Camping and beachbumming in the Hajar Mountains

Trip Start May 01, 2008
1
16
48
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Oman  ,
Saturday, July 19, 2008

After the boat trip many people were going back to Dubai, but I had planned to stay with Canadian Graham, Polish Jan, and Aussie Ella. We had Graham's jeep to go around, and more importantly Graham himself, who had already been exploing a fair bit of the area.

In the evening we looked for the souk, but eventually settled at a restaurant and had dinner outside, on a square. Once that was dealt with, it was already 11pm, and we had to decide between sleeping on the beach and sleeping in the mountains.
The beach was just there, but the downside was that we would start roasting very early in the morning. So we headed to the mountains. We went up almost 2000m in the dark, following small trails on steep slopes. The rocks there are arid, sharp, unwelcoming, almost lifeless, yet very impressive. The full moon light revealed many details of the landscape, between glittering and dark parts of the valleys.

The last bit of trail to reach the "campsite" was quite rough, it was a very bumpy ride. Just a hundred meters before the top of the mountain, the road was blocked, probably because we were somewhat close to the border with Ras Al Khayma emirate. Not knowing how far we were from the campground, we laid the mattresses there, and had a beautiful sleep in a comfortable cool air.

In the morning we woke up as a few wasps were buzzing around, and we decided to get up when one of them tried to sneak into Graham's mouth. Minutes later, there were dozens of these huge wasps, very inquisitive and lot leaving us a second of rest.

We headed up to the top of the mountain, which came abuptly as the other side was a huge cliff, giving impressive views over the valleys and the rest of the Hajar range. The mountains tops were still floating above a sea of clouds, and as soon as the sun showed up, we started sweating...

The drive down was taking us through passes and valleys, all more impressive than the previous one. We drove to a beach, secluded in between the mountains. On the way down we saw, from afar, pods of dolphins hunting in the water.
After a couple of unfructuous attempts with the only two guys we saw there, to borrow their boat, we understood that it was out of the question for them to leave the shade between 9am and 5pm.

We did some more driving and exploring, settled down on a beach for a nap, swam in the water looking for cooler underneath currents, and that day was another beautiful one. Good place with good people, is all that is required.
Slideshow Print this entry Khasab hotels