Oman with a 4x4 and a rooftop-tent, that stands for tracks through the desert and mountains and along shorelines

[Zuckerbaron]

South of Nizwa is the National Museum "Oman Across Ages" it shows Omans history from the Continental Drift to today. Everything in English and Arabic and properly supported by interactive screens and video.
IMO the museum is the most interesting building of Oman.






inside ....







..... an incense burner

 

[Zuckerbaron]

Where to go, when you are in Oman with a car and you have nearly 3 weeks to spend?
- You stay in the North and do all mountain tracks and visit the Sugar Dunes in the northeast.
- You do some k's and try to reach the south coast via the inland plains and go back along the coastline.
IMO the South with a different climate and vegetation (it has a monsoon season from June to September), the vast plains and the long coastline were too interesting to be missed. So I turned south from Nizwa.



You can do the 830 k's all off road, but that would take too long so I drove on the bitumen most of the time to manage the distance.

First night using the roof top near Al Ghaba and the Route 31.

 

[glitch]

First day with the Mitsu was a day on the asphalt.
I wanted to visit the animal market in Nizwa the next morning, it starts at 06:00 and finishes around 10:00.
So it was a day to get used to the traffic. Radar speed checks on the roads with heavy traffic are everywhere. It seems they have to rein the fiery temperament of the locals. But no problem all speed checks are stationary and marked in G-maps.

There are some stunning! shots in that yarn, what a place! Woww!

Looking at a map, there are very few places, towns, settlements along the way

 

[glitch]

Coming back to this after the fires and hot days here....that shot of the rooftop on the 1.night...is that Al Ghaba (settlement) in the background?

View attachment 8916

 

[Zuckerbaron]

that shot of the rooftop on the 1.night...is that Al Ghaba (settlement) in the background?

It is Qarn Al Alam. Al Ghaba is smaller and just a few buildings beside Route 31. The Sat-photo shows the overnight spot and Qarn Al Alam.

 

[Zuckerbaron]

First night in the rooftop was fine and it remained like this all the time. No idea what happens in the rain.
After breakfast and tea done by the provided gas cooker it was time to look for the rocks and boulders. When I arrived it was already getting dark.
Looking at the rocks/boulders I thought the moon surface must be like this. I hope the shots do it justice.



Qarn Al Alam in the distance.








In the area are at least two more boulder fields.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.de

 

[Zuckerbaron]

That day I drove further south up to Ubar. Ubar/Wubar had been a lively oasis until around 1500 AD when a subsurface well collapsed. Nowadays it is a world heritage site but only a few travellers come here. Farms with Center Pivot Irrigation show that there is still water in the ground.









Ubar/Wubar comes insight.

Atlantis of the Sands - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[glitch]

Looks like the whole place is just sand and rubble.
Moon surface sounds about right.
Great pics

 

[Zuckerbaron]

Ubar is also the entering oasis to Oman's part of the Empty Quarter a vast dune desert that mostly lies in the territory of Saudi Arabia. I looked at it but then I chickened out: on my own, no experience in sand driving, too old for experiments. North of Ubar you see the dunes of the Empty Quarter



Further south close to the Route 31 is an old incense tree plantation of Wadi Dawkah. The National Park of Frankincense, it is worth a stop. At least when you get informations direct from one of the gardeners. I was strolling around when he asked me to show me around. You find Frankincense trees on the Arabic peninsular only here in the South. The Omanis love to burn the incense and you can often smell it.



This link starts with a short video loop showing the plantation https://www.wadidawkah.com/



Next overnight stop was this nice place with canyon view - Wadi Ain Ayuoon. Hikers are welcome to go down to some small waterponts.





Goo maps shows a lot of water, no idea what time of the year it looks like this.

 

[glitch]

Incredible to see those Frankincense trees in those surrounds....how can ANYTHING grow there?