Bashing the Dunes of Wahiba Sands

Location Coordinates:
22°00'N, 58°50'E
Wahiba Sands,
Ash Sharqiyah Region,
Oman

     Up to this point in our tour of northern Oman our daughter had been serving as our expert guide. By mid-week it was time to take the pressure off of her and let her enjoy and explore along with us. We decided to hire a local guide to take us on a very popular excursion to the Wahiba Sands for some dune-bashing and a visit to an actual Bedouin family home.

Wahiba Sands

     Our guide arrived in his crisp, white dishdasha, loaded us into his white Toyota 4x4 SUV, and we shot off like a rocket from the hotel entrance and out into central Muscat, eventually taking routes 15 and 23 south and east about 145 miles (230 kilometers) toward the village of Bidiyah. Our guide's outgoing personality made us feel as if we were with an old friend we'd known for years, and over the course of the day he provided so much interesting information about Omani life that it was hard to take it all in. On the outskirts of Muscat he said we would be "to the desert" in about two hours, which seemed quite amusing considering my view out the window told me that we certainly were already in the desert. But as I was soon to discover, his reference to "the desert" was the roughly 4,800 sq. miles (12,500 sq. km) of distinctive, golden-red colored dunes of Wahiba Sands (aka The Sharqiyah Sands).

Our guide checking the air pressure of the tires

     The village of Bidiyah is a common entry point to Wahiba Sands, and the first thing we did upon arrival there was to stop at a place where a man deflated our tires to approximately half of their normal air pressure. This process allows for much better traction in the sand dunes, and it was an odd site seeing cars lined up to let the air out of their tires. From Bidiyah we left the paved road and forged on into the dunes. At this point it is a free for all, with drivers going in any direction, with the only restriction being their level of thrill seeking. Our guide asked how daring we were, and my reply was simply "just don't let the car roll over". Perhaps sensing we weren't really out for heart-stopping adrenaline rushes he kept the vertical drops and speeds in the low-key range. But it was still a white knuckle ride. The Toyota's engine shrieked as the RPMs revved to keep traction in the sand, and the tires threw up huge curtains of flying sand as we bashed over and through the dunes. Wild and crazy fun to be sure.

Dune-bashing

Bedouin encampment

     After we'd had enough dune-bashing we stopped at a high point and looked out over the desert. The view was like a scene from a movie. Undulating dunes dotted with scruffy little trees in small valleys as far as the eye could see. There were also a few Bedouin encampments with their herds of camels and goats.

Interior of a Bedouin home

     We made our way down the dunes and parked next to a low-roofed, square structure with palm frond siding. Our guide led us to the doorway where he greeted two young men in the traditional Omani male way of touching nose-to-nose. As I approached the young Bedouins I was surprised to see their intent was to also greet me nose-to-nose. As I am a "this is my space, that is yours" type of personality, this threw me a bit off guard. Sensing that I didn't know quite how to react, the young man smiled and simply said "...nose...nose", after which I complied. With another unique Omani experience under my belt we moved inside and were directed to a pretty rug spread over mats on the sand flooring. We took seats on the floor and our guide offered us the customary Omani coffee and date refreshment. While we ate our dates and sipped our coffee the guide talked about Bedouin life and the layout of their homes. The simple, open space was designed to maximize air flow which helped to keep the home cool in the broiling desert sun. As we talked we began noticing rabbits running here and there. We came to realize the rabbits shared the Bedouin home, accessing their underground warrens through a hole in the middle of the home's sand floor. Everyone seems to work together in the desert.

One of the rabbits sharing the Bedouin home space

     We then followed the young Bedouins outside to the pens where their camels were kept. The men had plans to take two of the camels somewhere distant, so they set about loading the two into the back of their Toyota pickup. This was not an unfamiliar site, as I had noticed camels in pickups earlier that day - certainly not something you see every day back in the U.S. As the chosen two were loaded, their pen mate camel voiced his extreme displeasure, screeching and baring his camel teeth in a menacing way. I guess he wanted to go to town too.

A classic desert scene

     We spent some time wandering around the camel pens and watching other dune-bashing vehicles off in the distance. Then it was time to head back to the village, refill the tires with air, and head on down the road.