Almost Two years at Salalah .... a photographic glimpse of this region

End of next month marks the completion of 2 years of stay at Salalah a small town in the southern part of the Sultanate of Oman which does not have the glitz of Muscat or any other city of the Middle east. An outdoor person would really enjoy the stay here as this town is surrounded by Dhofar Mountain range and there are quite a few scenic spot. So many people have written or posted their pictures taken in and around Salalah which are much better then what i have posted here . Towards the end of the post i will paste the link to many more pictures taken by me and my friend

Rugged Mughsayl  coastline stretches with beaches here and there is quite breathtaking

The coast line around Al Mughsayl  is famous for natural blow holes and you can see the water gushing out of the hole each time the wave hits the rocky coastline with a force during the high tide. The pictures have been taken at different times.

Instead of turning to Mughsayl if you keep continuing on the mountain road it leads towards the villages of Rakhyut and Dalkut and then on to the Yemen border and i have never traveled so far as the scenery keeps repeating it self every few miles. Steep curve on the mountains and hence we need to drive on a low gear .

During the rainy season in this region which is during the end of June to end August the mountains roads are covered with mist and at the top the
visibility is very low... less than 5 meters visibility , hence drive slow with all your lights and hazard on.The locals here still drive at a maddening speed on these mountains even when the visibility is low.... thereby leading to fatal accidents .

From the Yemen border road it is off towards Jebal Samhan... Jebal means mountain in Arabic and here we have the famous Darbat water falls.... i have never seen the falls during my stay here since the rains were insufficient the last two years.

We do have Wadi Darbat which is a valley with a lake and during the Khareef (rainy) season there is a huge influx of visitors from all parts of the gulf and also from Oman. This year the water in the lake has further shrunken and hence the pictures you would see here are last years.                                                


                                                

  

               

  

The Above picture is of Wadi Darbat during the Khareef season and one on the left is on a clear day.    There are lot more places such as Mirbat beach... wind blown coconut trees ( see the main picture on the blog), Natural springs , Sink holes which are over 200 feet deep and some ancient port around Salalah.          

 Salalah town itself is quite small and we can cover the entire length and breadth of Salalah in about half an hour. Lots of development now and in years to come it is going to be a Tourist destination of Oman. M/s Lulu Hypermarket opening in January 2011 and towards the end of 2011 Salalah World consisting of shopping mall, Carfour hypermarket,Hotel apartment block, food courts, cinemas and theme park.

Salalah International airport project has also been awarded and it would be ready early 2013. Couple of pictures of Salalah  for you viewing including the picture of the grand mosque opening







Well there are lot more pictures uploaded in Flickr.com and the link to that site is given below so that persons interested can see the same.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rramrev/

Khareef (Rainy) Season in Salalah , Southern part of Oman

Each year towards the end of June or Mid July Dhofar province is blessed with monsoon showers and this season lasts for nearly 2 months. Once bleak and brown mountainous ranges around Salalah starts turning green and beautiful. Unlike the normal monsoon rains, there is constant drizzle through out the day reminding you of English weather.

During these two months there is a steady flow of Arab visitors from all over the gulf countries who come here to camp in the mountains and enjoy the unique climate in the Middle East. Expats also visit Salalah during this period as it gives them a few days of respite from the scorching sun at Muscat and other parts of Oman. During these two months it is very difficult to find a cheap accommodation at Salalah and the cheapest possible is at Riyal Omani 35-40 ( Equivalent to approximately $95) . During the off season the accommodation is available for R.O 15.000.

From age old times Salalah is known as the "Perfume capital of Arabia" since extract from the Frankincense trees which are found in abundance was used in making local perfumes which have a very strong smell. Dried extract is also used as incense even to this day in most Arab houses.

Tomb of  An Nabi Ayyub (Job's tomb as per christians) lies on the hill abutting Salalah and is one of the destinations for tourists. The saint's foot print is cast just outside the tomb and if that is the size then his foot is huge.

Mughsayl beach is around 40 km away from Salalah on the way to Yemen which has a pristine beach . The tourists flock to see the water coming out of the natural blow holes in the limestone coast when the tide comes inshore.

              

                 Coastline along the Mughsayl.