At the far northeastern tip of the Arabian peninsula (and separated from the rest of Oman by a wide swathe of UAE territory), the dramatic Musandam peninsula is perhaps the most scenically spectacular area in the entire Gulf. Often described as “The Norway of Arabia”, the peninsula boasts a magical combination of mountain and maritime landscapes, as the towering red-rock Hajar mountains fall precipitously into the blue waters of the Arabian Gulf, creating a labyrinthine system of steep-sided fjords (khors), cliffs and islands, most of them inaccessible except by boat. Musandam remains one of Oman’s great wildernesses, with a largely untouched natural environment ranging from the pristine waters of the coast, where you can see frolicking dolphins, basking sharks and the occasional whale, through to the wild uplands of the jebel, dotted with fossils and petroglyphs.
The main town in Musandam proper is lively little Khasab, at the top of the peninsula and connected to the outside world by the spectacular coastal road which runs down via Bukha to the UAE border at Tibat. Khasab offers the perfect base for boat (or diving) trips out on the marvellous Khor ash Sham while, further afield, the remote town of Kumzar is the endpoint of the perhaps even more spectacular sea trip out along the coast and into the Straits of Hormuz; Khasab is also the starting point for mountain safaris up the mighty Jebel Harim and beyond. Unless you’re driving from the UAE – which is possible, but no picnic – getting a plane or boat to Khasab (see below) is the only way to get to Musandam.
Khasab
Musandam’s major town, KHASAB, sits at the far northern end of the peninsula in a narrow plain squeezed in between the mountains – one of the few sizeable areas of flat coastal real estate in the entire peninsula. It’s a small but lively place, and one which feels a long way from the rest of Oman, the slightly Wild West atmosphere stoked up by hordes of locals charging around in pick-up trucks, bands of Iranian traders loading up goods in the Old Souk and the occasional roar of an Omani airforce jet or the daily flight from Muscat coming in to land.
Khasab is the obvious place to base yourself while exploring the peninsula. The town divides into two parts: the modern New Souk, and the more ramshackle Old Souk down near the port, which is where you’ll also find the interesting fort. The town is also home to virtually all Musandam’s accommodation, while its location and the number of tour agents in town makes it a good base for dhow rides out into the khors, diving trips and 4WD excursions into the mountains. Many visitors to Khasab are here on day-trips from Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE. You’ll see surprisingly few visitors in town after around 4pm in the afternoon – which is all the more reason to stay the night.
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KHASAB COASTAL ROAD
Highlights
Khasab Fort Engaging Portuguese fort, with old wooden dhows lined up in the courtyard and award-winning museum displays on traditional life in Musandam.
Khor ash Sham Musandam’s largest and most beautiful khor, the perfect place to spend a day on the water, swimming, snorkelling and dolphin-spotting.
Sea trip to Kumzar Marvellous sea journey to the famously isolated town of Kumzar, at the northernmost tip of Musandam.
Jebel Harim Take a “mountain safari” up Musandam’s highest peak, rising amid dramatic rocky landscapes at the heart of the peninsula.
The coastal road from Khasab to Bukha Explore Musandam’s stunning coastal road as it hugs the cliff-lined coast south of Khasab.
Diving the coasts and the khors Enjoy some of the best diving in the Middle East and discover an unspoiled underwater world of coral reefs and sea caves, teeming with macro life, sharks and rays.
Prehistoric petroglyphs Marvel at millennia-old rock carvings, depicting people and wildlife, at sites including Wadi Tawi.
HIGHLIGHTS ARE MARKED ON THE MAP
The corniche, opposite the harbour • Mon–Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am–4pm, Fri 8–11am • 500bz
Down near the Old Souk, the town’s pretty stone fort was built by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century as part of their efforts to control passing maritime trade. The fort was originally on the seafront, though the waters have since receded a considerable distance, leaving the structure high and dry. It’s not the biggest or grandest in Oman, but Khasab Fort has won an international Museums and Heritage award for its exhibits, which make it the best attraction of its kind in the country.
