Arabia to Africa
Warning- the following article might make you want to pack a bag and drive off into the sunset. You have been advised.
Most of you who live in Dubai, with 9 to 5 jobs, a villa in jumeirah, 2.5 kids and a couple of cars will think we’re crazy for doing what we’re doing.
we had the ultimate Dubai lifestyle. Martin and I lived 5 minutes walk from the sea, we were both earning good salaries, had great friends, family and jobs- martin in the Dubai film industry and I was a drive time radio dj (which meant my actual working day was 5 hours in total.) the Dubai dream.
That was last week. This week we are driving in a bright yellow Nissan Xterra from Dubai through Oman and all the way to Cape town down the East coast of Africa. We have loaded up the car so we almost feel we know what we’re doing – we’ve got an Icon pop up tent on the roof and every technical piece of equipment imaginable : jvc and canon cameras, apple macbooks and sennheiser radio mikes, . You see, we decided that life was getting a bit too comfortable so we’re driving back to our home continent and are filming the whole thing as a kind of reality type TV series we are calling ‘Arabia to Africa’ We’re also filming an extra bumper episode focusing on orphanages throughout East Africa and AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe for a reality check to the trip
Day 1
After fafffing around in Dubai for far too long we headed off to Oman. The only problem is that because we are traveling through multiple countries we had to get a yellow booklet full of tear off pieces called a triptique that every customs post in each country has to stamp as we enter and exit so we don’t have to pay duty on the Xterra. Sounds easy enough. so we think, so we arrive at Oman customs and they have no idea what a triptique is..and refuse to stamp it. After much broken English, big hand guestures and confused looks we found a helpful Omani customs official called Mohamed who knew his stuff, stamped our triptique without a second glance and smilingly waved us on our way. We had arrived in Oman!
After diving for what seemed to be an eternity, we pulled in to Muscat and headed to the Oman dive centre where our trusty guide book had promised us that we could park our car and camp. No such luck. The very nice Omani guard pointed us off into the distance with a promise of a camp site on a beach. He neglected to tell us that there had been a recent rock fall and all the temporary roads were gravel, there were no sign posts and no official campsite. So after a couple of hours of aimlessly driving around in the dark, avoiding stray goats and asking the friendly but non English speaking locals in various villages, we found a dirty public beach where we set up camp.
Our first night was completely shambolic, we’d packed the xterra all wrong and everything we needed for cooking, sleeping and cal our toiletries were right at the bottom. We’d both stupidly decided to bring massive suitcases instead of backpack thinking they’re be easier to access. Mistake. Hot and bothered we fell into a restless sweaty half-sleep to the sound of waves lapping and fisherman chatting loudly nearby.
Day 2
At 6 am the sun scorching through our tent woke us up t our second hot Omani day after a windless night interrupted by street cats caterwauling, sedans cruising past blaring load music and friendly fishermen stopping to inspect our strange roof tented sticker emblazoned Nissan wanting to have a chat. We packed up our haphazard camp site and drove irritably to explore the area.
The Omani people are the friendliest people we’ve ever encountered, they are helpful, polite and curious and want nothing in return. As we were searching for a prettier beach to set up camp for our second night we saw 4 local boys wearing the obligatory sunglasses and scarves wrapped over their mouths and noses driving a black 4x4 and looking like something out of mad max, driving through the dunes near Muscat. We decided to follow. What we had neglected to think about was the fact that our car was incredible heavy- bags, tents, spare tires and supplies for 4 month tend to weigh down a vehicle. 5 minutes into the sand we were wheel spinning, car sinking, well and truly stuck with ¾ of one side of the car stuck in a dune. Nice move on our part and its only day 2.
Then the black 4x4 came over the dune and like knights in Omani armour they smilingly attached a tow rope to our car and hoisted us out. Then with hospitality typical of this incredible country they offered to show us around the area. They became our guides for 4 hours refusing anything in return, not even a coke. The lead us through quaint little townships and villages, full of goats, camels and dirty barefoot Omani children smiling and waving us on our way. As the four boys said goodbye they drew circles on our map of the secret spots we should check out on the way to Salalah.
