Land of Frankincense Museum

A new museum space has opened as part of the Land of Frankincense Museum.

The focus of this new opening is Oman’s maritime heritage and with the existing history hall, they create the nicest Museum in Oman. The museum also has a number of small shops selling a mix of products books, Arabic perfumes, frankincense and so on which should be great souvenirs for visitors. I enjoyed a chat with Tariq who looks after one of the shops as we drank tea from the small coffee shop. Though not so busy when I visited it Tariq explained that during the monsoon period in mid-summer the innumerable visitors make it difficult to keep up with demand.
While in Dhofar – I enjoyed an interesting day to the west of Salalah on the edge of Jabal Qamar.

A resident of one of the villages about 80kms west of the airport came with me and we descended from Shaat 1000m towards the sea. As we walked along the sea-cliff edge, I was regaled with tales about the famed Arab explorer Ibn Battuta when he came by ship 700years ago to the area. My companion told the tales with a clarity that makes it clear that the verbal history of the country is alive and well. The day was rounded off by hospitality in the mouth of a wadi near the sea, in the form of Goat stew with Rice, courtesy of very personable and respected owner of a contracting company engaged on road construction at Shaat nearby, who amazingly had managed the road I came along in Yemen.