Archive | October 2012
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Trafalgar Charity Dinner @ The Grand Hyatt
I'll give it to the Navy, they know how to put on a good evening of food, drink and entertainment. A few of us from work went to the Trafalgar Charity Dinner in the Grand Hyatt Muscat, hosted by the Royal Navy. In true Naval style, the timetable was rigid, with a prompt 1945 sit […]
Dimaniyat Island Diving
The Dimaniyat Islands are one of the key dive locations in Oman, so to spend two days diving there, plus a night camping, was something not to be missed. Euro Divers had organised the trip to coincide with Eid al Adha – the Islamic holiday celebrating the sacrifice. The Omanis celebrated with most of the […]
The White Wadi
It was the first time back to the Rustaq Loop since I had circumvented it back in August, shortly after I arrived in Oman. I quickly remembered the boredom of Route 13, taking you from the coastline at Barka all the way through to Rustaq town. As far as you can see to the west […]
Thunder & Lightening
Would you believe it's taken two-and-a-half months for the first rain to fall in Muscat since I arrived? The storm started to brew from about 4pm when I was by the pool and slowly started to blacken the sky. It lasted a good four hours through dusk and into the darkness; that's when the camera […]
Little Dune Buggy: Wahiba Sands Desert Crossing
The one thing that pulls off-roaders to Oman, must be the dunes in the Empty Quarter and Wahiba Sands – with sand dunes reaching 100m high in Wahiba, we set out for a three day, 176km, cross-dune, camping, off-roading extravaganza! DAY ONE We arrived at Mintrib, the entrance to Wahiba Sands, at about 6pm and […]
Wadi an Nakhur: From the lowest point!
To round off our trip into the Western Hajar, we finished on a quick trip down Wadi an Nakhur, the valley that we had walked around the top of for the past couple of days. With both cars in convoy down the wadi, we spent the next 2 hours with our necks craned backwards looking […]
Trekking the High Road: Part Three (Route W6 to the abandoned village)
After a full on day of trekking Jebel Shams, we were quite happy to take a shorter walk! I was surprised enough to find that my legs would move after the 11 hour trek up Shams, let alone be able to take another walk today. As Sab (previously Sab Bani Khamis) is an abandoned village […]
Trekking the High Road: Part Two (Route W4 up Jebel Shams)
Ah, route W4. The route that any walker would want to do in Oman, the trek up to Jebel Shams, the highest point in the country (apparently). We'll come onto that later. We stayed at the Jebel Shams Resort, which has incredible views of the sunset over neighbouring mountains and is near to the viewing […]
Misfat al Abriyyin and it’s Aflaj (pl.)
Whilst spending some time in the Western Hajar, it would be a shame to miss out what everyone calls the quintessential Omani village known as Misfat al Abriyyin (romanised in a multitude of varying transliterations from the Arabic script). As long as when you say it out loud, it sounds the same, you can bet […]
Trekking the High Road: Part One (Routes W8 & W10h)
We usually spend two weekends a year in the Lake District back home in the UK, and is a place that we’ll miss for a while yet. Thankfully, Oman has a pretty good answer to the Lakes – the Western Hajar mountains, and is a place that I’ve been eager to explore since arriving. So […]
The Snappy Muscateer! 