Two friends and I, with cameras in tow, headed out for a day tour to Wahiba Sands and Wadi Bani Khalid. Wahiba Sands is located on the eastern fringe of the Empty Quarter and is about 150km west of Sur. The drive is easy on a paved road but one still needs to be cautious of the camels, goats and donkeys wandering by the road side, not to mention, the usual obstacles of people speeding, going too slow, and the truck traffic.
We enjoyed the peace and quiet and the many invitation to join locals in their jeeps to ride the dunes. I am sure a fee would be associated with this at sometime because this is a tourist area and why not make a quick riyal or two if the tourist opportunity strikes. We were quite happy getting by with the car.
See the Dunes and WBK photo album to see pics of the trip.
After the dunes we walked through the small town of Bidiyah taking photos of the wooden doors and visiting a few dress shops. With four hours into the trip it was time to look for a restroom and lunch. There is not a whole lot of variety of food outside of Muscat so we had the typical rice and chicken blue plate special for the noon time meal.
The next stop was to Wadi Bani Khalid. Many people rate this place as the most magical in Oman because the wadi has pools of water you swim along to access a cave and to continue north. I have yet to swim this and I hope my next visit will be the one. This place does seem to be a male bonding spot for jumping off the bridge and cliffs into the water and many bring their bbq gear to sit and spell and eat.
My camera battery died before I could take pictures of this spot but I did manage to get a few at another spot further south along the wadi. We spotted a small village nestled above the date palms and thought to explore this area. By luck we saw two boys on donkeys making a fodder delivery and there was also a baby donkey following its mom. Very cute indeed with the big eyes. One of the donkeys was trimmed with tassels and adornments which I would have loved to photograph but the battery was already dead by then.
It says in my tour book one can continue walking along the wadi south for about 4 hours to get to another small village called Sayq. Another time perhaps.
Back in Sur we decided to try a place we haven't been to before but was recommended by some of the local staff and we were amazed at the amount of food that was brought out. A very nice salad came out first and then a basket of Indian and pita bread came with humus but we didn't order this and not sure if this comes with the meal. I did not see the bill so I am not sure. I ordered soup and fish with sauteed vegetables but was too full to eat the main meal so that will be dinner today.
Hope you enjoyed the journey. The next one might be of my short time in Dubai when I go Oct 15 and 16 for a training.
The Oct break will be here and my plans are to visit Masirah Island for 2 nights. That will be another great adventure. Until then, send an email to let me know what is up with you.
