Salalah in winter - the drive: Al Khaluf cave, Sugar Dunes, Oryx Sanctuary and Jabal Kobra

On our way to Dhofar we had two stops and we drove in one go to home, although we did some short stops to strech our legs. On the way there we stopped at Al Khaluf/Sugar Dunes and the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary. We could had had more stops if we had more time - these are also interesting places on the way: 

1. Bar al Hikman peninsula and Filim - it is dubbed as the Omani Maldives and based on the pictures not without merit

2. Ras Madrakah - beautiful albeit windy beach
3. Duqum rock garden - huge fossils are all round! Special rock formation believed to be 46 million years old. We visited in 2016 so this time we skipped it, but it is absolutely stunning. It seems it is necessary to preregister for a permit to visit now. 

4. The smurf houses - a never completed hotel project offering beautiful photo-ops
4. Wadi Ash Schuwaimiya - a lesser-known wadi

Since we did the first section of the coastal drive when we went to Masirah, we skipped it now, but that is really beautiful. The section between Duqum and Ash Schuwaimiya is not too interesting with few exceptions like the moon like landscape with huge canyons just before the crossing of the table top mountain to Dhofar. From Ash Schuwaimiya the road again is stunning, mainly following the coastline.

Our first stop was Al Khaluf a sleepy little fishing village, not too charming all together. What is stunning though is the road to there, the beach and the small cave. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy so the colors are not showing really but the sand was pinkish due to the crushed shells - gorgeous! To reach the cave there is no need for 4WD (there is a short off-road, but it is ok) and some of the beaches are also reachable with salon car.

The entrance to the cave

We camped at the Sugar Dunes - stunning white sand dunes, not without danger as it turned out. It was quite busy, lots of other campers but we all had enough space. The sunrise and sunset was gorgeous. Next morning as we were ready to leave, Finn changed his mind and wanted to do some dune bashing - and we got stuck. Like really stuck. Thankfully there was a construction not far and four guys came to our rescue! The dunes can be perfect white if the light is right - or can be normal sand color. It is quite fascinating to see how they change color. 4WD is a must!

It looked like a whale carcass on the way to our campsite.

Next stop was the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary which turned out to be a fantastic surprise! We did not know much about the place other the than in 1994 it was added to the Unesco World Heritage list and in 2007 it was removed. Today they have over 800 oryx and they roam freely in an area of 2800 square km. The landscape is very special, stone desert with trees - it was certainly worth the detour! Here is the short history of the place - seems quite hectic. But what is really important is that they managed to increase the number of animals significantly, which is great achievement! It is possible to reach the site with salon car - once you turn off from the main road, you will drive on well maintained gravel road.

Oryx is a rare type of gazelle and the last wild animal was shot in 1972. By 2007 the sanctuary lost 90% of its territory (oil won over nature) and the oryx population had fallen from 450 to 65. 

1972: the last wild oryx killed

1979: the project to save the oryx announced by the sultan

1980’s: 10 animals released to the sanctuary 

1994: the site was added to the UNESCO world heritage list. The sanctuary had around 30k sqm territory - Denmark has cc. 43k!

1996: 450 oryx

2007: 65 oryx left with four breeding pair, 90% of the site cut due to oil drilling and consequently the site is removed from UNESCO list 

2017: up to 750 animals

2020: over 800 animals

The road between Duqum and Ash Schuwaimiya is mainly uninteresting but there are few surprises - like this small oasis practically next to the road.

The Pink Lagoon sounded very romantic and I did saw nice pictures of it, but when we were there it was almost empty and a little sad. Location: 18.6111, 56.6729

To reach Dhofar, the table top mountain needs to be crossed - it is quite dramatic to drive between vertical cliffs and when once the coast appears, that is truly a wow moment. And the coastal road along this table top - just keeps you amazed.

Right after crossing the table top, the first village is Ash Schuwaimiya - a small place with a somewhat special atmosphere. The camels, and lots of them, are freely wander around the streets, the main street has some old charm and you just get the feeling this is "different" from what you know around Muscat. We had dinner in the Kerala restaurant (and few weeks later breakfast as well): food was nice and service was friendly.

Herding camels with Toyota - a sight we got used to here :)

On the way home the first stop was at this little oasis next to the road - it truly felt like stepping into the Robinson Crusoe book. It looks like a nice camping spot - we did not have much time to explore, but the wadi runs to the sea where based on the map there is a nice sand bench. 

Location: 17.5987,55.2510

Once crossed the table top and headed towards the desert, soon the nodding donkeys fill up the horizon. It is a little surreal to see these many!

The last stop was an absolute treat and something we potentially will go back to camping. I found some pictures of white rock formations and a coordinate - this all we knew. Coordinates are not always correct here so we were not sure but it did not seem to be far from the road. We started to drive and all we could see plain desert, stone desert. And than all of a sudden this canyon appeared, after one of the turns. We reached it at sunset so it had a goldish tint, but it looked stunning. The pictures I found call them Kobra Canyon since some of the formations indeed resemble a cobra head. 

Location for this canyon: 21.2241, 57.3019