The city of Muscat, in the Sultanate of Oman is just a one-hour flight from Dubai, and I’ve obtained my tourist visa on arrival.

At my city hotel I’m met punctually, by professional guide, Yousef Al-Jabri, from one of Oman’s most reputable tour companies. He’s impeccably turned out in traditional dress, and welcomes me warmly. I choose the passenger seat of his 4WD, to enjoy the amazing views and listen as Yousef teaches me about the culture of Oman, its openness and ability to combine tradition with freedom. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the highly respected Head of State, has instigated huge changes since the 1970s, building schools in every village, exchanging connecting desert tracks for sealed roads and creating infrastructure to encourage progress and growth.

I have long been excited about this visit to Oman and can quickly tell that my six night round trip won’t disappoint. First stop is the bustling fish market at As-Seeb, Oman has a long sea-faring history and fish is a diet staple.

From As-Seeb we venture 100 km north to the restored fort at Nakhal. Constructed in 1834 of mud and straw with palm frond ceilings, it’s built on the foundations of a pre-Islamic structure. I gaze from the watchtowers to the beautiful Hajar mountains nestled above the date palm farms, from which the fort derives its name.

Nakhal Fort

Date Palm Farms

Ath-Thowra

We pass through these farms with their ancient Falaj irrigation, to the natural hot springs of Ath-Thowra (meaning ‘to boil’) where I dip my feet in the water, inviting the fish to give me a natural pedicure.

We take the 43 km drive over an unsealed road to Wadi Bani Auf and on to the dramatic, narrow, twisting Snake Gorge. It is a popular trekking route, but caution’s required during the rainy season as flash floods can prove fatal.

Stopping on the descent into Bilad Sayt, we photograph this picturesque,
old village with terraced fields and mud-baked houses, then park outside the village, amble through the streets, and enjoy the shade of the date palm terraces.

Leaving Bilad Sayt, we start to traverse the Hajar Mountains, a four hour, 70km drive that is truly spectacular. It is not often on my travels that I feel so completely overwhelmed with beauty and a spiritual sense of connection – emotions I hadn’t anticipated in Oman.

Breathtakingly beautiful Hajar Mountains, Oman

The road from Bilad-Sayt is a winding ascent with a series of u-bends. Turning the last bend, the view quite literally takes my breath away. My ‘stop now, please’ request startles Yousef who thinks I’m suddenly taken ill. He relaxes when he realises that this mad English-Australian lady just wants to take a photo – although no photograph could capture this outstanding natural beauty.

We descend into Al-Hamra village at the foot of the Hajar Mountains, one of the oldest villages with well-preserved Yemeni-style mud-brick houses. In the small museum, Bayt Al-Safa, there’s a taste of life as women lived it.

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I try my hand at pounding wheat to flour, observe women weaving traditional patterns using a loom, have my forehead painted with a sandalwood and saffron henna mix as the women would for weddings. After hhe tour, I enjoy the hospitality of the museum staff in their upper room majlis (sitting room) listening to other travellers’ tales and fortunate to hear the Arabic discussions of visiting village elders.

My overnight stay is a tent at The View, overlooking the town of Al-Hamra. The sounds of goat bells and a herdsman – such a pleasant alarm clock – wake me, it’s wet, windy and dusty but very peaceful and on a clear day the sunrise would compensate the early start.

After breakfast we take the road along Wadi Ghul, known in Oman as the Grand Canyon of Arabia, and head for Jebel Shams, Mountain of the Sun, at 3075 m, Oman’s highest mountain. Our 4WD copes well with the partly unsealed road, and there are barriers to help prevent accidental plunges down the 1000 m drops. The views from the summit are awesome and, gazing down into the canyon, I watch falcons catching the warm air currents looking for prey.

On the return journey, we stop at the village of Ghul and, armed with a plentiful water supply,
take a memorable short walk into the canyon
through the date palms and beautiful pink flowers of the Oleander.

From Ghul, it’s a short drive to BaHla, famous for its potteries and locally, for its legendary evil spirits, the Jinn. BaHla fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating from pre-Islaamic times, is being restored and has since been opened to the public.

