Supermoon at Dibba

I hadn’t ventured very far since my run-in with the camel, so we planned a weekend on the Oman side of Dibba to co-incide with the largest and brightest full moon of 2013.

Deviating from our normal route to the East Coast, we headed to Musandam via Dubai and made it to Dibba by late morning.  It’s a bit complicated to cross the border between UAE and Oman these days

We checked in at the Golden Tulip Hotel Dibba (N25 40.184 E56 16.195), had  a rest while we waited for the worst of the day’s heat to subside, then ventured forth into our favourite wadi – Wadi Shab Al Khamis (N25 39.626 E56 13.991).

This wadi forms the main road through to Khasab as it winds its way through the Hajar Mountains, however unless you are Emirati or Omani your Musandam adventure will stop at the Omani border post (N25 48.991 E56 12.321) as non-GCC nationals are not allowed to cross here.

After about 5kms of tarmac the road becomes gatch, thankfully well maintained.  The winter of 2012/13 has been a particularly rainy and stormy one and there’s lots of huge rocks by the side of the road bearing testimony to a busy time being had by the road maintenance crew.

I’m standing in the wadi for this photo – it would be possible to drive this road by sedan, at least until point N25 48.021 E56 14.265 when the first set of switchbacks appear to take you up onto a beautiful plateau area.

Although quite happy to drive down dune slipfaces which are up to 100m drop, I am terrified of mountain roads so we didn’t venture further than the point above, but we drove up the narrow rubble strewn road a couple of years ago and you can read about our trip here – http://thedesertdiva.com/2012/06/03/dibba-or-daba/.

The high sided canyons you travel through are a blessing in the summer; this is a wadi you could consider tackling during the early morning or late afternoon even in July or August.  It’s still hot, but at least there is shelter from the blazing sun and there are some passing places here and there which will allow you to stop and stretch your legs once in a while.

This photogenic spot can be found at N25 44.859 E56 16.711.  It’s a Bruce family ritual to snap the cars right here!

We saw a total of 6 vehicles during our two hours on the route, a busy day compared to previous visits when we’ve only seen one or two!  The truck driver was most surprised to see a white woman standing by the side of the road with her camera!

If you look closely at the photo on the right you will see a stone built house clinging on to the top of the rock.  Did we investigate it?  Not likely!  This area used to be a rock climber’s paradise but with the new border procedures and price of hotel accommodation the costs have become prohibitive for many.

Unless you are a mountain goat, you’ve got to turn around at the border post and retrace your steps, so we left the wadi just as the sun was beginning to hang low in the sky.

Our next stop was the lovely Dibba Beach  (N25 40.282 E56 16.230), where we snorkelled and saw a huge varietyof fish less than 100m from the shore.   We spotted the moon just afer 7pm and set up our “evening camp” while watching it rise high above the Indian Ocean.

We sat round our campfire over a steak dinner while chatting, mesmerised by the moonbeams sparkling as they hit the waves.

I wish I had remembered to take my camera tripod!

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Dibba (or Daba)

Following on from my recent blog on Khasab, which is accessed from the West side of Mussandam, here’s the Bruce lowdown on Dibba, on the East Side.

*IMPORTANT UPDATE: you can only cross the UAE checkpoint if you have a hotel or dhow cruise booking.  You should have this in writing, and you should send a copy of your passport and residency visa to the hotel/cruise operator 2 days before you are due to arrive.  This situation may – and hopefully will – change in the future.  Full article here.

Dibba/Daba straddles the UAE/Oman border, and access is by way of two UAE Police checkpoints, where they will want to see your UAE ID card or passport.  It’s important that you have Oman car insurance, although they probably won’t ask see that.

Accommodation wise, there are not many choices north of the border – we’ve stayed at the Golden Tulip in Dibba (Oman side) or if the budget stretches you could always stay in the uber-luxurious Six Senses Zinghy Bay.   Six Senses resort is accessible by sea, or by mountain road; if you read my last post you can guess my choice!

We’ve also explored Dibba when we’ve stayed at the Nour Arjaan in Fujeirah (about an hour away) – which we highly recommend, or you could book into one of the hotels at Al Aqaaa, which is about half an hour away.

It is also possible to camp either on the beach next to the Golden Tulip (though it can be busy/noisy at weekends) or further up Wadi Khab Al Shamis.  The photo shows us on Dibba beach, where we were lucky enough to see luminous plankton as the waves broke as we had our bbq after nightfall.  Whilst there we also assisted the Omani CID to recover a stolen car, but that’s another story!