A couple of large wooden dhows stand outside, while three smaller boats sit in the courtyard within – a battil, mashuwwah and zaruqah. The battil (the one closest to the entrance) is particularly attractive, sporting the pretty cowrie-shell decorations around the prow and rudder which are typical of Musandam. The boat’s bow and stern also display a rare extant example of the traditional “stitched” method of boat building, with planks literally sewn together using coconut thread. Close by stand modern replicas of a traditional bait al qufl (“house of the lock”) and a barasti (palm thatch) summer house, ingeniously constructed using stone pillars with permeable walls fashioned out of palm branches.
The circular tower
In the centre of the courtyard stands the fort’s most unusual feature: a large and completely detached circular tower, intended to provide an additional refuge in case the outer walls were breached. Entrance is via a ramp on one side and steps on the other, with a hearth built into the exterior wall below. The interior is filled with wide-ranging and informative exhibits covering various aspects of Musandam’s geology, culture and history – a welcome and unusual feature among Oman’s forts, even those which have been recently redeveloped.
Around the walls
From the entrance, steps lead up to the walls and a walkway on which you can make a circuit of the fort and its various towers – a couple of which still have their mangrove-pole ladders set into the interior walls.
The second tower around houses various colourful but rather unedifying displays on traditional Musandam culture, featuring colourful rugs, crockery and some droll mannequins. There’s also an interesting re-creation of a traditional apothecary’s shop and a display of fine traditional silver jewellery including enormously chunky elbow rings, necklaces featuring characteristic pouches (“Qur’an boxes”) used to store texts from the holy book (worn as magic charms to ward off evil). A couple of these also incorporate the large silver Maria Theresa thaler coins which were widely used throughout the Gulf and East Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and which were often incorporated into traditional Omani jewellery (and are still widely available in souvenir shops around the country to this day).
The Wali’s Wing
The tower on the breezy sea-facing side of the fort houses the Wali’s Wing, erstwhile residence of the wali, or governor, of Khasab. This is decorated with the usual old rugs and coffeepots alongside more unusual wali-related bric-a-brac, including antique sewing and writing boxes, expired tins of boot polish and bottles of ink, and an old Philips radio.
The Old Souk
West of the fort lies Khasab’s Old Souk, a huddle of shops, cafés and travel agents which was formerly the epicentre of the town’s vibrant contraband industry. Many of the businesses here still advertise themselves as specializing in “Import & Export” – a polite way of saying smuggling – and even now the souk still sees regular boatloads of Iranian traders pitching up during the day to take delivery of assorted household goods which they load into boats and cart off for resale back home.
Al Khmazera Fort
Halfway between the old and new souks • Mon–Wed, Sat & Sun 9am–2pm • Free • The fort is signed from the New Souk; follow the road through the oasis and you’ll see it on your left in front of a prominent blue-domed mosque
Sprawling away behind the fort lies Khasab’s extensive oasis. Tucked away in the middle of this lies Al Khmazera Fort, a rather plain structure with two round towers at opposite corners and a sequence of rooms inside arranged around a little courtyard. En route to the fort, look out for the particularly eye-catching villa (on the left) with an enormous model dhow poised precariously above the gateway.
Bassa Beach
Heading out along the coastal road, about 1km past the harbour (and just before the Atana Khasab hotel) lies Bassa Beach. Despite its name, Bassa isn’t so much a beach as an enormous car park, although there are majestic views of the coast, and the tiny ribbon of muddy sand is piled high with a treasure-trove of washed-up seashells (along with less appealing domestic rubbish) – perfect for an hour’s idle beachcombing.
