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!
Nearby – a wadi that goes nowhere and a “sleeping dragon” rock
The Desert Diva 