Monday, 25 March, 2019 Salalah

Our tour only left at 13:15. We had to get landing cards before we left the ship. We were with other English speakers on Bus 17 with tour leader, Mohamed. He was awesome and gave us interesting information.

It is a dry, arid land but very wealthy because of their oil and natural gas resources. The Sultan made huge changes in the country in 1970 when he came into power. Women have equal rights with men and work hard at school and college and in fact are more likely to get the good jobs than the men!

Camels are wealth in Oman and all the camels we saw roaming were owned by somebody. None were wild.

Water comes from underground and 97% is free from contamination. All residents have access to water. 91% have instant access to piped water, meaning only 9% have to wait for water to arrive in tankers. The water in the Wadi Dayqah dam is of a high enough quality to satisfy irrigation requirements as well as domestic water supply after treatment.

Typical Beach

We visited the geysers at Mughsayl Beach and we were thrilled that they cooperated and shot out streams of water several times as we watched.

Some people got quite wet.

We were also taken to see the alleged site of Job’s burial site. In Oman it is know as the Tomb of the Prophet Ayoub. It is in the hills overlooking the city of Salalah.

We had to remove our shoes to enter this holy place.

Oman is home to the Boswella Scara tree. And it is from the dried sap of this tree that Frankincense is made. In bygone times it was more valuable than gold and was one of the gifts brought to The Baby Jesus by The Three Wise Men.

We were taken to a market where many Frankincense products were on sale – but I resisted the temptation to buy anything.