December 30th. It has been a very busy couple of days making all the last minute preparations; our food is now sorted and packed, the vehicles are being adapted and we are checking and re-checking our equipment prior to our departure south from Muscat tomorrow. Our plan is to drive south as far as possible tomorrow and camp at the edge of the Rub Al Khali before moving in to establish our camp on January 1st and 2nd. The first images should appear on the website on January 2nd.
 

Day 1 January 1 - 2009

Omran/Zahara team reaches the fringe of the Empty Quarter

Camp Location 18.28.574 North 53.03.971 East

It is New Years Day, and we are setting up camp amidst some spectacular dunes some 65 km east of Mitan/65 km north west of Shisr in southern Oman. Our journey south from Muscat, to the edge of the Rub Al Khali, has been a relatively smooth one. It took us seven hours to drive from Muscat to Qitbit yesterday; unlike most people who choose to sleep in the guesthouse, we chose to sleep in the small mosquito infested oasis to the south. This permanent source of water in what is an otherwise huge arid area is a magnet for birds and other wildlife, and we were serenaded to sleep last night by numerous insects. Any attempt to light a lamp resulted in swarms of large moths flying into your face, and several foxes barked close to the tents during the night. We did not see the sunrise; whilst the stars were clear at about 4.00 am, we woke to the sound of water droplets falling from the trees, and a thick fog that did not clear until 10.00 am. Our tents were soaking wet, and with a temperature at dawn of 11.6 degrees it felt very cold as we packed up camp in damp clothing and headed south towards Shisr.

The regular track to Shisr off the Muscat/Salalah road is notoriously bumpy, but we managed to find a smooth alternative across the desert and got there quickly, without having to engage 4WD. A quick cup of coffee with some friendly locals who proudly showed off their arsenal of rifles saw us reach the last refueling point before entering the sands. We loaded 380 litres of fuel and 260 litres of water into the two vehicles to see us through the next week as we explore this remote area of Oman. Our camp tonight on a bed of gravel in a small sandy bowl under an enormous dune, and apart from the sound of the wind, it is totally silent. Not one vehicle has gone past in the three hours that we have been here, and I suspect we will see few, if any, in the coming weeks as we make our 28 day journey through the Rub Al Khali from Mitan to Umm As Samim. My companion, John Smith, one of New Zealand’s leading landscape photographers, has been in his element, rattling off over 220 images today, but he still has a long way to go to beat the 3700 images he took on our 55 day kayak journey around Oman. A selection of his images will be loaded daily onto our website, www.omandesertexpeditions.com
 
 

Day 2 January 2 2009

Omran/Zahara team enters Empty Quarter north of Mitan

Camp Location 18.55.346 North 52.33.097 East
 
 

Our current campsite must rank as one of the most spectacular in 17 years of desert travels. We are perched high up the flank of an enormous dune looking down onto the valley below; the tents are up, the sun has just dipped below the dune, and the sky is turning deep orange as we both sit here downloading images taken during what has been a long but fascinating day. The temperature this morning was 8.8 degrees, which felt very chilly, and had us reaching for our long, fur lined camel coats from Saudi Arabia. We spent the first few hours of the day exploring the valley floor close to our camp, looking for evidence of Neolithic arrowheads which can be found in abundance just over the border in Saudi. In place of arrowheads our particular valley was full of peculiar hollow round rocks called geodes. Our first call of the day was to the pretty village of Al Hashman, a modern, well designed and rapidly expanding community on the edge of the sands. The greenery of the oasis contrasted markedly against the towering red dunes behind, and after exploring the oasis and chatting to some locals we set out into nothing across 80km of undulating gravel plains west towards Mitan. For much of the journey there was no track, so we drove using compass and GPS as a guide. For three hours we saw no-one, finally spotting the telephone mast in the heat haze (at noon today temperature reached 33.2 degrees) which signified our arrival at Mitan. Like Al Hashman, Mitan is a rapidly developing settlement; thanks to government investment, temporary housing is being replaced by purpose built government homes for the 700 strong community, and the mosque was full for Friday prayer. Petrol here is accessed by sticking a hose pipe into a 200 litre drum, and then decanting into our vehicles. With full tanks we set off into the dunes to study our maps and then north for the final two hours of the day, running at 70kph along gravel beds between long lines of large red dunes. Aside from a few sandgrouse, lizards and half a dozen camels, life here appears at first to be pretty limited, but close examination of the sand around our camp reveals numerous tracks. The temperature has dropped by six degrees in two hours since our arrival, so the kettle will be going on soon. Plans for tomorrow are to head north towards the border with Saudi Arabia into what some people consider to be some of the highest dunes in Oman; no doubt some challenging driving ahead as we will have to cross the dune lines several times to reach our planned destination.