By this stage, my appreciation of forts is on the wane, but it is completely restored by the beautifully preserved Jabrin Castle, undoubtedly my favourite. Constructed in 1675 by the Imam Bil-arab bin Sultan as a centre of learning, (astrology, medicine and Islaamic law) it offers great insights into the way of life in a bygone era. I am amazed at the skillfully carved doorposts and doors, painted ceilings and Arabic calligraphy, all of which speak of a rich artistic heritage.

There are excellent examples of falaj – primitive air conditioning, used also for pouring hot date honey onto ill-advised marauders – date stores and multiple majlis. Despite the heat, I climb the keep to gaze delightedly over the surrounding plains to the mountains.

We enjoy lunch in Nizwa, a large town about two hours from Muscat. It’s popular and ideally situated for exploring the area, so pre-booking a hotel is essential. Nizwa’s not always been hospitable to travellers, as famously described in Wilfred Theiseger’s Arabian Sands, when its conservative Iman threatened the author with imprisonment or death.

I briefly relish the wonderful views of the town from the round tower of 17th century Nizwa fort before spending the morning browsing the Souk for souvenirs, engaging with friendly locals tolerant of my simple Arabic.

Refreshed after a night in Nizwa, Jebel Akhdar, ‘the green mountain’, beckons. It is so called due to its climate, fruit orchards, and the gardens of roses for producing rosewater. The downward journey from the plateau is treacherous, and entry to the mountain road without the low gears of a 4WD is forbidden. In the foothills lies the ancient village of Birkat Al-Mawz, ‘pool of bananas’, though the plantations are now mainly dates as, according to Yousef, the bananas were wiped out by disease.

Leaving the mountain ranges for desert sands, we take the highway to Ibra and on to the Bedouin village of Bidiyyah, on the edge of Wahiba Sands. The village is a three hour drive from Muscat and half this from Nizwa.

I am spending two nights at the luxury, air conditioned Desert Night Camp just within the sands. Alternatively, choose the more authentic 1000 Nights Camp 19 km into the desert, with traditional Bedouin Goats hair tents and the luxury of a swimming pool. Both camps offer camel trekking, horse riding, dune driving, sand boarding and buggy driving, guided by local Bedouin who are extremely knowledgeable about the desert.

Luxury tents

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Desert Nights Camp, Wahiba Sands

We visit an authentic Bedouin tent, politely remove our shoes and accept their famed hospitality, coffee with cardamom, tea and dates. The friendly women chat to us in a mix of Arabic and English, sharing a joke or two, enjoying the universal language of laughter.

I enjoy the peace and tranquility of a morning camel trek. The gracefulness of these “ships of the desert”, their easy sway and the only sound, their footsteps in the sand, transports me to another era. I am staggered by the agility of my Bedouin guide, who seamlessly transitions between precarious riding positions. He explains to me how the Bedouin would navigate across the desert, understanding the shifting sand landscape and using the sun, moon and stars as navigational aids.

Driving through the desert is a reminder of its scale and the outstanding beauty of this harsh environment. It captivates and enchants its visitors, whether with the romantic notion of Arabian nights and Scheherazade or the clear skies, shifting patterns of sand, and changing light from dawn to dusk.

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From the desert camp, we travel to Wadi Bani Khalid, a canyon with pretty date palm farms and small villages, famed for it’s natural beauty. Due to the natural spring in the mountains there’s a clear, blue pool of water all year round where people swim, enjoying the coolness. There’s a path along the canyon to Moqal Cave and a small cafe by the pool for refreshment on the way back.

We continue our journey to Sur, a sea-faring town on the Gulf of Oman, where I enjoy watch the carpenters ply their centuries-old craft of building traditional dhows, and visit the small Maritime museum nearby.

In the evening, we drive an hour up the coast to Ras Al-Jinz, famous for its endangered green turtle nesting site. Booking is essential and escorted tours start at 9pm every evening. It’s possible to stay at the reserve and join a dawn tour to catch the last few departing turtles.

The end of my road trip is along the Sur-Qurayat coastal highway. We visit Bibi Miriam’s tomb at Qalhat, stop for a memorable swim at beautiful Fins Beach before proceeding to the Bimmah Sinkhole in Hawiyat Najm Park, enjoying the gatekeeper’s hospitality before returning to Muscat.

Bibi Miriam’s tomb, Qalhat

The descent into Muscat reveals a city of white houses basking in the sunlight nestled between the mountains and the beautiful Indian Ocean, a befitting end to a captivating journey!

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