Oman, we hadn't expected much. Most countries in this region are dry, have deserts, dunes and not much else to see apart from over the top
hotels and ok beaches. In our opinion if that's all you want then there are better, cheaper places where you can also drink and dress how you want without as much
concern. That'd being said Oman was a very relaxed and at least in Muscat moderate place where you won't feel too attacked for being a woman and can have a beer.
Once we started looking into Oman more though we were hesitantly excited, some sights and photos looked good but we didn't know how it would be in a drier season,
or if the roads would be passable / washed out. We both ended up having a wonderful and much more varied trip than we thought possible and certain memories like the
drive down the gorge, paddling in the Hoqain falls and swimming in canyon Wadi's will be forever with us as must do things. All in all this was an amazing trip.
We arrived early into Muscat, due to plane transfers in Dubai and some delays we didn't sleep at all despite arriving first thing in the morning.
We had booked an extra night at our hotel knowing this and checked straight in and went to sleep on arrival. This did however mean that we wasted a lot of our first day
even with only sleeping for 4 or so hours. That being said we did still make the most of our trip and headed out to explore Muscat. On the drive in we saw at night the
Grand Mosque. In the afternoon we did a self guided walking tour taking in Muscat's main sites: Riyam Park, Mutrah Corniche (sea front walkway), Mutrah View Point, The
Old watch tower, Mutrah Fort and Mutrah Souq. We were surprised at how easy parking was, how peaceful it was in Oman and how easy the driving was. Even walking up and down
the Corniche in the late afternoon sun was pleasant if hot. The fort was also free entrance and we were able to walk up to and inside it with the place mostly to ourselves.
We'd managed to visit all that we wanted to while in Muscat, if we'd had any more time here we would've just spent it relaxing on the beach at the hotel much like the other
guests.
Day 2 marked our first main day driving in Oman and one of our biggest off the beaten track days. The day started easy enough
with an hour drive down highway 1 towards Dubai. Just before our first turn off onto the less driven path we had the always full first fuel stop.
Learning customs and methods at fuel stations is always interesting. Also figuring out toilets and whether there are drinks. Despite it being summer
we stopped by the gorgeous stop of Hoqain for the waterfalls & blue pools. We had the place to ourselves, surprisingly given the massive parking lot
and were able to take our shoes off and paddle in the crystal clear waters. From here we passed via Wadi Alhoqain which unfortunately was mostly dried
up and onto the Wadi As Sahtan Dam for which it was very difficult to find the right turn off. So far all the driving had been on road or track very close
to a road, our next stop though would see us turn off into seemingly the middle of nowhere with only goats and the odd tractor / maintenance vehicle for
company. I'm not sure many if any tourists come this way as it is easier to reach the Snake Gorge Canyon from the other side of the valley. What this did
mean though is that we had the gorgeous valley cut between the mountains to ourselves and many amazing picture spots for us to take as long as we wanted
including over the snake gorge canyon below. Driving down into the canyon was testing and at times dangerous. Worse was the climb out the other side even
our 4x4 struggled for power at times often having to be shifted into 1st gear. We also met more tourist and other traffic and the only way to pass was at
designated passing places. Given we had become a convoy going up at this stage it made it a difficult drive. About half the way up we saw someone in a
standard sedan attempting it, the only way he could make it up was to reverse up the hill in order to get some traction to his drive wheels. It was an
interesting and scary sight to watch especially as we were the car he'd roll back down into if it came to it ha.
Eventually once we reached the top of the canyon we met tarmac again and there was a rest area with a view over the Al Hajar Mountains and somewhere many people
let their cars cool off from the tough climb up. It was also notably cooler up here than we'd thought it would be. From here we headed to the Al Hoota caves,
but on arrival found out the train runs infrequently to the cave and the walk is very long. It also appeared to be very touristy / resorty / child focused.
In the interest of time we left without seeing it and instead headed back up into the Al Hajar Mountains on another road to our mountain side accommodation for
the night. Here we had an amazing infinity pool looking out over the sun setting mountains and in the evening we had some awesome clear night sky to attempt
to take some photos.
For some videos showing just the off road driving conditions in Oman, see below:
Day 3 we knew we'd had to descend from the mountains only to climb back into the mountains only to descend from them again. A car sick
day we had in store. Least after today, by the afternoon we knew we'd be done with the mountains. Our day started with a visit to the Valley Necrosis which was
an ok morning stop, but there isn't much to see here other than a dry valley of rocks and a nice hillside formation, so we continued along to our main stop of
the morning. The W6 hike alongside the Wadi Ghul (Omani Grand Canyon). We knew we wouldn't make the whole hike as it is very long and very hot, not to mention
dangerous, but we had gone up early in and had a good hour or so walking along and taking pictures. You definitely need a head for heights for this one though.
A few brave tourists and mountain goats are the only inhabitants with shade sparse.
We then headed on towards Nizwa stopping at the easier to visit sites or Bahla Fort, Jibreen Castle and Birkat Al Mouz. This side of Oman is very touristy
especially with OAP's from Germany and USA. This feeling continued with our hotel with us unable to find alternative food at the mall locally we had to eat
at the hotel, only the hotel had a large tour group who had basically booked out the restaurant for a buffet. The food was bad, bland and service shocking.
We were also treated as second rate to the tour group despite being paying customers. We were glad to be skipping breakfast the next day and making a crazy
early start for our longest drive day.
We started our longest drive day early. We could have cut the drive shorter but we wanted to see so much. As it
turned out starting are day early hadn't been a bad thing. We arrived at site 1 the amazing Wadi Bani Khalid just as the first couple of locals
arrived. We stopped at the lower pools for a quick few photos before moving up the path to the higher pools. To our surprise we ended up having
these to ourselves and we were able to swim through the canyons in the crystal clear water by ourselves for quite some time before more tourists
and locals arrived just as we were finishing up. Totally awesome place but so much better before it gets busy.
Next stop was a 4 hour drive to Sur to see the famous lighthouse and Beach. It was nice to see a less touristy side to Oman's coast and was a pleasant
break to the drive back to Muscat. Even if the lighthouse was tricky for parking etc. We had got lucky as someone just left as we were circling back up
and down looking for a place. From here we had a quick stop off at Wadi Shab and the Bimmah Sinkhole (which is actually a tourist amusement park of sorts)
nevertheless we enjoyed the coast line and a lunch break here before heading back up the main roads to Muscat. We thought at this stage we'd be done
with off road / bad driving but google had us turn off onto a proper 4x4 track for another 20km on route to the hotel. Arriving at the hotel we reached
a huge gated peninsula for 3 hotels. It was at this stage we realised our expensive nice hotel we'd booked might have been a bit too nice. Pulling up to
park our car this was confirmed with G wagon's, Bentleys, Ferraris, Porsches, Rolls Royces and then our dirty Nissan 4x4. Although the sun was setting post
check in we managed to get down to the now near empty beach for a swim while we watched the sun set. Given the size of the hotel I can only imagine the beach
facilities would be inadequate usually and very busy. So our late arrival had worked in our favour and was a spectacular end to our trip.
This had been one of our most intense trips. We had had to cut a day out due to flights and make our plan work. We'd cut out the turtles and a day at the beach to unwind at the end. Which sucked, but not much we can do when airlines fly rarely and cancel your flights on you at short notice. Unless you are prepared for a very mobile and active trip with long and hard drive days I'd suggest adding time in to relax in some of the coastal areas or even at the end in Muscat / Dubai nearby.