THE SHEHI
Musandam is inhabited by three main tribes; the Dahoori, Kumzari and, by far the largest of the three, the Shehi (often anglicized to “Shihuh”). The Shehi formerly had a rather mysterious and fearsome reputation, said to speak a language unintelligible to anyone but themselves and living a reclusive life up in the mountains, eking a frugal and difficult existence out of one of Arabia’s most inhospitable environments. Notably different from the Bedu and townspeople of the plains, many of the Shehi formerly lived in mountain caves or natural rock shelters, which were converted into simple little dwellings with the addition of a couple of stone walls and wooden doors. They also carried a small axe on a long handle (known as a jirz), rather than the khanjar found elsewhere in Oman, which could serve both as a weapon and a climbing stick. The Shehi remain the dominant clan in modern Khasab – you’ll see the name Al Shehi on shop signs all around town, especially in the Old Souk – although many have now moved out to exploit the greater economic opportunities in neighbouring Ras al Khaimah (RAK), and RAK-registered cars are a common sight around town.
The origins of the Shehi remain unclear. One theory is that they were the original inhabitants of Oman who were gradually driven north into the mountains by waves of Yemeni and Nizari Arabs arriving from the south. Another, more colourful, tradition claims that they are descended from the survivors of shipwrecks marooned on Musandam’s rocks over thousands of years – anecdotes record the occasional birth of Shehi children with fair hair and blue eyes. Their language, too, had a similarly cosmopolitan flavour, although, unlike Kumzari, it remains a dialect of Arabic, rather than an original language. As Ronald Codrai, writing of a visit to the peninsula in the 1950s in his entertaining Travels to Oman: 1948–1955, put it: “That they spoke a different dialect was soon obvious, but it was Arabic, although sometimes spoken more gutturally through closed teeth and, once or twice, I thought I detected a Somerset accent.”
The Shehi (along with other Musandam tribes) formerly migrated on a seasonal basis, spending the winters farming in the mountains or fishing in the khors before heading down to Khasab to harvest dates during the summer. Not surprisingly, given Oman’s rising prosperity, the Shehi and other tribes of Musandam, the younger generations particularly, are steadily abandoning the hard traditional life of their ancestors, meaning that many of Musandam’s villages are being steadily depopulated as their inhabitants depart in search of a more comfortable existence in Khasab or elsewhere, leaving nothing behind but locked houses and wandering goats.
ARRIVAL AND GETTING AROUND KHASAB
Getting to the peninsula has become increasingly easy in the past few years thanks to the introduction of daily flights; there is also a bus-and-ferry service from Muscat via Shinas (see below). Even so, it’s still much easier to reach Khasab from Dubai (a drive of around 3–4hr) than from the Omani capital; for information on driving to Musandam from the rest of Oman, see the box below. If you’re staying in Dibba, there’s another ferry which travels there from Shinas (see below).
BY PLANE
The easiest way of getting to Musandam is to fly. Oman Air operate daily flights from Muscat to Khasab (and back again) in small twin-prop planes. The flight takes 1hr 10min, with fares in the region of 30 OR each way. Convenience aside, the flight also offers spectacular views of the mountains: the last ten minutes before landing in Khasab must be one of the world’s most spectacular plane journeys, and is worth the ticket price alone.
DRIVING TO MUSANDAM
The road trip up to Musandam from the rest of Oman may look like an interesting adventure on paper, but is actually a bit of a slog, involving four sets of border formalities and many kilometres of largely featureless driving. This is especially the case if you take the tedious western route via Dubai, although the route up the east coast of the UAE is significantly more pleasant, and offers the chance to have a look at the relatively little-visited eastern and northern edges of the UAE en route.
Travelling from Oman, the trip can also work out to be surprisingly expensive. If you don’t have a multiple-entry visa, you’ll have to buy two new Omani visas, each at a cost of 20 OR – one for entering Musandam and one for re-entering the rest of Oman. However, under the new e-visa rules announced in 2018, each new Omani visa must be applied for in advance at 
evisa.rop.gov.om. Therefore, it’s much easier, not to mention cheaper, to have a multiple-entry visa (50 OR) if you’re planning on driving to Musandam from the rest of Oman. On top of this cost, you’ll also pay 35 dirhams (around $10/£7) each time you exit the UAE. If driving yourself you’ll need to get additional car insurance from your car-rental operator covering you to drive in the UAE – expect to pay around 20 OR, which will cover you for a week. By the time you’ve paid for visas and insurance, you might well be looking at a total cost of around $170/£120 – which works out about the same as the average plane fare.
