We took a few days to visit Salalah to escape Muscat’s still sizzling 40c+ temperature for some صلالة تائيم (Salalah Time)

where the sizzle turned into drizzle and Continue reading “Salalah Time in Oman”
Tony Walsh – author & tours through Arabia
We took a few days to visit Salalah to escape Muscat’s still sizzling 40c+ temperature for some صلالة تائيم (Salalah Time)
where the sizzle turned into drizzle and Continue reading “Salalah Time in Oman”
Spread over a 420 hectare site the Oman Botanic Garden is under development with an opening still a few years away.
I paid a visit to learn about this ambitious project Continue reading “Plants of Oman being conserved”
18 April is World Heritage Day. In the far south of Oman are the sites under the UNESCO citation Land of Frankincense.
The Frankincense Tree itself can be found in places scattered throughout the Dhofar Mountains, including here at Wadi Dawkah, the UNESCO WHS.
It was a nice surprise to see the familiar face of Allesandro near Salalah.
He had previously Continue reading “Dhows and Gazelles in Dhofar”
I attended a conference on ‘Oman as a Gravitational Centre in the Global Flyway Network of Migratory Shorebirds’ .
This highlighted Continue reading “Oman’s migratory Birds at Sultan Qaboos University”
I last met Ross Dowling when he hosted a seminar for Oman’s Tour Guides
– so it was really nice Continue reading “Oman’s Tourism and Geology Combine in GeoTourism”
For 2012 I’ve just done a Frankincense Calendar.
Its got 13 pictures all about Frankincense in Oman including Continue reading “Omani Frankincense as a picture calendar for 2012”
Its always nice to visit the archaeological site of Sumhuram near Salalah Oman as it is constantly evolving as discoveries are made and the site itself is developed.
Amongst the new features is Continue reading “Breakfast with Saudis and a visit to Sumhuram”
and gaining the letter ‘Y’
A client who had travelled with us previously was in a ‘competition’ to visit a country starting with each letter of the alphabet. There is only one with the letter ‘Y’, Yemen, and we organised a Yemen Visit. Continue reading “Picnic in Yemen”
Crossing paths through Oman
I arrived at Aiyun around Sunset. The mountains were cracking as they cooled down after the day’s intense heat and, in answer, birds called .
Wilfred Thesiger first arrived here in the Autumn of 1946, Continue reading “Wilfred Thesiger and Oman’s Desert”
Oman is home or visited by almost 500 species of Bird; we were delighted to see two of the most magnificent.
Skirting around Jebel Samhan in Dhofar we had two wonderful experiences . Over the coastal region two Verreaux’s Eagles cavorted in the sky above. These are probably the largest Eagles in Oman and since they pair for a long time – I assume this was a male and female.
Larger still – a flock (if that’s the appropriate name ) of 8 Griffin Vultures glided away over the mountain plateau. The Griffin, along with the Lappet Faced, is Oman’s largest Raptor .
The storks spread through the hills feeding on insects; they also congregate in an area next to hundreds of eagles.
the Arabian Leopard leaves it’s mark
Grabbing a couple of bottles of water, we set off at a good walking pace under the cloud cover of the early Khareef (Monsoon) season in Salalah Oman .
I enjoy trekking in Oman with Hadi al Hikmani, enthusiasm is always a good companion and Hadi packages his in friendliness and knowledge. On this walk, his knowledge identified fresh ‘scat’ (excrement) on our pathway – in fact Leopard scat . Fresh, in fact, very fresh – probably less than half an hour old. In the day that followed, we walked along Leopard tracks and with all our stops and starts, examining the tracks and collecting scat we didn’t catch up with our invisible walking companion.
We returned along the same path and astoundingly found more scat; the Leopard had returned to the path after we passed .
Over a year before, on another walk with Hadi, I said to him that I would write about Oman’s Leopards; as he believes that awareness is a key to its survival. So, shamed that no article had been produced in over a year, I returned to Muscat and somehow produced a piece. Wonderfully ‘ Oman Today ’ has used it in their August edition – I’m delighted of course.
Oman is a key territory of Panthera pardus nimr, the Arabian Leopard, and, with possibly less than 200 individuals in the world, awareness may well help its survival.
Our small Christmas tour of Oman guests arrived into nice pleasantly warm sunny weather.
We travelled into Nizwa and enjoyed Continue reading “Christmas visitors into Oman”
The road from Thumrayt into Al Mazyunah leads into the northeast desert of the Hadramawt in Yemen and my destination Seyoun, which I decided would be a great centre for visiting the Hadramawt.
Rimah some halfway Continue reading “Travelling through southern Yemen”