I
t’s that time of the year
again, here on the Arabi-
an Peninsula, where sum-
mer is fast disappearing
and winter is permitting
us to venture out into the
natural beauty that The Sultanate of
Oman represents.
A few quick fire emails to the local
riders and Stuart from Qatar, as well
as Torsten from Dubai, has us setting
off for the Sultanate of Oman and
venturing to far flung corners not yet
explored by us. We leave Dubai early
for the UAE/Oman border crossing of
Jebel Hafeet and our first night at Ibri
and the best lamb curry and cold Ti-
ger beer to be found, about 150km’s
from the border.
Next day, courtesy of Stuart and
his Garmin Basecamp skills, we cut
diagonally across central Oman to
the Oil & Gas metropolis of Farhoud,
which is the last place we can get fuel
before entering the Empty Quarter
and hopefully making it out the other
end some 500km’s away to the south.
Even with long range tanks fitted
there is not much room for error or
wrong turns.
We reach Farhoud in good time af-
ter a 140km stretch of dirt only to be
told by the local police, that the rules
have now changed and we are not
welcome in Farhoud or the Northern
reaches of the Empty Quarter owing
to the Oil & Gas assets along our pro-
posed route. Bugger! This is not the
start we were after.
Over a hastily convened lunch of
dahl, chicken curry, chapatti and
fresh orange juice we decide to head
for the coastal town of Duqm instead,
some 450km’s away to the east. Our
original route would have seen us
reach Duqm after having exited from
the Empty Quarter, although now
with our re-arranged itinerary we will
be there a day early. You little ripper!
Another day on the beach I reckon...
little did I realise what Stuart had in
store for us over the next few days.
After a meal and a beer at our favour-
ite haunt in Duqm, the Frontier Bar,
we camp for the night and get some
well-deserved rest.
Next morning we head out early
to the North West and into the Wadi
country behind Duqm. For those not
familiar with Oman & what a Wadi is,
it is somewhat of a generic term for a
dry water course. These can range in
scale from a dry creek bed that could
be a few inches in depth, to some-
thing that could well resemble the
Grand Canyon. With regards to the
riding in Oman it varies greatly, from
beaches to mountains and deserts
with plenty of top quality bitumen to
soak up as well.
Oman really can’t be compared
to any other destination that I know
of, with this particular Wadi coun-
try best resembling the American
mid-west. After traversing through
some spectacular vistas we then head
onto a 60 kilometre stretch of beach
and past what are known locally as
the Sugar Dunes owing to their pure
white colour.
As the day nears an end, we head
across salt flats and through small
fishing villages before reaching our
overnight stop at Mahout. It’s been a
long challenging day of riding as we
head for the nearest fuel station, din-
TRAVERSE
69
ner which consisted of fresh prawn
curry & sweet chai before bidding an-
other day good night.
Just as well the tide was out, for
this day would not have been the
same otherwise!
For a couple of years now we have
been talking about traversing the
Wahiba Sands, a 180km stretch of
sand desert that extends from North
to South through Central Oman be-
fore emerging on the Sea of Oman &
today is the day.
After checking out of our humble