Salalah, Oman

The view of the port from the ship was very unappealing – containers, cargo ships, cranes, sand, rocks, heat, bright sun. We weren’t sure we were even going to get off the ship since everyone had said there was not much to see. But we decided to at least set foot on the shore.

There was a shuttle from the ship gangway to the entrance to the port, a very short, but hot distance away, so we went out to ride it round trip. At the shuttle we met people we knew and decided to bargain for a cab ride to town for the four of us. What bargainers the men of Oman are! Our friend is an excellent negotiator and did the bargaining for the taxi. It took 45 minutes in the heat but we finally reached an agreement and set off on a 3-hour tour with our 20 year-old driver, Naim. The car was wonderfully well air-conditioned and a welcoming respite from the heat each time we returned to it.

We rode along a new divided highway along the coast, past the Hilton Resort on the beach and to the Sultan’s Palace where we got out of the taxi for a photo opportunity and found a busload of people from one of the ship’s tours. Back in the taxi, we rode around the corner to a market, from which we were drawn away from the shops to walk along the beach. The white sand beach was long and inviting with medium sized waves breaking at the shore – and totally empty. I do not know why such a spectacular appearing beach was absolutely empty, but speculate it was the heat of the white sand, possible undertow, creatures living in the water, cultural mores, or a combination of some or all of the above.

Back in the taxi, we visited a mosque, drove through the town center, and renegotiated the fare so we could ride into the mountains. I think we renegotiated right back to the original tour and price we had been offered at the entrance to the port! We are so glad we did though because that was the best part of our tour. Our driver took us out of town, to the mountains with spectacular views of deep ravines and camels, camels everywhere. We followed a herd (?) of wild camels a short distance until they decided it was time to lie down. What a racket they made calling out as they folded their legs and lay down. It was very exciting for us to see camels along the roadside and sometimes to have to stop as they were crossing the road. We also went to Job’s tomb where we saw some kind of weaver birds feeding young in their nests near what is reputed to be the tomb where the Biblical Job is buried.

So all in all, it sounds like we saw a bunch of camels, some rocky and sandy mountains, a tomb, a town and a beach. But it was really much more interesting than it sounds and we enjoyed our brief visit to Oman.