was done by Al Ghalfar Engineering & Contracting SAOG and their task involved excavating 7.8 million cubic metres of material of which around 5 million was rock.  They had to construct 60,000 square metres of MSE walls and they used 120,000 cubic metres of concrete!

Our journey starts in Salalah where we travelled Eastwards along the E49, past Khor Ruari (part of the Frankincense Tour) and the settlements of Taqah and Mirbat.  Take a left at Sedah/Sadah from where the road hugs the coast enjoy the most amazing scenery.

There are lots of potential beach camping spots between Sedah and Hasik and as the road is not particularly busy there should not be too much disturbance from traffic overnight.  It’s worth mentioning that if you travel here in the Kareef season it will not be possible/safe to camp on the beach due to the incredibly rough and high seas.

Our last stop before hitting the new road was at an unusual waterfall at GPS N17 28.508 E55 13.803.  Not only do little droplets of fresh cold water cascade over the top, but even the rock looks like it is flowing.  There is a parking area and a small man-made pool to cool your feet in – there are also public loos.

We could have spent the whole day exploring this short stretch of road but with 1000kms to go to reach home and a plan to reach Hayma (the halfway point) by nightfall we had to move on.  One cannot help but be impressed by the roads the Omani authorities are building; carving out carriageways from hard rock in the most remote places takes vision and a lot of Riyals!   There are lots of viewpoints with quite large parking areas and one of these was just above the lovely oasis pictured below.

New Hasik to Shuwaymia Road

I am never comfortable on mountain roads however there are concrete crash barriers around every corner where there is a drop-off, and much of the road is literally carved out of the mountain.  We climbed steadily through the first series of switchbacks before the road levelled out a little, in preparation for the next ascent. You don’t need a 4WD to drive this road, but do consider that any car will use more petrol than normal on the steep climbs and fuel up accordingly.

Once past the hairpin bends the driving became much easier and we had lunch at a fantastic viewpoint at N17 43.851 E55 18.736.  We camped here on our “Ultimate Omani Odyssey Trip” back in October 2013 but this time there was less time to stop and gaze at the wadi below.  There’s a 300 metre drop just beyond where my friend Mike Galvin pitched his tent last year!

After reaching Shuwaymia the road heads inland to reach Shalim.  If you want to continue driving along the cost to Duqm, Misaira, Sur and Muscat take a right along road 41; alternatively you can do as we did and continue on Road 42 until you reach Road 39 which will take you northwards to Road 31 which is the main Muscat-Salalah road.

Elevation Plot

Distance from Sedah to Shalim – 196kms.  Average moving speed 68km/h.  Ascent 2024 metres, descent 1847 metres.

As a guide, you should allow 5 hours to travel between Salalah and Shalim.

Note – the road between Mirbat and Sedah is currently being upgraded so there are some construction works.

Note – when you drive in Dhofar keep an eye out for camels, cows or goats straying onto the road!

Fuel Stations

Sedah – N17 03.731 E55 04.738

Hasik – N17 26.278 E55 16.114

Shuwayamia – N17 53.109 E55 36.755

Shalim – N18 07.001 E55 39.647

GPX track can be downloaded here.

Umm As Sameem – December 2014

This large area of wet/damp/sinking salty mud’s name translates to “mother of all poisons/worries” and to the camel caravans long ago it would have been a formidable obstacle to cross.

The “modern” explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger was the first European to set eyes on this fabled sabkah and he mentions it in his 1959 book Arabian Sands“.  Some of his companions had warned him about the dangers of the area, citing instances when raiding parties had strayed into the quicksands and disappeared without a trace.  One of them even claimed to have seen a whole flock of goats become engulfed then completely disappear!

When we visited in 2012 we (eventually) found a not-too bumpy track across it though it still took a very long couple of hours to cross at a snail’s pace.  When we were at the mid point we could barely make out the surrounding dunes, and I am sure that before motorized transport many a traveler must have entertained feelings of despair at some point during the crossing!

Fast forward to 2014 and our plans to cross the mud flats in the afternoon of day one went awry due to various delays.  Instead we decided to pitch our tents at the northern edge and tackle the crossing in the morning.

After a restful quiet night under very dark skies, followed by a hearty breakfast we set off  on our quest to find a christmas tree.  Just a few kilometres in and what a surprise we got – two years on and we find that there are now many many tracks across the Umm As Sameem – an oil company is exploring for hydrocarbons.

Now for years the area around the sabkah has been littered with drilling rigs, christmas trees and pipes and it is clear that there is a fortune in oil and gas lying underground.  My first reaction was of shock that this great wilderness was being desecrated, but on reaching the track we used only two years ago we discovered that it was now a faint line across the mud.  Possibly in 2-3 years the surface scars made by the mighty “thumper trucks” will have faded – here’s hoping so. Unless of course they find hydrocarbons under the sabkah surface when bases, access tracks and all manner of invasive civil engineering will position itself here.

