Salalah, Oman’s land of frankincense, monsoons
and camels
Story and photos by Travel with a Challenge editor,
Alison Gardner
Flying south from Muscat truly confirms that Oman is a
desert kingdom. Sand and rock dominate the landscape for 600 miles or
1,000 kilometers, until you glimpse Salalah. In the fabled Governate of
Dhofar close to the border with Yemen, the monsoon – that rare and
beautiful seasonal visitor to this small area of an ever-thirsty
Arabian Peninsula – has given Salalah a moderating countenance of green
with splashes of vivid color from flowering shrubs and trees, and
thousands of birds that migrate through this seaside oasis.
Salalah is surrounded on land by a half-circle of mountains
and behind that by the classic sand desert of the vast and infamous
Empty Quarter. It has served as a natural fortress for thousands of
years. Along with favorable harbors, it is the Khareef, the cooling,
renewing annual monsoon that has drawn rulers and merchants, to visit
or settle the shores of Frankincense Land. Even the Queen of Sheba fell
under the spell of the area’s treasure far greater than gold and sent
gifts of frankincense to impress Solomon! Today it is the fine sand
beaches,the cultural history and archaeology, and the natural diversity
that draw visitors to this ancient paradise, mainly from Europe and the
Middle East.
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