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Oman's Musandam Peninsula
Click on the pictures to enlarge
The Musandam Peninsula is an enclave of Oman that juts into the strategically important Straight of Hormuz. As such, it used to be entirely a military area and completely off-limits to tourists. Musandam is "one of Arabia's least accessible areas, but also one of the most memorable." This was definitly among the most inaccessible places I visited, as the elevation rises from sea level to 4000 ft in the course of a couple kilometers via an unpaved road that goes virtually straight up.
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We began by crossing the border from the UAE into Dibba Bayah, where the road hugged the Gulf of Oman briefly. Suddenly we turned off and began heading into the mountains up a dry riverbed (a wadi). |
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A few miles inland, the riverbed narrowed such that the trail was only as wide as a vehicle. On both sides of us, rock cliffs rose hundreds of feet into the air. It was like the Grand Canyon less the Colorado River. We stopped to look around and noticed that the rock was very smooth on the bottom and gradually got rougher higher on the cliff, evidence that this valley was carved by water. Remember that the heat was over 100 degrees F with high humidity. |
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We turned off the wadi and began a steep ascent up the mountains to an elevation of around 4000 ft. The road was just rock and several times I was worried that our 4WD would slip and go careening 2000 ft down to the valley floor. This is the view from the tippy-top. |
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The road (visible in the far right) slowly began turning downward, heading back towards the UAE. |
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As we got back to the UAE, we crossed the border, which was armed by a big fellow with an even bigger machine gun strapped to his chest. Needless to say, I didn't try to take his picture. As we re-entered the UAE, we headed toward Ras-al-Khaimah on the Persian Gulf coast. |
>> Next Page: Dubai >>External link: another good Musandam page |
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