As soon as you get inside the Omani side of Dibba, you know you are in Oman.  Roads are quieter, with less landcruisers/expensive 4x4s on them.  Houses are smaller and very often only one storey.  You will see at least one goat up a tree, and hundreds of them everywhere else!

This is the mountain road through Oman which takes you out at Khasab – well if you are Omani or Emirati it will, but if you are an expat you will be turned back at then Wadi Bih border post.

However if you drive up the wadi early in the morning in the summer, and then come back down two hours later, the view is completely different, as the sun’s shadows grow shorter, so it’s not a bad thing to have to retrace your steps here.

My favourite part of the drive is where the canyon narrows and there is just enough space for the road – this is a popular place for climbers too

Is this Arabia’s most modest Mosque?

It’s possible to drive up Wadi Khab Al Shamis, avoiding any steep drops to the side like the one in the photo above – I know you can’t see it, but trust me, there was a steep 70m drop –  until you reach 25 48.069N, 56 14.185E. 

Keep going beyond that point and soon you will be one kilometre above sea level!  There are a couple of sights which make the “extreme” part of journey worthwhile, so if you’re scared of heights like me take lots of photos so you don’t need to go back again.  Ever!

High up in the mountains these terraces have been built, and over the years the winter rains has washed silt and sand in to them, so they can support crops and animals in the winter.

This we nickname “frilly” or contour mountain.  When you take this photo you are about 1050m above sea level and the view is just sublime, a photo cannot convey the scale of the mountains here.

There’s a lovely restored Omani Fort in Dibba, free entry I think, an english speaking guide will tell you about the fort and you are free to wander around in the shade and take photos.

The guide also told us about this huge graveyard, said to contain the remains of 10000 early Muslim followers, sent into battle by Caliph Abu Bakr in 633CE, but despite searching for an hour, we couldn’t find it!

Now a word about dhow cruises.  The dhow experience you have in Dibba is very different to Khasab, where there are the twin benefits of extra spectacular scenery and dolphins.  In Dibba the mountains and cliffs are smaller, there aren’t dolphins, and while there are lots of fish to see when snorkelling, there isn’t the same variety of species as in Khasab. 

You could say that in Dibba the cruise is an “activity” as most boats do line fishing as well as snorkelling stops, whereas Khasab is a scenic tour.  Both good but Khasab gets my vote every time!

So that’s it for Musandam, hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour enough to go and make the journey yourself – live life to the FULL!

Oman/UAE border checkpoints
a) 25 36.374N, 56 15.875E
b) 25 37.536N, 56 16.242E

Dhow cruises leave from 25 39.030N, 56 16.097E

Golden Tulip Hotel 25 40.160N, 56 16.161E
Golden Tulip Website

Dibba Fort 25 40.160N, 56 16.161E

Start of Wadi Drive 25 38.072N, 56 16.873E

Mosque (as pictured) 25 46.600N, 56 14.984E

Khasab

A lot of my facebook friends have been asking me about our recent break to Khasab, so here’s the Bruce lowdown on Musandam.

Musandam is an Omani enclave, the only land border being with the UAE, and it juts out into the Straits of Hormuz.  For many years due to its strategic military position, this beautiful area was closed to non-nationals, and even now it is not possible for expats to drive all the way between Khasab and Dibba (Daba on map).

We’ve been 5 times to Khasab and 3 times to Dibba.  To enter Oman at Dibba, you only need your passport or a valid UAE ID card, but about 35kms up (and down) the tortuous mountain road to Khasab, you will be turned back at the Wadi Bih checkpoint unless you are an Omani or Emirati national. Will do another post soon about our favourite bits of the east side of Musandam. To enter Oman at Khasab, you go through the Dara border post, which costs you a small fee to leave the UAE, and a visa fee of 50aed (=5omr or about £8) per person.  Border formalities can be very quick if you are lucky – last week we took less than 20 minutes to go through UAE and Oman checkpoints on both the journey there and our return – although it can be a slow process if you go at peak times.

Last week once clear of the border, we headed north to Khasab, where we stopped briefly, as we usually do, at the first beach area – a rocky. stony beach with the most wonderful of shells.

The road to Khasab is amazing, rocks on one side, sea on the other…. and Darth Vadar leading the way ;)!  Click on the photo for a close up of the black pick up.

