Musandam is a world on its own. A province of the Sultanate of Oman, located on a peninsula on the Arabian main peninsula. A wild and harsh environment, where the weather can be brutal, due to extreme hot temperatures and hardly any rainfall. For centuries inhabited by a mountain tribe (the Shihuh) who were often hostile towards strangers, hence they were able to live in isolation for centuries, holding on to their traditions and culture and in some places even their own language.
Musandam is separated from the main land of Oman by the Emirates and partly by the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf. Driving from Oman to Musandam takes four times a border post crossing.
What is very obvious of Musandam, compared with main land Oman, is how clean it is. Where in Oman, you find garbage almost everywhere where there is human activity, in Musandam, its very clean. Even the isolated small villages in the fjords have a proper garbage disposal system in place. An old dow passes by once in a while, collecting the garbage bags and brings them ashore, where a garbage truck collects these bags.
Khasab the small capital of Musandam, is a bustling little town (in the early morning hours and the evenings), where development over the years has been focused on harnessing its commercial potential, for tourism, fishery and trade with neighboring Iran. Also the fact that it borders the narrow gap called the Strait of Hormuz, is of importance. 20% of the world’s oil passes through these waters. With high political tensions constantly on the horizon, keeping the Strait open for the large commercial vessels is of utmost importance. Hence there is a large military presence in Musandam, especially in and around Khasab, which also brings a lot of commercial activity to the area.
The Persians, Portuguese and British all were aware of the importance of the Strait and Musandam. Khasab Castle and Fort are witness of that. Khasab Castle once stood at the shore line of Khasab Bay, but a huge land reclamation project made the Bay moving away from the Castle. The Khasab Castle, has been beautifully renovated and furnished and is one of the highlights of a touristic visit to town (though not much is told about the Portuguese period of the castle).
To “please” the local fisherman, the side harbors were made on both sides of the land reclamation, so that they stay connected with the old town. Its a nice way to keep the old city alive, because it brings a lot of activity. It is also here, where we met Abu Faizal, the elderly fisherman, with his nice little boat. After we hooked up the camper on land current at the coffee shop and had our cooler bag filled with cold drinks, we boarded Abu Faizal’s boat. He was going to show us a part of the “Arabian Fjords”.
The old fishing boat converted mini cruiser, had two nice comfortable seats on the front. We preferred this above the larger touristic dows, which we saw with day toursits from Dubai and Abu Dabi. This was so much more fun and very private. Abu Faizal is a religious man with conservative values, so we sticked to the local dresscode (something we did not see on the larger tourist dows, with women and girls in small bikinis).
The port of Khasab is an active little port. There are ferrys going to Oman main land and small little boats ferrying villagers up and down to the small isolated villages in the fjords. Those villages are only accessible by boat, mostly small single outboard fishing boats. Of course there are also the many little fishing boats going out in the early morning and coming back during the day with their fresh catches.
We left the harbor, the sea was dead calm, the sky was blue and we passed the rocky cliffs of the peninsula. Soon we didn’t see any other boat anymore and it was then that we noticed a big pod of dolphins. We sailed to them slowly and they gave us a playfull, very gracious show. Dolphins always touch your tender senses. These marvelous intelligent animals, know how to make people feel happy, just by their appearance.
Sailing down further into one of the longer fjords, we saw the tiny villages on the shore line, with monumental steep cliffs in the background. Only not long ago, did these villages get connected to the electrical grid (which by itself is already a piece of work). Some of these villages were or are seasonal (there is a substantial difference in temperature between summer and winter). Still you wonder, why people chose to live so isolated and in such a harsh climate? Do or did they have a choice? Besides goats, fish is the main dish in this area and fruit and vegetables are a rare commodity on the menu.
Further down the fjord, there is a small island with the ruines of a small Portugese fort. A strange location, but logical from a defense point of few. Ships could shelter here at the end of the fjord and were protected by the fort. Looking at its small size, you wonder how life must have been for the inhabitants of the fort, young Portugese soldiers, miles and miles away from home (those days there was no Suez channel and from Portugal to the fort you had to sail around Africa).
