digs for the night at Mahout, and a
breakfast of egg burji & chapatti, we
make for the northern entrance of the
Wahiba Sands, unfortunately the wa-
ter pump seal on Stuart’s Aprillia has
started to let him know that there’s an
issue, so it looks like our traverse of
the Wahiba has to be delayed.
Not to worry. I’m sure we will con-
quer this vast expanse of sand anoth-
er time! Notwithstanding, we venture
some 40km’s into the Wahiba to reach
our overnight accommodation at
the 1001 Night’s Camp, which is tru-
ly a unique experience. Huge dunes,
some 200+ metres in height and the
clear night sky make for an incredi-
ble experience.
After a buffet breakfast fit for a
king we retrace our steps back out of
the Wahiba and make our way to Jebel
Shams, one of the highest mountains
in Oman at 3120m in height. The ride
consisting of near perfect bitumen for
two-thirds of the way up the moun-
tain, before a 40km section of dirt
and amazing views of the valley’s be-
low. Being so high up, temperatures
can drop to below 10 degrees Celsius
of a night and a light dusting of snow
even having been experienced in the
past. Best not to forget that pullover!
Next day we catch up with Torsten
at our fabled ‘Tiger Stop’ at Ibri and
he is just as chuffed as us with the
lamb curry. It’s Stuart’s opportunity
to bid us farewell after five days of
riding as work beckons back in Qa-
tar and Torsten takes over the reins
from Stuart. I’m extremely fortunate
to know these guys, they are both
very capable riders with many, many
years of experience behind them.
Both having competed in numerous
Desert Challenges within the Arabian
Gulf. There isn’t too much these boys
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haven’t experienced with regards to
off road riding, that’s for sure.
Torsten and I had originally
planned to ride to Salalah, which is
at the very southerly end of Oman
up against the border with Yemen,
some 1200km’s away however, feel-
ing somewhat tired after having been
flogged by Stuart over the last few
days, I manage to convince Torsten
that it might be best if we load the
bikes into the pickups and drive
down. Hopefully feeling somewhat
fresher by the time we get there ...
thankfully Torsten agrees.
We arrive into the sleepy historic
coastal town of Mirbat about 3pm af-
ter deciding to follow the newly com-
pleted Muscat - Salalah coast road. To
try and describe the engineering that
has gone into completing this section
of road is nigh impossible, with the
cost to the Oman Government surely