After a much better organized 2nd night camping and feeling fortified by our newfound camping success and the recent good company we set off from Muscat towards Ras al jinz where we were told by our guides was the best place to see the turtles come up to the beach to lay their eggs.
Day 3
The turtle sanctuary in ras al jinz is a protected site as decreed by the sultan of Oman, It is a temporary home to hundreds of Green turtles who travel from as far afield as Somalia and the Maldives to lay their soft eggs on this beach every three years, Each green turtle will drag themselves onto this specific shore because the monsoons in Srilanka and India push larger waves onto this shoreline creating a massive amount of wet sand which the mothers find easier to dig their nests into without the sand falling back into the hole. Each turtle will lay aprox 100 eggs per nest and our out of over 1000 hatchlings only 1 or 2 will avoid the threat of seagulls, foxes cats and ocean predators to survive to adulthood. It’s a beautiful but depressing site. We booked a tour and woke up at 3am to follow our guide Nasser onto the sands to scout out which turtles where nesting. Each guided group can be as large as 100 people but only the guide is allowed a flashlight and absolutely no flash photography is allowed as it can blind the laying mothers. We were told that it is imperative not to disturb the green turtles who are digging their nests as if they are scared off they return to the sea and de themselves if unable to drop their eggs within 2 nights. Once a mother has started laying her eggs however, nothing will make them stop. So we sit on the dark sand, hearing the waves lap and wait till our guide calls us towards a 1m long mother who is covering up her eggs with her front flippers. It’s an amazing sight that few are privileged to see. Our group is silent in awe as we watch this animal, graceful in the water, haul herself back to the sea. And just as she reaches the waves we are hurried to another point where baby hatchlings are emerging from the sand beneath our feet up to the to the surface, attracted by our guide’s torchlight. As we watch they begin to quickly and clumsily flap their way towards the waves, looking more like tiny black crabs than turtles.
We stay on this beach to watching shooting stars an listening to the waves until the sun rises, occasionally directing baby turtles who have lost their way, back to the water. Martin has happily captured the whole night on the jvc and canon as the babies rushed to the sea avoiding the attacking crabs and nearby stray cats . For the price of 30 aed per person it is a life changing experience that everyone should do.
The next day armed with stunning canon sunrise shots and great film footage for the show, we drove through terrain that changed from pristine beach with massive pounding waves to yellow untouched sand dunes, past white sparkling salt plains where workers rake the condiment into large mounds for harvest as we headed onwars on the 800 km drive to Salalah.
A warning to drivers- The terrain on the way to salalah is hypnotic, once you’ve reached the empty quarter, the roads are flat and mesmerizing with glittering miages temping you into a half trance. Be careful- as every now and then a huge lory travvelling at 10 km an our will rush past you threatening to drive you off the road from the wind impact as theypass. Then suddenly over a hillverything changes- as you enter the Salalah areas everything changes from dull flat sand to lush green tropics in the space of 5 minutes. You honestly feel like you’re in another world!
Salalah is Beautiful. Calmly waving palm trees, pristine white beaches and lots of waves! We arrived at 8am and dragged ourselves to the crowne plaza for a well deserved drink. We got chatting to yet another friendly Omani waiter who suggested we speak to the manager and see if we could stay at the hotel for the night as the public beaches were difficult to see in the dark. So I am writing this from our sea facing free hotel room at the crown plaza salalah. Boy was it great to have a shower!
Our Journey has officially begun, after a shambolic start on our part we are getting better and better at setting up camp. Day one took us over an hour to get all the equipment and cooking gear organized and set up, it’s now- day 5, taking us all of 10 minutes. It’s definitely a learning curve but one I would recommend to anyone with some holiday leave coming up and a sense of adventure. See you on the
.jpg)