Abu dropped anker and we jumped out of the boat with our snorkels. We were taken by surprise by the many colorful coral fish swimming around the boat (since it is a tourist stop, the fish get fed, so they stick around for food when a boat arrives). One of the tourist dows arrived as well, breaking up our little bubble, especially when we saw and heard bikini wearing European girls, paddling on the paddle board. Tourism where ever you go in the world, often goes in the same direction, it becomes a mass product. Luckily, Musandam is not like Venice yet.
Continuing our tour through the fjords we saw a few more villages, one more beautiful and remote than the other. Again we saw dolphins and we quickly jumped over board with our snorkels to see if we could join them. But they were not really in the mood for that. Abu Faizal, working with an interesting system for his boarding ladder, looked at us like, really? Crazy tourists, jumping after dolphins and I have to move that big chunky ladder back into place again!
Sailing back to the harbor of Khasab, an armada of small bright colored speedboats came in our direction, or actually went in the same direction as we did. Abu Faizal explained that these boats come from Iran (crossing the Strait of Hormuz in about an hour and half), loaded with Irani sheep. Sheep are cheap in Iran and sold to the richer Gulf countries (often sold in exchange of other goods hard to get in Iran or too expensive there, like cigarettes. Once they reach the very entrance of the port, they stop at the mouth of the port, and literally throw the sheep ashore, where Omani traders quickly load them om trucks. Many sheep go to Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, countries without grazing fields.
We came back, took another coffee at Chaf Chaf Cafe and drove back to the public beach.
There are not many roads and tracks in Musandam. The area is covered with steep mountains. Behind Khasab there is a long deep wide valley, which is the only place suitable for large construction and a main high way, which has a dead end. There is a smal airport (mixed military and civilian) and a large hospital is under construction. The Omani style huge police city is of course also built here. Not far from Khasab there is a steep gravel road with many bends, leading to a bay (Khor Najd) with a great view. With a large cloud of dust behind us, we climbed the hill and had to navigate the sharp turns of the track. Going down, we stayed in first gear, not the slip when going too fast. Coming down, we absorbed the beauty of the bay and the fjord it was part of. A little jetty for boats and parking was built at the end of the road. Nearby was an abandonded and neglected campsite. We parked the truck next to one of the few shade gazebos (the roof partly still in tact with palm leaves).
A few cars were parked and a number of small fishing boats lay on shore, but we didn’t see anybody.
Beginning of the year we bought a 2-person inflatable kayak in Oman. We visited the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, but we not allowed to use it in the waters, due to security concerns. Now we finally found a place to try it out. A beautiful fjord with an easy accessible bay, no signs that it was not allowed and nobody to bother us. I took the kayak and the peddles out of one of our storage boxes on top of our truck cabin and within half an hour the kayak was inflated. Not long after we start paddling into the fjord. What a delight, to have your own kayak with us and start floating in the middle of these wonders of nature. We stopped at little gravel beaches, snorkeled and with every stop the under water world was getting more beautiful. We paddled for half a day and when we returned the sun was going behind the mountain tops. Being all by ourselves on the water front, we had a pizza night under the stars, reflecting their brittle light on the calm flat water of the fjord.
The next morning we got the problem with our battery charging sorted out. A breaker had to be replaced and we had one of these in our spare part kit. A number of little jobs had to be done on and in the truck, so we took the morning to get that all sorted out. The afternoon we went out again with the kayak and went further into the fjord. Again great little sandy or gravel beaches and the snorkeling was even better than the day before. We saw so many fish, millions of fish. You could litterarly swim through these huge shoals of fish. Turtles, sting rays and an abundance of healthy and colorful coral. We also got up close to one of these little fjord villages with around 15 houses. A little taxi boat brings people up and down from village to the jetty. Once the day comes to an end, people become active again and the small taxi boat is making its trips. The tide was kicking in and the current was pushing us back to the bay. We laid down in the kayak, relaxed, watching the sky and let nature bring us back to the truck. These are truly the most little peaceful moments in our lives, lasting for moments, but feeling like eternity.
