Salalah

Want a bit of a weekend break? Head to Oman, and for once I’m not singing the praises of Muscat and its gorgeous diving/sun-soaked dolphin–watching hotspots.

I’ve always wanted to visit more of Oman, so when the opportunity presented itself, I booked flights to Salalah. Having surfed the local hotspots on trip advisor, the Rotana looked like the best option. We checked in for two nights and planned to leave Sunday night – making the most out of his awkward working days / my not much time off.

Salalah is a really interesting/confusing city… it’s small, but vast. The views from the plane suggested grand canyon-esque landscapes, and on arrival at their 1 month old airport (bear with them, there’s a few glitches) we didn’t really know what to expect when we stepped outside into the 27* temperate terrain.

Renting a car was the most important piece of advice we were given! Taxi’s charge whatever they feel like and believe me, they will triple what you’re used to. We rented a car at the airport (expect to pay no more than 14 OR / day for a small’ish car) and headed in completely the wrong direction at first. By day two we knew roughly which roundabout to look for and there really aren’t that many directions to head in.

We were really hoping to see a bit of rain whilst we were there, as it still feels like its 4000* in Dubai, and overnight we were lucky to see some of the rainy Khareef that’s still hanging around. We drove into Salalah on the first day and stopped to pick up some fresh Sri Lankan coconuts, checking out the other resorts for alternative dining options (the Rotana is very expensive food/drink wise – think 100AED per pizza – not really the beach café prices it should be).

After being told that we couldn’t go swimming in the sea (riptides), we spent the afternoon enjoying the beach and spotted a baby shovel-headed ray in the shoreline (who I named Steve). I have to point out – the one thing that is a real let-down – the amount of rubbish… the beaches/roads/mountains are all surprisingly unkept. After another evening at the Rotana’s Silk Road restaurant spent playing cards and enjoying some NZ red, we almost decided to change our flight and head back to Dubai early the next day.

Ange and Ed (friends of mine from Dubai) moved out to the region a few years ago to set up No Boundaries Oman, and gave us two scenic hotspots to visit before we left. So Sunday we ordered breakfast in bed and after we checked out, got in the car to head for a blowhole.

What we discovered was that the further we headed out past the Hilton, the greener the scenery became. Driving towards ‘Mughsail’, we came upon a camel caravan – trekking across beach/grass and against a backdrop of sheer mountains, it was quite a sight! We arrived 2 mins later at the Caves and headed up to find the blowhole! It sounded like a whale was living in the caves, roaring away! But what got us more excited was the mountains that lay before us, if we kept driving we would hit ‘Fizaya’, a beach that we couldn’t miss… and we’re SO glad we didn’t!!!

It’s quite a drive above sea level, as the mountain roads are carved out in winding trails, but with only one way in and one way out. A sign at the top pointed left towards the sea (well we hoped it was the sea – the mist had come in so low we were looking at a road that just disappeared). So off to Fizaya we went, winding through what I can only describe as a scene from ‘The Land Before Time’ – it could have been Scotland! (with much better weather though) 🙂

After a 20 minute drive downhill (small car + I kept stopping to take pics) we arrived at a deserted beach… with lapping waves and rocky outcrops, it literally took our breath away and we parked up. Spending the next hours relaxing/sea shell hunting and swimming (it was cold), we decided that this really is what Salalah is about, somewhere we can come back, camp and actually experience Oman away from the touristy resorts.

Next time we visit, we’re headed straight to that beach with our gear and a BBQ! Even more exciting for the next trip – I’m looking forward to the dolphin and whale watching that goes hand-in–hand in this region too!