I'd intended on writing more and trying to make it mor
e interesting but the longer I wait to write this, the less I feel like writing about it. I would've don
e it last night but I couldn't connect to Blogger. I figure that for this entry, the pictures are more interesting anyway.Well after all my crying about not being able to go camping in Oman a month or two ago, we were able to go this past weekend. Now that we have a four-wheel drive truck, we could load it up and follow a caravan of friends. One of my friends used to live in Al Ain, a city on the border of Oman so he knows a lot of good places to camp in that area.
The drive to the border was a couple of hours and we drove a another hour or so in Oman.
Normally, we have to get a visa for Oman which costs about 100 dirham ($27) per person but if you cross at a certain point and don't go too far into Oman, you don't need one. If you keep going in Oman, you eventually hit another checkpoint and then have to pay for a visa. Having someone with us who knew this k
ind of thing was helpful.We had a little bit of off-roading which was fun. I've never had a truck before so have never had the chance. I'm assuming that the four-wheel drive was helping but since I've never had a truck before, I don't know what using only two-wheel drive would've been like. I was tempted to switch while we were driving to see if I could feel a difference but didn't want to risk getting stuck.
We arrived just a few hours before the sun went down and parked in the shade of the wall of a canyon. After the sun went down, we were expecting it to get cold, but it was really nice weather, in the 60's Fahrenheit. The kids ran around in the wide open area while we got the tents and everything set up. We cooked our dinner on the fire and relaxed. Basically it was how you'd expect camping to be but in a wide open space with not many trees around. The next morning, we packed up and drove a little way to a narrow canyon where we hiked for a little bit and looked for fossils. It involved a little climbing which the kids loved.
Overall, it was a great time.
Is this an official camping area? Or just a neat spot. Any facilities around?
ReplyDeleteIt was just a neat spot with no facilities which meant we had to bring our own water and other things. We were lucky enough to get find some firewood nearby but were prepared for the possibility of having to drive to collect some. The friend who took us there said the cliff that we were camped next to is a favorite place for rock climbers. Apparently the handholds on the cliff are mapped out by some climbers.
ReplyDeleteCheck out these rocks:
ReplyDeletehttp://rak.aminus3.com/image/2009-11-12.html
Great pictures, Jeff. I doubt I could've gotten that close to the edge without some sort of harness.
ReplyDeleteMineko and I would love to visit you one of these weekends. (I guess we'll have to bring the kids, too.) I'm assuming Mutsumi arrives sometime in April? Also, you're welcome to visit us in Abu Dhabi once we eventually get a pull-out sofa.