The drive to Oman takes about 1.5 hours from Dubai. The border is more of a checkpoint than a true border, but you still need a passport and the post is manned by a soldier with a machine gun.
You definitely know that you are in a different country when you enter Oman. It is like taking a step back in time - at least in the area where we were. The buildings were small and made of stones and you get the sense that Oman is still very traditional. Goats roam throughout the town and have the right of way on the roads.
Fortunately, Rick knew exactly where to go because it is definitely an out of the way area. We drove down a typical highway which suddenly became a gravel road. Almost instantly, we went from being in a town, to being in the middle of the remote wilderness in the most amazing rocky terrain. Initially, the road follows along beside the wadi (the best that I can describe it is a dry river bed). Apparently when it rains, the wadi instantly fills and becomes dangerous because it is so deep. Although they had predicted rain, and warned against travel in the region, the sky was cloudless and brilliantly blue and there was not a drop of water anywhere. As we travelled down the road, the mountains shot up and towered over us. It was like entering into a tunnel, only wide enough for the 1 lane road. Looking around we saw some signs of civilization. There were rock walls built at the mouths of caves at least 50 feet up the sheer mountain side. We were in awe at how (and why) someone could climb up there, let alone build a shelter.
As we climbed higher, we continued to see these houses, but the only sign of life we saw were the hundreds of goats that roamed freely. Apparently, they are all owned by the farmers that live along the road and the fine for accidentally killing one is extremely high.
We climbed to an area that is a plateau and resembles a golf course with leveled off area that look like they could be golf greens or tee off areas. Throughout this area were the remains of a number of stone houses and fences. We were told that they created this area for farming. We wondered why they would choose such an obviously hot and dry area to try and farm. Even if it rains, apparently it dries up within a day or two. I think that they get more rain than we do, but even still it is very dry. Not to mention, it would be almost impossible to reach in the rain because of the flowing wadis. We were there in early April and the temperature rose to the upper 30's. I can only imagine what it would be like in the heat of the summer.
Climbing higher, we reached the top of the mountain. Looking out across the valley, the mountains looked like cooled lava beds. A little farther down the road, the scenery included a massive canyon with jagged rocky mountains throughout.
We decided to turn back after we reached the summit although it would have been interesting to see what lay at the base of the mountain on the other side. We drove less than 30 kilometers and because of the bumpy roads and sharp switchbacks,it took us over an hour to climb up. It was absolutely spectacular and we are fortunate to have had the opportunity to see it since it is definitely not a place that you would ever see without an off-road map or directions from someone else who had discovered it.
