-Mary Austin
Since you have last seen me I have become a desert expert… or least I should be. In December, I finally got to run up and down and roll around giant sand dunes when we traveled to Wadi Rum, Jordan. This is something I had wanted to do since I can remember, maybe not advisable with the hard contact lens I wear but I nonetheless loved it! Now under my belt are several other journeys to the dunes in Oman known as the Wahiba Sands or Sharquia Desert including both Joel and my parent’s visits.
My true desert experience though came along due to the fact that the High School was short on female chaperones for its annual ‘Discover Oman’ four day field trip week. I, temporarily forgetting my ‘immense’ fear of teenagers, eagerly agreed! The trip I agreed to chaperone along with one other male teacher was known in the High School as the ‘camel trek’ and was the most popular trip to go on!
We set out the morning after Joel’s parents left. We drove about 45 minutes by 4X4 into the sands (about 2.5 hours from Muscat) when we came upon our ten camels and 3 guides awaiting us and there we were quite literally dropped off the middle of the desert. (The 4X4’s were gone before we could say … ’I change my mind…’).
The first part of the trek (where ½ the kids rode camels and then they alternated mid-way) was 6 km to our night’s first camp. To say I think camels are one of the most interesting animals to photograph and watch is an understatement (ask Joel – we still stop on the highway every time we see one); traveling with us was also two young camels (~1 yo) that walked along beside their moms. Camels make the most unreplicatable noises and their lower lips bounce up and down as they walk.
I learned how to read the dunes to tell where the sand was a bit crustier so I wouldn’t sink too far in. It really is an art to walking in the desert; I wore my running shoes the whole time and am still removing sand from them! However others preferred to walk in their socks or bare feet.
Our first night we set up Bedouin tents to protect us from the chilly desert air (~ 3 degrees Celsius at night) on the top of one of the 32 major dunes that travel north/south and span what is the Wahiba Sands. (Check it out on Google Earth – it’s amazing to see from above!) Our food and tents were brought to our camps by trucks and the camels slept several meters away on the other side of the dunes from us, their Bedouin caretakers by the fire.
The next three days we trekked up and down three of the major dunes (~ 25 km) and stayed the second night in one of our Bedouin guides camps (he and his extended family live in ~ 3 huts year round). The treks up the dunes were tiresome and you feel the sun beating on you, but the excitement of reaching the top of a dune to see what awaited you on the other side kept you going. Once on the top of a dune, you could cool yourself by running down the other side and letting the wind air you out!
At nights, we listened to Bedouin music by the guides, made Arabic bread in the fire (similar to making Bannock) and of course told ghost stories. The good thing about doing so much walking in the sun was that the kids were usually so tired that this shy, soft spoken chaperone didn’t have to tell anyone to be quiet or worse ‘Get out of the Boys Tent! They were great; everyone was super at drinking plenty of water and applying lots of sunscreen!
Every evening from ~ 5- 6 PM just before the sunset the students wrote in their journals and I had some time to sit on my own dune and reflect on how enjoyable Joel’s and my life here in Oman is and imagine how we made it here and how far away it seemed from where we were last year! It was also a great time to take photos. One truly can never have enough dune and camel shots and these moments are my favorite from the trip.
About a week after Joel and I returned from our respective Discover Oman trips, my parents came over from Kelowna. It was fun to show my parents around a lot of the places we love here in Oman. Unfortunately, their visit coincided with Joel having to be away in Cairo, Egypt for a sports event and so my parents only had me as their guide! But thanks to their visit, I am now finally confident enough to brave the Omani highways and roads, something I had only done a handful of times since arriving here (usually to get myself to the mall to shop!).
We had a few days in Muscat with Joel and then we took off down the coastal road where we stopped for a picnic lunch (after unsuccessfully trying to find the “sinkhole”). We saw some of the devastation along this road caused by last June’s cyclone, ‘Gonu’ and how they are slowly repairing things.
Our destination was the 1000 Night’s Desert Camp where we had gone with Joel’s parents which is about 30 minutes into the Wahiba sands. My dad took the reins as I was too chicken to drive in the sand and let’s just say we only had to get the KIA ‘unstuck’ once with the help of a Bedouin man driving by who got the car out by deflating the tires to increase traction. We all had to sigh and say ‘this is fun!’
The next day we drove from the desert to the town of Nizwa where we went to the 7:00 AM Friday morning Goat market which was bustling with even more activity than when we had been there before. My dad estimated about 300 people milling around and about an equal number of goats, cows and bulls.
My parents and I traveled to a few forts before embarking on what Joel and I have dubbed the ‘up and over’ which is a 4X4 trip that literally take you up and over the Western Hajar mountain range (2500 M high). The south side is steep but paved and the north side is not paved and contains many switchbacks. My dad once again drove and navigated us down the road through several mountain villages with date palms and canyons ending in a dry river bed known as Wadi Bani Auf. The trip was reminiscent of the drive we had to take to get to Tembagapura (where my parents lived in Indonesia).
It was wonderful to have my parents here if even it was for a short time! It was hard to see them off! My parents were off to Portugal next for some golfing! Sorry for the length, I have trouble sitting down to write these and it was definitely my turn!