We checked in at the Khasab Hotel, a local, basic hotel which was fine for the money (660aed B&B for a double and single room), which had a fine swimming pool and was only 2 minutes drive from downtown.  (Other accommodation options are the Esra Hotel Apartments, basic accommodation again, or for more luxury, the Golden Tulip which is a few kms outside the town).

On previous visits, we have camped in the area, once at Bassa Beach (great for bbqs and beachcombing but not so great for camping if you want to sleep – lots of cars going around at all times of night), and other times at the acacia forest, which we visited again as we wanted to see it devoid of the green “carpet” it has in the winter. 

We opted to eat out downtown, there are a number of local cafes where you can get a good meal for about 20-30aed per person, and it’s nice to soak up the atmosphere.  Since we were last there at the end of 2009, Lulu hypermarket has now opened, I hope it doesn’t cause too many of the small shops to close, as happens in the UK when a big supermarket opens up in town.

One of the principal reasons to go to Musandam is to go on a Dhow cruise, these are available half day or whole day, include drinks, snacks and lunch, and give you the opportunity to snorkel once on the half day, or twice on the full day trip.  Price for full day at the end of the season in May was 18 OMR, which is 180aed, or £30 per head.  We have used Khasab Tours in the past and had booked with them again, however we got a phonecall the evening before the trip telling us we had to go to the harbour at 10-10.15 instead of the 9am agreed when we booked, as they were expecting a coach load of 42 people to join us.  They have some big boats but 45 persons on board is a bit much, takes so much longer to get on and off the boat for snorkelling, plus they wanted to cut our tour time by 20% without offering to reduce the cost, so we cancelled and went with Dolphin Tours, who were just as good.

In the peak season (Nov-Mar) it is possible to go down to the harbour at 9am and get yourself on to a dhow trip “on chance”, however in the summer I recommend you book the night before – we only saw one other dhow the whole day compared to the dozen or so we have seen on other trips between Oct-Mar.

We stopped at Telegraph Island for the first round of snorkelling, where we saw a great variety of fish.  The photo above was actually taken at Seeed Island, not so many varieties of fish as less rocks for them to hide in/congregate round, but these guys were hungry! 

This trip was the first outing for my GoPro camera, which was actually bought for offroad driving but gave us great underwater shots.

We saw dolphins riding the bow wave – the fifth time in five dhow trips we have seen them; they live in the warm sheltered waters of the Arabian Fjiords.

This area is a geologist or geography teacher’s dream – there are the most beautiful rock formations wherever you turn, as the mountains of Musandam rise straight out of the sea.

Topped off by a sea eagle – click on the photo to enlarge if you can’t see it.

Old villages still hang on to the cliff edge – they are still inhabited and have access by sea only.  Though they do have mains electric, mobile phone coverage, and a communal fresh water tank supplied by the government.

Anyone fancy being a linesman for the Oman Electric Co?

Our second Dolphin encounter of the day.

And a huge flock of cormorants – escorted us out of the inlet and back into the Gulf.

All in all a great day, took us 5 hours to drive each way, including refreshment stops.  Fill up your gas tank in Oman as special is only 1.2aed per litre (22p) as opposed to 1.7aed per litre (29p) in the UAE!

Other places we have visited on previous trips

Khor Najd – the coolest mountain road (if you like that sort of thing!).  Last time we went we encountered loads of litter at the picnic area at the bottom and the water was green with algae – this could be a seasonal thing, our visit was in December 07.

Spectacular/scary on the way up (depending on your appetite for heights)

Scenic/scary on the way down (depending on your appetite for heights).  European readers should note the lack of crash barriers and warning signs!

The Sayeh plateau – you’ve guessed it, access from Khasab by a mountain road which is spectacular/scenic and scary in equal measures!

Contact details:
Khasab Hotel – +968 26730267
Khasab Hotel Website

Dolphin Tours – +968 26731855 (can also be booked through the Khasab Hotel)
Dolphin Tours Website

GPS co-ords
Dara border crossing 26 03.108N, 56 05.288E

Bassa Beach 26 12.707N, 56 14.319E

Khasab Hotel 26 12.593N, 56 14.609E

Dolphin Tours embarkation point 26 12.377N, 56 15.257E

Acacia Forest 26 02.601N, 56 22.047E

Entry to Khor Najd mountain road 26 04.392N, 56 19.507E

Entry to mountain road to Dibba/Sayeh Plateau  26 05.343N, 56 15.467E

Sayeh Plateau 25 59.695N, 56 12.804E