8.2.24 to 7.3.24
Everyone we knew raved about the picture-perfect landscape, we enjoyed this landscape to the fullest, but made a mistake when it came to getting the right visa! The desert state of Oman also has a few challenging slopes in the mountains. Our little experiences are now online here, lots of laughs while reading!
The enchanted valley
We kept complaining to ourselves because we almost always drove on tar on our journey through the Arabian Peninsula. It is actually true that the Arabs nowadays have built wide tar roads in almost every corner of their countries. As a result, Gabi always tried very hard to find unpaved roads and slopes. In the north of Oman, she once again found a very nice track on the map through a small valley as an optimal connection between two larger valleys. From Rumaylah to Murri the connection runs for just over fourteen kilometers through a small valley. At the beginning the slope runs over the hills and we feel like being on a roller coaster. No vehicle is crossing us or tries to overtake us. After the roller coaster, the slope turns left into a very narrow valley. The slope is intended for occasional use with a pickup truck, but now, especially after the heavy rain, it is probably not very easy with a pickup truck because of the large stones. The stones aren’t a problem for Globi’s big wheels, he groans a bit from time to time due to the extreme twist, but otherwise he doesn’t find the stones a problem. As a driver, however, the very tight curves and the lack of width of the track over the slope are more of a problem for me. There are only about eight kilometers where Globi is not really the right vehicle, but it has it all. When we realize that this isn’t the best slope for us, we can’t turn around anymore! Another option would be to drive backwards out of the valley through the narrow, exposed curves, but that would be a maneuver with no safe outcome. We decide to drive further into the unknown and let things come to us, maybe the valley will open up and we can maybe turn around or it will get easier. Neither hope comes true though! It takes us several hours to cover the few kilometers and we probably lose a lot of body weight through the sweat we produce. But no problem, Gabi has everything on video! – After successfully completing this unwanted adventure, we take a longer break.
Happy moment
We made a random lunch stop on the beautiful coastal road north of Mirbat. It turned out that the tides wash over a large rocky outcropping and release it again. During the low tide, countless small ponds and puddles are created in the rock in which aquatic animals are briefly imprisoned. We had the opportunity to observe sea creatures up close for hours without having to put on a diving suit or go into the water. Countless species of crabs, colorful fish and mussels splash around cooped in the small water holes. The splendor of colors is incredible, which is actually not visible to us under water, and which is now presented so easily to our eyes here on the surface. Like little children discovering something new, we lingered on the rock until the tide came and sent us away. It’s nice to be able to discover the world like this even as an old geezer.
Encounters
Although Oman is a well-known destination for overlanders, we met almost none. Near Salalah we stood near Aleksandra and Martin from Austria for two days, otherwise we met a few overlanders on the road, but they didn’t think it was necessary to stop, which was always an absolute given on our travels so far.
As we stood near a farm in the pouring rain, which also happens in a desert state, the farmer spontaneously invited us to come to their farm as we drove past. We had to decline because Gabi was in the middle of preparing our dinner. Later in the evening a young man came by and brought us lots of meat skewers that they had grilled over the fire for us. The hospitality we experienced in the Arab states is in fact very exemplary and always overwhelmed us anew.
Technology Pitfalls
For the first time in our travels with Globi, we had a little trouble filling our freshwater tank in Oman. Although the Omanis extract a huge amount of fresh water from seawater and pump it throughout the country and into the desert, it is not always easy to find an adequate tap. In the south, enormous water pipelines are used to fill local water reservoirs, which then supply the surrounding area and residential buildings via a pipe system. Water stations are also supplied where farmers can tap fresh water with large water containers on their pickup trucks. We were standing at a place like this and were just starting to fill up Globi when a local came. We let him go first because we had enough time with us. However, when he had almost filled his tank, the reservoir was temporarily empty, and we moved on with the tank unfilled.
Further north we came across official pumping stations where the local blue trucks get water, which they deliver to the houses that are not yet connected to the freshwater system. These stations work automatically. However, to operate the water outlet you need some kind of credit card that opens the waterspout and probably also measures the amount. Of course, we didn’t have such a card and could either buy water from a truck that had already filled up or sometimes there was a small tap that was open and we could connect our water hose.
For a smile
Oman requires us to have a visa, like most countries here. We can request and receive the visa online, but we still have to print it out! In principle, the visa is valid for thirty days and can be extended twice for thirty days each. This is confirmed by other travelers and also the official homepage of Oman. We plan to stay in Oman for two to three months, but maybe two months now until it gets too hot and then again in the fall of this year when it gets cooler again. We will find a visa with multiple entry options on the registration form. We’ll take that, then we can probably use it again in the fall. Everything works completely simply and quickly. However, when we wanted to extend the visa after a month, various people and especially the responsible office explained to us that this was not possible. A multi-entry visa cannot be extended; it is valid for one year from the start and entitles you to a total of ninety days of visits to the country. You cannot stay in Oman for more than thirty days per visit, then you have to leave. We can re-enter the country the next day, but the only way to leave Oman is to go to the UAE. In the south, Yemen would be an option, but at the moment this is not really recommended and a visa for Yemen is difficult to obtain. The other neighbor is Saudi Arabia, but there you have to drive through the largest desert in the world just to drive back, so there’s no real alternative. The remaining borders are sea. We could leave by ship, but according to the official information, we would have to travel in and out of another country by ship, so that’s not an option either. The distance from Salalah to UAE is over a thousand kilometers, so we decide to make full use of the month we have now and use up the remaining sixty days in two visits in the fall. Thanks to the actually well-thought-out visa type, we were only able to travel one small part of Oman, but we will come back!
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