Breakfast at the Khasab Hotel is definitely the worst of our trip (so far, I\nshould say, but we’re in the home straight now). It consisted today of white\nbread, some of which was toasted, and some individually wrapped portions of\njam, butter, cheese and honey.<\/p>\n\n
Only after eating most of it did we discover that an ommelette could also be\nordered, albeit it at extra cost. We were in for a long day, so we ordered a\ncouple anyway, but this made us a little late for our 09:00 pick-up for our\ndhow cruise.<\/p>\n\n
Down at the harbour, we boarded our dhow and were delighted to discover that\nwe had the entire boat to ourselves. In fact, we are virtually the only people\nstaying at our hotel, too. There’s only one other guest, as far as I know.<\/p>\n\n
Part of the reason for that is that Oman Air has flights to Khasab only on\nThursday and Friday, so anyone who wants to fly here from greater Oman either\nhas to stay one night or six. Dubai, on the other hand, has daily flights\n(although I’m unsure which airline operates them; probably Kish), so Musandam\nis a popular weekend destination for expats.<\/p>\n\n
Anyway, aboard the dhow, cushions flanked either side of the boat and carpets\nwere draped over the remaining areas in the middle, so the boat looked comfy\nand inviting. We took up position along the left side.<\/p>\n\n
Our crew consisted of two men, an older Omani gent and a younger one, probably\nin his twenties. Neither spoke a word of English and we speak no Arabic, so\nsign language would have to do.<\/p>\n\n
We headed out into the Khor Ash Sham, a long and sheltered fjord (then again,\nwhich fjord isn’t?).<\/p>\n\n
Before long, we saw the village of Nadifi in the distance on the south side of\nthe fjord. We passed by at quite a distance, however. The boat doesn’t land at\nany of the villages on this trip, in order to respect the privacy of the\nlocals. These are very remote communities, accessible only by boat.<\/p>\n\n
Nadifi has about a hundred inhabitants, mainly fishermen. Because there’s no\naccess by road, the children travel by boat to school in Khasab and stay over\nfrom Saturday to Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n
Next up was Qanaha, which we passed by more closely. Stone houses could be\nmade out in the distance.<\/p>\n\n
At this point, Telegraph Island (a.k.a. Jazirat Al Maqlab) loomed up ahead,\nthe former site of a British telegraphic relay station in the 19th century.<\/p>\n\n
The sheer isolation of the island, behind a bend of this remote khor<\/em>,\napparently drove many of the workers stationed there to madness. The saying\n“to go around the bend” still persists to this day. So now you know.<\/p>\n\n Ahead lay the village of Maqlab on the right-hand side. This is a mountain\nvillage, where the people earn their living from goatherding and fishing.\nMaqlab comprises about ten or so houses and can also be reached by climbing\nover Jebel Maqlab.<\/p>\n\n At this point, the men on the boat brought us into the shallows and made it\nclear we could jump off the side and go swimming here in the beautiful green\nwater, but we indicated that we didn’t want to swim and were offered a\nslightly longer journey along the fjord instead.<\/p>\n\n We gratefully accepted and fared on towards the end of the fjord. Seebi\nIsland could be seen in the distance.<\/p>\n\n To our great astonishment, some kind of flying fish would periodically leap\nout of the water and literally run across the water for a good 10 – 20 m\nusing its tail fin as a leg. It was one of the strangest sights I have ever\nwitnessed first hand and it was totally unexpected.<\/p>\n\n We now turned, looped around Telegraph Island and passed by Sham, which we\npassed by more closely than any of the other villages on our cruise. Again,\nthis village is home to about a hundred residents, but not a soul was\nstirring, as had been the case in each of the other villages. They could have\nbeen deserted, for all we knew.<\/p>\n\n Along the route, we were kept watered with tea, Arabic coffee, water and soft\ndrinks; and nourished with fruit.