BORDER CROSSINGS FROM THE UAE
There’s only one surfaced road into Musandam: this enters the west side of the peninsula at Tibat from Ras al Khaimah emirate, then runs up the coast to Khasab. The border post at Tibat is open 24hr. Count on around thirty minutes to clear Omani and UAE border formalities, although it can take significantly longer at weekends and on public holidays. There’s a second entry point to Musandam on the eastern side of the peninsula at Dibba, but this is not open to independent travellers except those from GCC countries. If, however, you are staying at Golden Tulip Dibba or Six Senses Zighy Bay, they can arrange a border pass for you in advance. Bookings must be made at least seven days in advance and you have to provide the hotel with scans of your passport and visa so they can arrange a border pass for you. Under this system, you won’t need to get a new Omani visa when you enter Musandam.
THE ROUTES
There are two main routes from the rest of Oman up to the Musandam border post at Tibat, taking roughly 4–5 hours from Sohar or Buraimi, or around eight hours from Muscat. The first starts at Buraimi and then follows Route E66 from Al Ain down to the edge of Dubai, and then the Emirates Road (Route 311) up to Ras al Khaimah, a boring and often stressful drive along two of the UAE’s busiest highways (maps show some quieter cross-country roads, but these are surprisingly difficult to find without local knowledge). A slower but more pleasant option is the drive exiting Oman north of Sohar at Khatmat Milahah then heading up the attractive east coast of the UAE along Highway 99 through Fujairah and Khawr Fakkan to Dibba, before looping back round to Ras al Khaimah via highways 87 and 18.
Unfortunately, whichever route you take there’s no way of avoiding Ras al Khaimah, a major bottleneck, exacerbated by the hopeless lack of signage – if in doubt, try to keep driving in the general direction of the mountains.
MARLBORO TIME: SMUGGLING IN KHASAB
Khasab was formerly infamous as the epicentre of the Oman–Iran contraband trade, thanks to its strategic location at the tip of the Arabian peninsula, just 45km from Iran across the Straits of Hormuz – a mere 45 minutes by speedboat. Up until 2001, taxes on US goods in Iran encouraged a flourishing trade in smuggling, with as many as five thousand Iranian boats visiting Khasab daily, arriving laden with boatloads of goats destined for the slaughterhouses of RAK and returning across the Straits of Hormuz weighed down with consignments of tea, electronics and, especially, cigarettes. Locals describe the golden age of smuggling as “Marlboro Time”, and the sight of thousands of Iranian speedboats loading up with piles of duty-free cigarettes was formerly a tourist attraction in its own right. The smuggling trade also provided a major source of income for locals in Khasab, who provided transport and other logistical services – accounting for the extraordinary number of pick-up trucks around town, formerly used to shift vast quantities of contraband tobacco and other goods down to the waiting boats.
Since 2001, successive changes in customs regulations in Iran and the UAE have led to the virtual demise of smuggling in Khasab. Cigarettes are now exported legally from Jebel Ali Free Port in Dubai, while the goats with which the Iranians formerly made themselves welcome are delivered directly to Ras al Khaimah in the UAE. The town still sees a fair number of Iranian traders even so – perhaps two or three hundred boats a day – although the lifting of international sanctions on Iran in 2016 has put the kibosh on a recent mini-renaissance in illegal smuggling. These days, the legitimate boats are granted a 12-hour pass, although they aren’t allowed further into town than the Old Souk (where you’ll often see them loading up trucks with old washing machines, fridges and suchlike) and must leave by sunset – a rather tame legacy of the town’s former customs-busting bravado.
