KMII
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Small Middle-Eastern road trip 🇦🇪🇴🇲
While Dubai and Abu Dhabi tend to be on most tourists’ itinerary while in the region, there are five further Emirates and many have non contiguous territories. In fact there is an Omani exclave in the Emirates, and even more interestingly, an Emirati second order enclave within that exclave. So, definitely intriguing enough to give it a try and have a look.
As this is all far off the beaten tourist path, you will either need to rent a car or hire a driver for the day to explore. And it will show you a very different picture of the Emirates, and of Oman.
The drive out of Dubai follows one of the many well constructed and maintained (but a tad boring) motorways. These actually make up the majority of the journey. And while they are certainly an effective way to get around, the low speed limits and frequent speed cameras made me happy I was a passenger 😉
A while after entering Sharjah and veering away from the coast, the countryside starts changing. Nowhere on the journey do you traverse full desert and there is always tufts of vegetation to be seen - as you will figure out later, there seems to be water around, even if the overall landscape is still relatively arid.
On a side road someone tried to recreate that Range Rover advertisement posted here some days ago, albeit in a Nissan Patrol 😉
After a while of cruise controlled motoring, the mountains, or perhaps foothills would be more correct, appear. They look pretty dry and I would hate the idea of having to hike through them, especially since it was still around 37 degrees centigrade at this point 🥵
Apparently the road only became fully feasible once the tunnels were built. Supposedly prior to that there was a long detour around the mountains.
And the tunnels are long indeed. Fortunately they are well lit, as many locals do not use lights when traversing them.
Once past the mountains, the road descends into Khorfakkan, a port city on the Omani side of the peninsula. Apparently Sharjah is an Emirate famous for education and literature and there were plenty of institutions of higher learning along the way. Here the Naval Academy…
And here a school, with separate wings by gender…
Then enter the roundabout, exit and just like that you find yourself in Oman. It’s probably the only way to enter Oman without a border crossing and the driver was quite non-plussed - was the first time he has experienced something like that in the region.
The major Omani town in the exclave is Madha, and its major sight an artificial waterfall. Sadly we were out of luck as it seemed to be switched off. I suppose later on in winter it gets reactivated 🤷🏻♂️
Here some more local architecture…
Everywhere there were roadworks, preparing the roads for the flooding season, not something you would expect in a country primarily associated with desert 🏜️
And far away from the tourist trail the buildings are much more focused on down to earth function than ostentation. For some reason even in Oman the majority of cars have Emirati plates but I have no explanation as to why 🤷🏻♂️
The roads here would definitely allow for some spirited driving but neither the car nor the driver were up for it.
In spite of not enjoying myself behind the wheel, the nature offered quite some spectacle to compensate - accumulation dams make small lakes, which are a bit surprising to the uninitiated but add extra life and beauty.
And just like that, you find yourself back in the Emirates, in this second level enclave inside an exclave. As there are no border posts, both sides tend to go a tad flag heavy.
You immediately enter Nahwa, the main village of the enclave. This is more or less all there is of it.
Well, at least there is a date palm plantation there.
And some archeological excavations, such as this Epigraphy Rock Site 👍🏻
The driver found out on Google that there was a cave to be seen and as long as he was game, so was I. Another part of road that would be great fun to drive.
Finally the said cave. Not one of the world’s wonders but nice in its own way, with a turquoise pond running into it.
And a cute stone path across the brook to get to it.
Here the noble steed that took us there and back 😁
On the way back some nice sections that would be fun to drive, short as they might be…
And a fun concept - a Mobi-Coop - basically a mobile supermarket going to the small municipalities that would not support a full time establishment. Quite a nifty concept.
And here, at the line before the roundabout you exit Oman again and are back in ‘mainland’ Emirates.
The statues on the roundabouts are definitely cool here, with small water fountains all around.
The local restaurant operator has a penchant for a lovely /8 Benz. In concourse shape, too 👌🏻
While the Madha waterfalls were off, the Khorfakkan ones were fully operational. What’s more, there was a nice Lebanese restaurant hidden underneath them on top (you can just about see the windows through the waterfall.
And the view from up there was majestic.
Food was delicious, too 😋
Suitably strengthened, we started on the return journey, and passed one more accumulation dam, with plenty of vegetation all around it.
And some ancient fortress guarding it 🛕
Passing through some smaller villages (we took a detour on the way back - material for another post), you also see very different markets than what one sees in Dubai.
With even a local Ineos Grenadier 🦾
And places where you can buy your local date palm, or three. Home delivery included.
Hope you enjoyed this slightly different take on the Emirates and Oman through this small road trip. I can attest that it was worth a day, giving a very different view compared to what I knew of the Emirates previously.
Small Middle-Eastern road trip 🇦🇪🇴🇲
While Dubai and Abu Dhabi tend to be on most tourists’ itinerary while in the region, there are five further Emirates and many have non contiguous territories. In fact there is an Omani exclave in the Emirates, and even more interestingly, an Emirati seco...
Did you participate?
Would love to see pictures of that 👍🏻🤞🏻 Hope it reminded you a bit of your time in the region 😁
Vicariously
through these guys these pictures was taken near the Oman border in the UAE ...
Very cool pics 👌🏻👍🏻
Must be a bit further to the South, where there is full sandy desert 🏜️
Excellent stuff.
Among the best ones you've done so far in my opinion! Thoroughly illuminating and enjoyable . Cheers, Filip
Thanks so much - and glad you like it 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
As always, there is more to come 😉 Still need to finish the write up of Turkey, there are several from the Alps to be posted and I might do some older ones from other places as well 😊 And who knows, new material might just happen along in the meantime 😉 ...
Truly unique and excellent pictorial and write up 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I’m surprised to learn of a flood season…I had no idea they could get that degree of rainfall. I look forward to more of your journey.
That I can imagine 😊👍🏻
While it is almost impossible to reimagine the Emirates of say 50-60 years ago nowadays the journey at least comes a tad closer than just the downtown high rise construction of Dubai 😉 Which is impressive in a different way for sure 👍🏻 ...
It’s certainly an interesting place to visit - and well worth it 👌🏻👍🏻
Glad you liked the write up 😊🙏🏻
Thanks so much for the kind words 🙏🏻
School holidays for the kids and they wanted to see something new, so… OK, Dubai itself wasn’t new for them, so we built in some day trips to expand the horizon. By the time this one came along the family decided that they were tired already and needed a ...
That there certainly are!
The world is full of surprises in very unlikely places indeed 😊👍🏻
Perhaps not the usual bucket list stuff…
But very nice irrespective - glad you enjoyed it! 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
Glad if this was informative or fun 😊👍🏻
Sometimes there’s plenty to be discovered n places less known 😊