We travel through the Hajar Mountains to the city of Nizwa, the country’s capital in the 6 th and 7 th centuries, before heading for the desert and the famous Wahiba Sands. An exhilarating tour which will leave the traveler with a memorable experience of the country and its people.
Your Itinerary:
Day 1: UK to Muscat. Fly London to Muscat. On arrival meet and greet, transfer to your hotel. Overnight Golden Tulip Hotel.
Day 2: Muscat–Hajar mountains-Nizwa. After breakfast, we visit the impressive Qaboos Mosque before departing with our 4WD cars and heading to the Hajar Mountains. The road winds up to a 2,000 meter pass through colored mountains with fantastic views of far away valleys and deep gorges. We will stop for a picnic lunch before completing our crossing of the mountains and reaching of village of Al Hamra. The old quarter of Al Hamra, close to gardens with thousands of palm trees, has narrow streets that wind through buildings of clay. We then continue the short distance to the town of Nizwa. Dinner and overnight at Falaj Daris Hotel.
Day 3: Nizwa–Ibra-Wahiba Sands desert. The first part of the morning will be spent visiting the souk and the the old Fort, from the top of which we will have a splendid view of the surrounding area, with palm trees and mountains. A late morning departure will take us east towards the town of Al Minitirib and the Wahiba Sands desert. Dinner and overnight in tents on the dunes.
Day 4: Wahiba Sands desert. After breakfast we will set out across the Wahiba Sands desert where the dunes will become higher and higher. We will find some much needed shade for our picnic lunch before ending the day in time to set our overnight camp. Camp at the foot of huge dunes under thousands of stars.
Day 5: Wahiba Sands-Al Khaluf gulf. We head towards the ocean and as we draw close to it we will come across a few settlements of the Wahiba Nomads where women wear black mask “burqas”. Once we reach the coast we will travel alongside an enormous salt lagoon, until we reach the beach. From there, we will continue our drive just meters from the ocean waves, before arriving at Al Khaluf Gulf where white dunes flow to the water. Camp among the dunes and dinner.
Day 6: Al Khaluf–Wahiba coast. Heading north along the beach, we will pass small fishing villages where we can stop to observe the fishermen at work. We drive along the coast on the white beach, with the Wahiba Desert on our left hand side. This day is a mixture of beach and desert and there will be stops so we can swim in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, as well as climbing amazing sand dunes. Overnight camp.
Day 7: Wahiba coast-Ras El Hadd. We will reach one of the main attractions of our expedition; enormous dunes that seem to roll into the ocean. To continue north we must drive over this sea of sand with its constant, magnificent views of the ocean. We will follow the beach and the landscape will be ever-changing: dunes, sandstone cliffs, rocky promontories, fishing villages and thousand of birds that fly off as the cars pass by. At the village of Al Askharah we will leave the beach for the paved road to Ras El Hadd. We spend the night at a lovely little hotel on a quiet bay. After dinner, a visit to the National Park a few kilometers from the hotel to watch the Green Turtles as they crawl up the beach from the ocean to lay their eggs in the sand. The best season for this is from August to November, but it is still possible to witness this extraordinary event during other months of the year. Overnight Turtle Beach Resort Hotel.
Day 8: Ras El Hadd-Sur–Muscat. A lovely mountain track will take us to Sur, an attractive town located around a beautiful bay. We will take in a visit to its dhow shipyard before following the road north where we will stop for a brief visit to the Qalhat Ruins, an ancient 2nd century city which is known to have been visited by Marco Polo. Further on we come to Tiwi, a small fishing village with a lush green canyon and white sand beaches where we can go for a swim and have a picnic. Afternoon arrival in Muscat, with time to see the Sultan’s Palace and the interesting souk. Drop off at your Muscat hotel. Overnight Sheraton Ruwi, Radisson SAS or Al Falaj Hotel.
Day 9: Muscat to UK. Transfer from the hotel to the airport for your flight home, arriving the same day or early the next morning.
Dates:
- Group Tours, Group Sizes - Minimum 6, Maximum 12:
* 27 December 2009 to 4 January 2010 - £2,595
* 3 January 2010 to 11 November 2010 - £2,595
* 24 January 2010 to 1 February 2010 - £2,595
* 21 February 2010 to 1 March 2010 - £2,595
* 14 March 2010 to 22 March 2010 - £2,595
* 28 March 2010 to 5 April 2010 - £2,595
* 4 April 2010 to 12 April 2010 - £2,595
* 25 April 2010 to 3 May 2010 - £2,595
- Private Journeys (Weekly departures). Please contact us for prices if you are interested in making this tour as a private journey for individual travellers
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Price Includes:
- All flights, pre payable taxes and current fuel surcharges
- All hotel accommodation, based on twin share, with private facilities
- All camping equipment for the overnight camps
- All meals, except in Muscat when no meals are included
- Bottled Water, except in Muscat
- Transport with Toyota Land Cruisers 4x4 vehicles
- European English speaking tour leader
- Omani drivers
- Cook whilst camping
- National Park entry for Ras el Hadd.
Price Excludes:
- Meals in Muscat
- Drinks except for bottled water when travelling out of Muscat
- Travel Insurance
- Visa Costs
- Staff gratuities
- Single supplement £150 (optional on group tours).
Note: On our group tours, there is no single supplement, we will match you with a roommate of the same gender. Our policy is to avoid supplements unless requested by you.
Also see tour packages in:
Middle East
Oman
Local Culture
Cultural Journey
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