BY FERRY
It used to be possible to take a ferry directly from Muscat to Khasab, a very pleasant way of making the journey. In 2017, however, a new “land and sea” service was launched courtesy of state transport agency Mwasalat. Under the new system, a bus carries passengers between Muscat and Shinas, a coastal town near Oman’s northern border with the UAE, from where a ferry departs for Khasab. This has made an already long trip rather less appealing, although it takes no longer overall than before, and the ferry trip is still very scenic – although still not a patch on the view through the plane windows.
Times For the latest timetables and price details, head to nfc.om. At the time of writing, buses depart Muscat for Shinas every Sunday and Thursday at 10am, arriving at 1.30pm; the ferry then departs Shinas at 3pm the same day, arriving in Khasab at 7pm on Sundays and 6pm on Thursdays. Going the other way, ferries depart from Khasab on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 1pm, arriving in Shinas at 5pm (Tuesdays) or 4pm (Saturdays). The ferry from Shinas to Dibba takes 2hr 30min and departs on Sundays (12.30pm), Wednesdays (2pm), Thursdays (1pm) and Saturdays (noon).
Fares The fare is 18 OR one-way/35 OR return in “economy class”, 29 OR one-way/57 OR return in “business class” (which offers better views from the front of the boat), and 41 OR one-way/81 OR return in “VIP class”, where you share a cabin with just seven other passengers. Children aged 4–12 travel for half price, and under-4s go free. It costs 40 OR to take a rental car on the ferry, which, annoyingly, is roughly four times what it costs to take a privately owned car registered in Oman. Motorbikes can be taken for 3 OR, and bicycles for 1 OR.
Ticket agents There are two options for buying tickets in Muscat. The first, and easiest, is to book your ticket through a local travel agent (tour operators in all the city’s upmarket hotels should be able to organize this for you). Alternatively, reserve by phone on 
2449 5453 or by email via reservation@nfc.om. You can buy tickets in Khasab at the National Ferries Company office (2673 1802) down by the port, or, more conveniently, through Khasab Travel & Tours or Musandam Sea Adventure.
BY TAXI
Khasab is very spread out, and, maddeningly, there are no conventional taxis. If you’re arriving by ferry or plane, you’ll need to arrange for your hotel to pick you up or you’ll be facing a long, hot and dusty walk with your luggage.
BY CAR
All tour operators should be able to arrange car rental (either 2WD or 4WD), although it’s a good idea to book this in advance as vehicles may not always be readily available and there’s no other way of travelling independently in Musandam.
There’s a surprisingly large number of tour operators in town, many with offices in the Old Souk. Most of these places are only erratically open, and some appear to be on permanent siesta, but there is a growing number of reliable, professional outfits to choose from, with a few listed below. The stock in trade of all local operators is khor cruises and mountain safaris, and tour operators are also the best source of local information.
Dolphin Khasab Tours Lulu Hypermarket, opposite Khasab Fort 2673 0813, dolphinkhasabtours.com. Since 2007 this friendly, professional outfit has been one of the most popular tour operators in town, offering a more extensive programme of activities than some of their competitors. The staples are still dhow trips and mountain safaris in Jebel Harim, but other options include disembarking from the dhow to kayak through the khors, fishing, and camping in a secluded cove at Seeb al Gareeb. Daily 8.30am–8.30pm.
Khasab Travel & Tours Around the back of the airport, south of the New Souk, opposite the Esra Apartments 2673 0464, khasabtours.com. The leading operator in town is this extremely professional and well-run outfit which has more or less single-handedly pioneered tourism in the peninsula since opening for business in 1992, with an excellent roster of guides, many of whom are veritable treasure-troves of local information. They also operate handy city tours, including of Khasab itself and the petroglyphs at nearby Wadi Tawi. There’s another office at the Atana Khasab hotel; boats depart from Khasab Harbour. Daily 9am–1.30pm & 5–8pm.
