Oman Roof Tent Road Trip – A Travelogue

Hello, dear Nomad Team!

We’d like to express our sincere thanks for the excellent support we received for the Oman Roof Tent Road Trip.

We’ve been driving through the most remote deserts of Africa ourselves for more than 30 years and visited both North and South Yemen 25 years ago.

(www.offroad-house.at)

The vehicle, a Nissan Patrol 4×4, was delivered to us on time at the hotel. Some of the camping gear was new, and the roof tent was brand new, so after our mandatory shopping trip at the LULU Supermarket, we were able to set off right away.

The destination of our first leg was Nakhl Fortress, where we immediately found a beautiful, quiet spot for our first night. Passing by Snake Gorge, we crossed the Jebel Akhdar Mountains at an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters via the Hat Pass and continued through the Jebel Shams mountain range with its imposing cliffs, deep gorges, and, of course, the highlight: the Grand Canyon.

Via Nizwa, the ancient capital of Oman, with its imposing castle complex, we head south.

Now it’s time to cover some distance, but with the Nissan 6-cylinder, it’s really fun to drive through the heat of the Reg Desert with the air conditioning on.

Along the way, we turn onto a small dirt road and drive 40 km to the white gypsum rock formations.

Now our journey through the “Empty Quarter,” the legendary Rub’ al-Khali Desert, begins. We visit the archaeological site of the legendary desert Atlantis, Ubar, located near the Shisr Oasis. Here you can see the only black dromedaries. We continue on to the remote wells that Wilfried Thesinger had visited back in 1945. We stay for three days in this lonely yet beautiful, peaceful area.

But then we must continue south to the frankincense trees. Even today, in remote wadis, you can still find the stately frankincense trees, once known as the “gold of Arabia.” Salalah lies on the Arabian Sea; there, we’ll stop at a hotel and enjoy the beach and the good food at one of the many traditional restaurants.

We head back along the coast. Of course, we also visit the Ras al Jinz Turtle Resort and are lucky enough that evening to see five huge turtles—almost 1 meter long and weighing about 150–250 kg. They’re laying their eggs; it will take 90 days for the sun to hatch the eggs and bring forth a new generation of turtles. What’s truly impressive, though, is that the turtles always find their way back to their birthplace, even after spending years in the open ocean.

Now we have to hurry, since we also want to go to Sur. That’s where the dhows were built in the old days. These traditional ships were built entirely of wood, and even the planks were fastened with wooden nails. With a bit of luck, you can still see some of these old ships on the beaches around Sur.

We made quick progress back to Muscat via the newly expanded highway. Nomad Reisen was once again ahead of schedule at the hotel, and we were able to return the vehicle without any further issues.

It was a great trip for us. We’d like to note that for a major desert tour into the Rub’ al Khali, the following items are absolutely essential:

a spare fuel can, sand plates (HEBE), and a compressor refrigerator instead of a standard cooler.

We can truly recommend nomad Reisen here,

thank you very much!