Taking advantage of the situation, we used the fresh, relatively smooth tracks to cross the Mother of All Worries, and found ourselves at an interesting rocky area which our previous track had missed out.  Sorry about the two different photo sizes by the way – different cameras!

Here’s our path across the sabkah – 2012 journey in black and this year’s in aqua. The thumper truck tracks were in a grid pattern and had I thought about it, I could have laid down a gps track which looked like stairs but instead I took the easiest, least bumpy tracks.

You can get an idea of the size and remoteness of the place with this overview map – Umm As Sameem on lower left.

Track data available on request, email me at fullemptyquarter at gmail dot com.

Christmas in Oman 2014

I hate both cold weather and the commercialism of Christmas back “home”, so for the 6th consecutive year we spent Christmas in the Gulf.  But what to do for a difference?  Start as I always do, with a to-do list!

1) Locate Oilfield Christmas Tree we first discovered on our 2012 trip to Oman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Decorate Christmas Tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Have lunch in the brilliant Oasis Club in Salalah.

 

photo “borrowed” from Oasis Club’s fb page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds quite simple but in reality the tree was on the edge of the Umm As Sameem (translates as the “Mother of All Worries/Poisons”) which is a huge salt mud flat, up to 50km wide, accessible via rough tracks and sand dunes in the Empty Quarter of Oman.  The second point to note was that Salalah is 1100kms distant from Al Ain, so an epic journey was inevitable!

Rough plans were made, hotels booked for 3 nights of an 8 night holiday, camping supplies were gathered and before we knew it the 19th of December had come round and it was time to head south for some winter warmth.  Honestly, after 6 years in the UAE, daytime temps less than 25C and night-time ones below 18C feel COLD!

Task 1 – completed easily – it was still in the same place we left it in 2012!  GPS co-rds are N21° 24.021′ E56° 03.475′.

Task 2 – Done!  Even brought some mince pies along to sustain us whilst decorating it!

Task 3 – A most enjoyable meal served by friendly staff with lovely carol singing in the background.  Well done Oasis Club – was well worth the journey!

We weren’t the first Scots to discover the Oasis!

Great grub – turkey and roast beef!

Too good to eat?

Santa dropped in…

Carolling

I hope all my readers had a lovely and peaceful Christmas – very best wishes to you all from the “sandpit”.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth

Warmth from two sources. After an overnight camp in the Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) in Oman we rose early, beating the sunrise by just enough time to put the kettle on and get the camera focused.

Warmth

My October

I have got SO far behind with my blogging…. here’s some of the highlights which have kept me from my keyboard!

October saw us waking up in Istanbul, Turkey, at the end of an adventurous 8 day holiday which you can read about in this month’s Oasis Living Magazine.

No sooner was I home than it was time for Neil and I to head up to Dubai to marshal at the first round of the 2014 Emirates Desert Championship on 3rd October.  Our weekend in the sand was finished though – it was the Eid weekend so we ran a two-convoy drive between us on the Sunday. 

I coughed my way through a bout of bronchitis mid-month but still managed a short trip out to the dunes to test out a few things – a sand anchor, Lionel’s new (very old) landrover as well as John R’s lift kit!

All through the summer I had been cooking up a 2-day offroad event for Oasis Offroad and in October I ran a trip to get some of our drivers used to driving longer distances; Century Saturday saw 3 groups tackle the dunes near Al Hayer on 17th October – not everyone managed 100kms but we all had a grand day out in some of the most beautiful dunes in the area.

The next weekend one of our friends from the UK arrived and as he had won the Two Little Ducks Challenge twice before I ran a third event so he could have another go.  The Duckmeister (aka Mike) got down to the last two this time and everyone had a grand time – all the drivers were excellent this year and at one point I thought I would have to drive into the night to get them all “out”.

The last weekend saw “The Dark Skies Challenge” come to fruition.  Months of planning, scouting, preparing tracks, forming teams, preparing tracks it was time to meet at Arada at very early on Friday 31st.  Five teams of four headed north-westwards (almost impossible to get a straight line due to the lie of the dunes) to a point 108kms distant.  Once there they had to dig up some “treasure” which the recce team had buried the week before.  You can read the trip report here and our adventures also feature in the December Issue of OutdoorUAE magazine, who were kind enough to donate prizes to the winners of our photography competition.  (BTW the photo was taken by Neil’s passenger Chris Lidster, not me).

So that was my busy October… do you think I got a rest in November?