Musandam Sea Adventure Khasab Rd, next to Diwan Al Amir hotel, Old Souk 2673 0424, msaoman.com. A smaller outfit based down in the Old Souk, and another reliable option. Alongside the usual dhow and mountain trips, they offer mountain biking in the jebel and day trips to Dibba, including a dhow trip, banana boat ride and fishing – a good way to explore another corner of Musandam if you don’t have your own transport. They also offer multi-day trips taking in Kumzar and beach camping. Daily 8am–8pm.
ACCOMMODATION
Khasab has a passable range of accommodation given its modest size, although rates everywhere are comparatively high for what you get. Budget accommodation is limited to the Lake Hotel, which is still no snip and is probably best avoided if at all possible.
Atana Khasab About 3km from Khasab on the main road to Bukha 2673 0777, atanahotels.com; map. A few kilometres out of town, this attractive four-star is, along with its sister property Atana Musandam, the most upmarket option in Khasab. Occupying a dramatic, if rather windy, hillside overlooking the coast, the hotel has an attractive pool and terrace with views over the sea. Now in the hands of the government-funded OMRAN group, the hotel has been recently renovated, and rooms are comfortable, if a little bland; some have balconies, and all promise either sea or mountain views. Facilities include the (licensed) Omani Al Mawra restaurant, a hilltop shisha bar and a terrace café. 82 OR
Atana Musandam Khasab Harbour 2673 0888, atanahotels.com; map. This lovely hotel combines a great location with luxurious accommodation, housed in a collection of square-roofed Arabian-style buildings cresting the tip of Khasab Harbour. Rooms are similarly traditional but luxurious, with lovely dark wood furniture, woven wooden ceilings and adobe-style walls; each room also has a balcony. There’s a spa and a decent restaurant, although it is unlicensed unlike that of the Atana Khasab. 94 OR
Khasab Hotel On the main road, 750m south of the New Souk 2673 0267, khasabhotel.net; map. Welcoming visitors with a naff plastic mini-fort facade, this somewhat quirky hotel is one of Khasab’s cheaper options, although like everywhere else here, it’s overpriced. Good value tours are on offer, though, and the spacious, comfortable rooms and slightly old-fashioned decor are not without their charms; other facilities include a children’s play area, outdoor pool, and decent restaurant. Cash only. 32 OR
Lake Hotel On the main road just north of the turning to the fort, Old Souk 2673 1664; map. There’s not a lake in sight, but this simple budget hotel does at least have a convenient location on the edge of the Old Souk, near the fort. It’s also the cheapest option in town, but sadly has little else going for it – rooms are small, televisions may not work, mattresses are hard and you may find yourself playing host to the occasional small but inquisitive cockroach. 20 OR
EATING
You won’t actually starve in Khasab, but don’t expect any culinary surprises. There are a number of places to eat in the New Souk plus a further string of low-key cafés in the Old Souk, though nothing to get very excited about, with the possible exception of Aroos (see below). A number of places in the Old Souk also double as shisha cafés, with huddles of pipe-smoking locals sitting out on the pavement after dark amid clouds of fragrant tobacco.
Al Mawra Atana Khasab, 3km from Khasab on the main road to Bukha 2673 0777; map. The only licensed venue in town along with the Atana Khasab’s bar, this restaurant is named after a traditional stove found in Omani homes, and serves a range of good Omani dishes alongside the usual selection of curries and biryanis. As ever in Khasab, the catch of the day is probably a good bet. Mains 2–6 OR. Daily noon–1am.
Al Shamaliah Grill Bani Mohamed Obaid St, New Souk 2673 0477; map. One of the best places to eat in town, this bright, clean restaurant offers up a wide-ranging menu which runs the gamut from takeaway-style burgers and fried chicken to more substantial Indian, Chinese and Arabian grilled dishes. There’s also nice outdoor seating on the square in front. Mains 1–4 OR. Daily 9am–midnight.