Next day we packed up and drove back over the dusty gravel road over the steep hill. Destination the interior, the end of the big valley, which ends at Khasab and begins at Sa Lalla. At Sa Lalla there is a unique area, full of centuries old Acacia trees. Having lived and travelled in and through Africa, the scenery reminded me of the African savanna. Huge umbrella like trees with battered trunks, some partly blackened by campfires and bbq’s. It’s a large area, where the trees are scattered around and which has been allocated as a public park, with a play ground, water tanks, shelters and toilets. When we arrived the only visitors were the many free roaming goats, as we parked the truck next to an Acacia tree and had some coffee in the shade under the tree.
We left the Acacia “forest” and headed back to town, to first pick up our clean laundry from our new Pakistani friends. In the meantime we came up with the idea to go to Kumzar, which is the most remote village/little town of Musandam. It is located on an island and therefore only accessible by boat. We drove back to ChafChaf Cafe to see if our friend Abu Faizal was on the dock at his boat. Unfortunately he was not there. Via one of our Kenian friends at the cafe, we were directed to another boat owner, and he was available. We quicky went to the nearby supermarket, loaded our cooler bag with drinks and ice and went back to the coffee shop. After half an hour, the boat arrived. Not as “luxurious” as the one from Abu Faizal, but it was probably the only other one available on such a short notice. Our captain was Mohammed, and was from the village of Kumzar, the place we were going to visit. It took an hour on a fast ride, along the cliffs and fjords to reach Kumzar. When we arrived a local guy helped us with placing a ladder under the boat after Mohammed beached the boat. The approach towards the village was somewhat surreal. Here hidden in a deep fjord in a valley, was tucked away a small town or village, far away from civilization. On the gravel beach in front of the village were many boats and children were playing in the water. Except for three small buses, there are no cars here and the streets are not even a meter wide. The houses are so closely built together, that it is sometimes difficult to pass each other. Everywhere you see goats roaming the little alleys and along the wall of the houses laundry is hanging to dry. Lack of place and a way to keep the heat away, it has been a way of building for hundreds of years here in Kumzar. Due to its close proximity to Iran, a mixed language developed overtime which is partly Arabic and partly Farzie, which is unique in the world.
We wondered around through a mirage of small alleys, which sometimes were dead ends. Some of the alleys had graves located right under your feet. Burial sites and grave yards were everywhere and sometimes it looked liked everybody in town was already dead, since we hardly saw anyone. The town was pretty clean and when walking through the alleys the smell of frankincense was all over. Sometimes an old lady was siting in front of her door, completely covering her face when we passed by. In the middle of the town is a wide dry river bed or wadi, which ends into the sea. It is actually also the “main street” and the only road the school buses take to deliver or pick up kids from school which is 2 minutes away for town. Against the cliffs you find the smelly and ugly sheds for the goats. There are almost no shops or restaurants in town and entertainment is very limited. However, our captain Mohammed, wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I can imagine that. Far away from all the misery of the world, no crime, no cars and pollution, just your own house in a little peaceful town, on an isolated island. Going out fishing in your small boat between the sea and the fjords. And then once in a while going with the same boat to the “big” town of Khasab, the get supplies and do some “culture sniffing” (that last sentence you shouldn’t take too serious, but compared with Kumzar, Khasab is big).
Within an hour chasing the sunset, we were back to “civilization”. It felt strange. We were still far away from the busy Emirates, but Kumzar was further than far.
Knowing that it would take a couple of weeks again before we would reach another beach, we stayed another 2 days on the beach at Khasab. It was also the weekend of Mawlid, a religious holiday. A long weekend for the Omani’s and the Emirates and reason to go to the beach. With Mawlid you also do charity and share your food with others, so you can imagine what happened to us being on a beach, where people come and go and also spent the night in tents. We got sweets, bags of chips and local home made dishes. Even when we were sitting outside having our own diner, they same to our table with food items, actually quite entertaining. There was an Arab guy with 4 Filipino girls, groups of Chinese tourists, men who came fishing with their families. Most came during the evening hours when it was not so hot anymore. It’s actually the opposite from Sint Maarten or Holland, where people go to the beach during the day and go home when the sun sets. Maybe, something to think about if the climate change continues.
