Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
shop and an accompanying booklet explaining the history of this sardine-producing town,
this is one of the best fort museums in Oman.
Khor Rouri
Looking across one of Dhofar's prettiest bays at peacefully grazing camels and flocks of
flamingos, it's hard to imagine that 2000 years ago Khor Rouri was the trading post of the
frankincense route and one of the most important ports on earth. Today little remains of
the city except the painstakingly excavated ruins of
Sumhuram Archaeological Park
(admission
OR1; 9am-6pm)
; you can wander around the ruins and watch the archaeologists at work.
Visit the gallery within the site to see some of the 1st century BC to 3rd century AD finds
from the site including some evocative Kursi inscriptions. There are toilets but no other
facilities here.
Khor Rouri is about 35km east of Salalah. Take the Mirbat road and follow the brown
signs. A microbus to the junction on the highway is 500 baisa.
TOURS OF DHOFAR
Given the lack of useful public transport and the difficulty of driving in the
khareef
(rainy season), Dhofar is one
region that repays the expense of taking a tour. This can be organised through hotels, or the travel agencies along
An-Nahdah St in Salalah offer similar tours around Salalah and the Dhofar region.
Most tours take you either east of Salalah (to Khor Rouri, Taqa and Mirbat) or west (to Job's Tomb and Mugh-
sail blowholes) and cost from around OR80 for a day trip. For the romantic, there is 4WD visit to the lost city of
Ubar, 175km from Salalah (OR120), but be warned, you'll need a lively imagination or Ranulph Fiennes' book
Atlantis of the Sands
to make any sort of sense of the site. For a more-rewarding experience, spend the night in
the Empty Quarter at a camp near Al-Hashman (from OR160 including half board). All prices quoted are for a
vehicle with an English-speaking driver and a maximum of four people.
For help with more-adventurous Empty Quarter expeditions, contact the desert specialist Mussallem Hassan
who runs an experienced agency called
Arabian Sand Tours
( 23 235833;
www.arabiansandtours.com
)
. He
can organise five-day trips for OR130 per day for one to three people. For a modern-day Thesiger experience,
driving along the whole Saudi-Oman border to the UAE costs from OR200 per day and takes 10 days. You'll find
Mussallem Hassan at the Arabian Sea Villas, next to Salalah Beach Villas on the beachfront in Salalah.
Wadi Dharbat
A popular picnic site during the
khareef
and a great place to enjoy the jebel in any season,
Wadi Dharbat is the source of the estuary that flows into Khor Rouri. During a good
khareef,
an impressive waterfall spills over the cliff face, 300m to the plain below. Above
the falls, water collects in luminous limestone pools. In the dry months, October to May,
the Jibbali tribespeople set up their camps in this area. The surrounding caves were used