<\/p>\n\n On the return voyage, we stopped at a cove to observe dolphins swimming in\nformation at the left side of our boat, then in front of it, then off to the\nright and finally behind. I think this was the high point of Sarah’s day, as\nshe had been very excited at the prospect of seeing dolphins and was even more\njubilent now at having got to see them so close.<\/p>\n\n Eloïse seemed to enjoy the trip, too, and was very well behaved. By the\ntime we made it back to Khasab’s harbour, she had fallen asleep. Sarah\nexpertly managed to get her into her car seat without waking her.<\/p>\n\n With only one more full day in Musandam, it was important to make good use of\nthe afternoon, too, so we decided to head up into the mountains. It was now\n13:30 and the guide books made it sound like a tricky 4×4 drive, with\nnarrow roads hugging the mountains, precipitous drops, and vertiginous views.<\/p>\n\n We decided to see for ourselves; we could always turn back if it got too\nhairy.<\/p>\n\n As we began the drive, signs at the side of the road warned of the steepness\nof the gradients and cautioned owners of non-4×4 vehicles not to attempt the\nascent.<\/p>\n\n The road probably was<\/strong> the most difficult we have tackled on this trip so\nfar, but at slow speeds it was still comfortable (mentally, that is;\nphysically, it was somewhat less comfortable). A handful of incredibly steep\nswitchbacks put the car under considerable strain, but we eventually made it\nto the top of Jebel Harim, the tallest mountain in the area. We parked near\nthe radar station to rest.<\/p>\n\n On the way to the summit, we had passed the wonderfully verdant Sayh plateau,\nwhere goats wandered without a care in the world and some obvious agriculture\nwas being cultivated. If you looked at that plateau out of context, you would\nhave no idea it was high in the mountains; it looked like a meadow at sea\nlevel.<\/p>\n\n At the stop of the mountain pass, we took some time to take photos and change\nWiesje’s nappy, after which we began the descent. On the way dowm, we passed a\nconvoy of Hummers, doubtless ferrying cruise line passengers on a mountain\nexcursion. We had seen a liner docked in the harbour that morning and\nsurmised that that could be the only source of enough tourists to fill six or\nseven Hummers.<\/p>\n\n The descent, which I imagined might be hairier than the ascent, was made quite\nquickly, as we were now familiar with the terrain. We found ourselves back\ndown at the base of Jebel Harim by 16:30.<\/p>\n\n That left enough time for the 10 km drive to Khor Najd, the only khor<\/em>\naccessible by car, which rewarded us with a glorious view of the surrounding\nmountains and fjord.<\/p>\n\n We made it back to Khasab with enough time to stop off at a beachside park,\nwhere Eloïse could tire herself out, prior to going to dinner for the\nsecond night in a row at the Golden Tulip Hotel, just outside of Khasab.<\/p>\n\n The advantage of eating there was that there’s an office of Khasab Travel\n& Tours located in the hotel. After dinner, we arranged to charter a large\nspeedboat tomorrow, which will take us to the remote settlement of Kumzar.<\/p>\n\n This is the northernmost settlement in Oman and reputedly the remotest on the\nwhole of the Arabian peninsula. There are no roads and a two hour speedboat\njourney (or four hour voyage by dhow) is the only way to get there.\nThe villagers of Kumzar speak a language known as Kumzari, which is a mixture\nof Farsi, Arabic, English and Portuguese and Hindi. I think it’s going to be a\nfascinating visit to an area of the world that has almost certainly retained\nits own character and remained largely impervious to the onslaught of the\nwestern world.<\/p>\n\n The voyage will take us out into the Arabian Gulf and then into the Strait of\nHormuz. Somewhere in the distance to the north will be Iran, but that’s as\nclose as we’ll get on this trip.<\/p>\n\n Today was possibly the highlight of our trip so far, but tomorrow has a\nsporting chance of surpassing it. Either way, it’ll be a terrific day, I’m\nsure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Breakfast at the Khasab Hotel is definitely the worst of our trip (so far, I should say, but we’re in the home straight now). It consisted today of white bread, some of which was toasted, and some individually wrapped portions … Continue reading