A little stereotypical, I really wanted to stay in a desert safari camp on our UAE/Oman trip. We felt lucky to stumble upon the Desert Night Camp in the Wahiba Sands and it became one of the highlights of the trip. Here, you will find a photo journal of the trip’s best moments (& maybe inspire some ideas for your own adventure).
Driving from UAE
We had a lot of fun driving thru the desert terrain. Crossing the border was a little tricky since it involved stopping at 3 or 4 different spots at both the UAE and Oman border post to have documents checked, collect and surrender departure cards and get your visa for Oman. But after that little bump, it was all smooth sailing – encountering sand storms, camels, and Neolithic tombs.
Al-Ayn beehive tombs, which dates back to 3500 and 2000 BC Neolithic era. There are better preserved tombs further in the mountains that you can hike to. But the signage is supposed to be very poor, therefore we continued on our way after a short stop.
Nizwa
We arrived at this well-maintained fort town at 4pm. Many of the shops were already closed, including the fort. We wished that we did more research ahead of time to know that the fort is only open from 8am to 4pm on Saturdays thru Thursdays and 8am-11am on Fridays. In hindsight, we should have accounted for more time at the border and booked a hotel here after the long drive so we would have time to check out this town in the morning. Nevertheless, it was good to see how the locals lived & shopped for their groceries after all the tourists were gone.
Desert Night Camp – wahiba sands
What a fun way to enjoy desert life – sleeping in a “tent”, sand bashing, attempting to hike on top of the dunes, and riding a camel.
Sand bashing was incredibly fun!
Life before the selfie stick …
Fun Things Encountered on the Road to a Swimming Hole
No zoom – we shared a desert road with camels.
No joke, we were really good at sharing the road.
Really, there are camels everywhere.
The government is really polite about the roadwork.
Not far, the terrain changed really fast into tall mountains.
Wadi Bani Khalid
As we were driving in the mountain range, we felt that out of no where popped up this oasis we were looking for.
Follow the stream to find the swimming hole.
Bring your swimwear to dip into the cool water in the canyon.
Or jump in like I did!
Ending the Desert adventure with a feast
… and some Omani music accompanied with wine.
Hi there, just wanted to mention, I liked this post.
It was inspiring. Keep on posting!
Thanks! We really enjoyed visiting UAE/Oman. Hope it showed 🙂