Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ubar (also spelt Wubar), near the town of Shisr, is an archaeological site of potentially
great importance. Lost to history for over a thousand years, the rediscovery of the remains
of this once mighty city caused great archaeological excitement in the 1990s. It may be
hard for the ordinary mortal to appreciate what all the fuss is about: there is almost noth-
ing to see at present except a small, dusty museum, and the fabled golden pillars of an-
tiquity are still only the stuff of dreams.
If legend gets the better of you, however, you can reach Ubar via the main Sala-
lah-Thumrait Hwy. At just over 10km north of Thumrait, turn left to Shisr (72km) on a
graded road (4WD necessary). On entering Shisr, the site is on the right.
The equally legendary Empty Quarter beckons beyond. Ask tour companies in Salalah
about overnight camping trips to the edge of these famous sands from the settlement of
Al-Hashman.
WORTH A TRIP
LOST CITY OF UBAR
In early 1992 the British explorer Ranulph Fiennes, together with a group of US researchers, announced that they
had found (with the use of satellite imagery) the remains of Ubar, one of the great lost cities of Arabia. According
to legend, Ubar, otherwise known as the Atlantis of the Sands, was the crossroads of the ancient frankincense
trail. Scholars are fairly certain that the place existed, that it controlled the frankincense trade and was highly
prosperous as a result, but therein lies the end of the certainties. The Quran states that God destroyed Ubar be-
cause the people were decadent and had turned away from religion, but archaeologists are more inclined to be-
lieve that it fell into a collapsed limestone cavern. Ongoing studies are hopeful of a more definitive reason for the
city's demise.
Predictably, there are many who dispute the rediscovery of Ubar. At the time of writing, excavations at the site
were proceeding slowly and nothing of sufficient age had surfaced to verify the claims. So is it worth the effort of
bouncing along a graded track into the middle of nowhere to see not very much? For the historian, the romantic,
or the plain curious, the discomfort of getting to this barren site is justified by the chance to peer through a hole in
the desert at a legend laid bare.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Duqm
23 / POP 11,200
Set to become the location of the largest port in the Middle East, and second in the world
only to Singapore, this once tiny fishing community is being slowly transformed out of all
recognition. The construction teams are being mindful to preserve the town's main attrac-
tion, the fabulous rock garden of wind-eroded forms between the town and Ras Duqm,
 
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