 

Day 3 January 3 2009

Omran/Zahara team reaches Saudi Arabian/Empty Quarter border north of Mitan.
 
 

A wonderful day of desert travel, helped greatly by kind weather. A shimal blew and increased during the evening, leaving us with a fitful nights sleep as the tents rolled and flapped all night long. Dawn revealed a cloudy sky, and the sun did not emerge until mid afternoon, which gave us a break from the heat of yesterday, and were able to work our way north through some large dunes to the border between Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The area we have just travelled through is one that is steeped in desert travel history; it was here in Wadi Mitan that the famous explorer Wilfred Thesiger met his inseperable companion, Salim bin Kabina. They spent the next 5 years together, travelling in southern Arabia, including crossing the Empty Quarter. On hearing of Thesigers plans to cross the Empty Quarter the Rashid Sheikhs advised him to take bin Kabina to look after his things. ‘I told him he must find his own camel and rifle’ said Thesiger, and he did. He was about 16 years old, and moved with a long, raking stride, like a camel, unusual amongst bedu who generally walked very upright with short steps. He was very poor, and the hardships of life had marked him’. It is just over 60 years since Thesiger and Bin Kabina met, and life in Mitan is very different today. Whilst still a basic community, and one that is one of the most remote in Oman, there is a now a school, a health centre, and a settled population of 700 people, most of whom have a satellite dish attached to their house.

Browse in any bookshops in Muscat and you will find many books by Wilfred Thesiger, but whilst he may be the most famous desert explorer he was not the first to cross the Empty Quarter. That accolade goes to the little known Bertram Thomas. We carry a copy of his book with us – Arabia Felix, written in 1932. At the time, Thomas was financial advisor to the court of Muscat and Oman, but harboured secret dreams of crossing the Empty Quarter-terra incognita. Under cover of darkness he took a small boat out to a steamer passing Muscat and was dropped in Salalah. Here he sent word of his desires, and waited patiently for some bedu guides to assemble, which they did at the eleventh hour, just as he was about to give up on his attempt.

Over 70 years ago, Mitan was a vital watering hole for Thomas prior to entering the sands. He described the bitter cold, and the problems of overcoming the large dunes; most interestingly he refers in his book to a place that is now the focus of an emerging tourism project. Suddenly, my companions who were always anxious to point out anything they thought would interest me, pointed to the ground. ‘Look Sahib’ they cried,’ there is the road to Ubar’. ‘Ubar?’ I wondered. ‘It was a great city our fathers told us about, that existed of old; a city rich in treasure, with date gardens and a fort of red silver. It now lies buried beneath the sands a few days to the north’. Today it is thought that Shisr is the settlement that lies upon the ruins of Ubar. A small museum tells the story of modern day explorer Ranulph Fiennes who used NASA technology to pinpoint what he feels is the true location – worth a short diversion off the Muscat/Salalah road if ever you are traveling that way.

 

Day 4 January 4 2009

Omran/Zahara team traverses northern end of Empty Quarter.

Camp location 19.03.148 N 050.25.681 E
 
 

