Week trip to South Oman

In November last year, I was scheduled to perform a charter flight for another European airline. This gave me the opportunity to fly to some exotic destinations, which are not part of our own network. These are mostly places I never thought about visiting myself. One of those places would be Oman.

Since I've never visited the Middle East myself, I never really had any image of how Oman looked. Most people might be a little anxious with all of the chaos and trouble going on in that part of the world. Also, looking at the flying charts, there are quite a few “no-fly zones" surrounding Oman. So I initially really didn't understand how we could fly our plane full with holiday passengers to a place like Salalah?! Little did I know that my point of view would soon completely change.

Our flight to Oman was fairly uneventful. Unfortunately, our entire flight was flown in darkness, which meant I couldn't really see a lot of the desert scenery around us. Apart from a few big cities which lit up the darkness around us and a brightly lit sky full of stars. Flying the approach into the airport of Salalah, the whole sky was lit up by the city lights. The combination of the orange city lighting and the light reflecting with sand particles in the air, gave the sky a bright orange glow.

After our landing, we went straight to our hotel to get our well-deserved sleep. The hotel itself was located on the edge of the airport, not too far from the city centre. Underneath the hotel was a shopping mall with all facilities within walking distance (food/groceries/restaurants/gifts).

For this trip, I was very lucky with an awesome crew, who were all eager to take part in activities to explore Salalah and Oman. The hotel concierge gave us the tip to contact a local (government-licensed) tour guide. Ten minutes later, a local tour guide came to the hotel to introduce himself and talk about the options for different tours. Since we had a full week in Salalah, we surely didn't want to just stay at the hotel pool for a whole week.

Together with the crew, we decided on three separate trips. The first was our trip to the east side of Salalah, visiting the coastline, an old military fort, the mountain ridge, and some waterfalls (Wadis).

The following day, we (our crew) decided to go on a trip to the Empty Quarter Desert. The drive up to the desert was already quite fascinating. The landscape quickly changed from the cityscape of Salalah to the green mountains and hills, followed by pointy rocks and stone grounds, after which we reached flat desert sands, and finally, at the end of the drive, we arrived at the beautiful sand dunes of the Empty Quarter Desert.

Along the way, we visited a camel farm and an old (buried) fort which was used as a trading post more than thousands of years ago. We arrived at the desert dunes as the sun was about to set, which was perfect timing to take some beautiful pictures. I brought my crew bag with me into the dunes to bring my camera gear, thinking it would be protected from the sand. But after arriving at our camp for the night, I opened my bag and realised it was still filled with tiny microscopic sand particles that managed to make their way into my bag. 

The camp setup was well arranged with a generator for lights and functioning toilets (luxury in the desert). We were served a local dinner with a variety of veggies, rice, and camel meat. 

To round up the evening, we sat by a campfire watching the beautiful night sky. I've probably never seen this much star (from the ground) ever in my life. Since there was basically zero light pollution, my camera and eyes were able to pick up millions of stars. 

On the final day, our crew planned out a trip visiting the west coast alongside Salalah down to a place called Fazayah Beach. Driving through these mountains was a completely different scenery compared to the previous trips. The mountains we drove into didn't have much vegetation, but looked quite impressive with massive cliff drops.

After driving down from the mountains towards the coast, it opened up to beautiful white beaches, with crystal-clear blue water. The mix of these beaches, combined with the massive backdrop of the mountains in the background, is really quite unique (something I've never seen before at least). 

Another amazing thing was that there were almost no people at all. So we basically had a private beach to enjoy and go for a swim. Only needed to be a bit careful with sharp edges of rocks or the claws from lobsters.

This concludes the highlights of my trip to Salalah in Oman. So going back to my initial question of "how could we fly our plane full with holiday passengers to a place like Salalah?". After my stay in Oman, I am no longer surprised why people would like to visit it. I can definitely recommend exploring this beautiful country and the amazing scenery. From visiting the waterfalls, to the desert tour and swimming in the Arabian Sea. The local food tasted great, and the people are really friendly. Throughout my stay in Oman I have always felt safe and welcome.

I sincerely hope that one day I am fortunate enough to explore more of Oman!