Yesterday saw us enjoy some challenging driving over some large dunes. Despite soft sand, some long steep slopes and having to rely on our own route finding we managed to avoid getting stuck. Our journey took us north from Mitan to the Saudi border. The remote border is marked by a bulldozed, sandy track, regularly patrolled by the Haras Hadood, the border guards in their Toyota pick ups. The life of a Saudi border guard is a tough one, especially in the hot summer months; two months on and one month off with often more than one wife to divide time between once home has its unique challenges. It was good to spend some time with them yesterday, chatting for several hours over coffee, camels milk, rice and a sheep’s head, and reminisce of our days in the Kingdom. Our day ended at Mashash, a small border community built along the same lines as Mitan and Al Hashman. Here we enjoyed the hospitality of the local officials, before setting off today south west in to the heart of the sands, approaching Al Hashman (now 75 km south west) from the north east to set up our camp. We drove for four hours today, and never saw a single vehicle or person. The dunes increase in size as you head into the heart, and are now a lovely red colour. Bird life is scarce; two small groups of sand grouse, a couple of wheatears and ravens were all that we saw. Surprisingly there is quite a lot of vegetation here, with a distinct green hue on the ground when the sun is at a low angle giving the impression of driving across Mongolia. Our drive today ended when we found what we think will be the perfect place to set up our camp; Bait Ramlat. It is in a sheltered depression, with plenty of firewood and surrounded by towering dunes. We have two weeks worth of food and water, and have spent the last hour muttering obscenities wrestling with our 3x5 metre Bedouin tent, which is now up, looking good and will serve as our base to explore the local area in detail over the coming weeks. The northerly wind has continued, and today has been lovely and cool-already it is down to 16 degrees and the sun has just gone below the dunes. The desert explorer Wilfred Thesiger, who I mentioned in yesterdays diary, saw out his days in a retirement home in Surrey, south of London. I met him several times in his latter years, and his 90 year old eyes came to life when I described how it was still possible to stand on a dune in the desert of Arabia that he so loved and do a 360 degree rotation and not see a single light in any direction; there are increasingly fewer places in the world today where that is possible, another reason why this is such a special place, and why we are so privileged to be here.

 

Day 5 January 5 2009

Omran/Zahara team settles down to life in the Empty Quarter.

Camp location 19.03.148 N 050.25.681 E
 
 
This why we are here. Today we have not moved far from our tent, aside from exploring the immediate dunes around the camp. After three days of long driving it has been good to give our eyes a rest; extended desert driving, where there are no tracks, takes its toll. For the lead driver it is especially hard, trying to read the sand immediately in front at the same time as looking ahead to route find over the dunes whilst keeping an eye on the vehicle behind. Local desert dwellers are able to read the sand easily, driving seamlessly across the dunes without the frequent stopping and checking that the rest of us mere mortals have to do. When the sun is high the ‘dead ground’ is hard to spot, requiring extra concentration to avoid hitting any depressions which might impact on the vehicle. Driving in remote desert country is akin to sailing a boat far out at sea; you need to know where you are, you need to be comfortable being where you are, know where to head in case of problems, and your vehicle is everything to you in terms of safety and survival. Consequently the ‘wadi bashing’ weekend style of desert driving is not wise out here, and whilst we have worked them hard, we have treated the vehicles as gently as we can. One hears tales of trips into the Empty Quarter experiencing multiple punctures, rolling vehicles and having mechanical problems. As yet, we have had no punctures, partly due to luck, partly due to the fact that we have time on our side and do not have to rush, but also partly due to careful driving, and not pushing the vehicles too much. Driving into the Empty Quarter from Riyadh was a very committing undertaking – it was not unusual to set off with 20 x 20 litre jerry cans of fuel ratcheted down inside the car, and the same of water, a weight that puts considerable strain on the vehicles. Coupled with no maps, and enormous expanses of virgin desert, it was in many ways like setting sail into an ocean of sand. It was in Saudi where I once woke on the roof of my Land Rover to find ice on the outside of my sleeping bag; last night here in the Oman Empty Quarter it dropped to 6.1 degrees, which still felt very chilly, rising steadily to 26.2 just after noon, a range of 20.1 degrees.

John has been in his element, and as always has been excellent company, wandering the dunes with his camera, and exploring possibilities for the next few days. We have relied on technology heavily today, using two 32 watt folding solar panels to recharge laptops, camera batteries and our Inmarsat Bgan satellite terminal which we use to send out our images and text each evening. The sun is just dropping behind the dunes and the fire is now lit, the embers glowing nicely in time for my first attempt to bake Bedouin bread under the sand using a combination of flour, water and salt, something taught to me several weeks ago by my good friends Abdullah and Jaber at 1000 nights camp in the Sharqiya sands – somehow I think its good that they won’t be here to see the results of my first attempt!