Aroos On the main road north of the Mosque roundabout, New Souk 9362 5949; map. This smart outfit in the New Souk is a cut above other Musandam dining options in terms of atmosphere and quality of food, with a menu encompassing a wide range of traditional Arabian dishes, Indian curries and superb spicy seafood grills. It’s a beautiful space, too, with latticed wooden screens and Arabian wall arches lit with lanterns. Mains 1.5–6 OR. Daily noon–11.30pm.
Wadi Qada Near the main road 300m south of the turning to the fort 9983 4205; map. Something of a local favourite, this Iranian restaurant’s faux-rustic exterior is a little odd, but the food and the service are both great. Seating is either at tables or on low-slung sofas, and the menu includes juicy kebabs, aromatic biryanis and some delicious non-alcoholic drinks – try the pomegranate juice or fragrant tea. Most mains 1.5–3 OR. Daily 11am–midnight.
The khors
Looked at on the map (or from the window of a plane), the northernmost tip of Musandam resembles a strange Rorschach blob: a mad tangle of mountains and water, dotted with dozens of khors, bays, islands and headlands, and ringed about with sheer cliffs and craggy red-rock mountains. The peninsula’s remarkable landscape is the result of unusual geological processes: the khors themselves are actually flooded valleys, formed as a result of Musandam’s progressive subduction beneath the Eurasian continental plate, which is causing the entire peninsula to tilt down into the sea at the dramatic rate of 5mm a year.
The chance to get out on the water and see something of the magnificent khors and coastline around Khasab is the unquestioned highlight of any trip to Musandam. The easiest and most popular trip is out along the marvellous Khor ash Sham – the largest of all the khors.
Khor ash Sham
The longest and most dramatic of all the Musandam khors, Khor ash Sham stretches for some 16km in total, hemmed in between two high lines of mountains, the bareness of the craggy surrounding rocks offering a surreal contrast with the invitingly blue waters of the khor itself. A string of remote hamlets dots the shoreline, accessible only by boat; each is home to just ten or so families. All water has to be shipped in by boat, while children must commute to school in Khasab. Not surprisingly, the khor-side settlements are becoming steadily depopulated as the younger generation of villagers tire of the rather monotonous life of their ancestors and move off to Khasab or beyond. Those who remain live in the villages for just six months a year, earning a living through fishing, before decamping to harvest dates in Khasab during the summer months, when the water in the khor becomes too hot for fish.
DOLPHIN-SPOTTING IN THE KHORS
The khors boast a healthy population of dolphins, and you’ve got probably an eighty percent chance of seeing at least one pod during a full-day dhow cruise. Dolphins are attracted by the sound of boats’ engines and the water churned up in their wake – they’ll often swim alongside passing dhows, dipping playfully in and out of the water, reaching remarkable speeds and keeping up quite easily with even the fastest dhows.
GOING ROUND THE BEND IN MUSANDAM
Despite its rather unprepossessing appearance today, Telegraph Island was once a crucial hub in the nineteenth-century information superhighway, and a vital link in the chain of communication between Britain and her Indian empire. At a time when mail between London and Bombay took at least a month to arrive, messages could be sent between the two cities in as little as two hours via submarine telegraph cables – or the “Victorian internet”, as it has been neatly described.
In 1864, the governments of India, Turkey and Persia agreed to join up their existing land telegraphs using a submarine cable through the Gulf and on to Karachi. Almost 2400km of cable was manufactured and laid out, passing through Musandam en route. In 1865, a small telegraph repeater station was constructed on the island formerly known as Jazirat al Maqlab, but ever since as Telegraph Island, a site chosen since it offered greater security than the mainland against potentially hostile local tribes. The station played a crucial role in the success of the cable. Telegraphic signals relayed over copper cable inevitably fade with distance, and the function of the station was to receive and relay, or “repeat”, signals received from either London or Bombay.
Unfortunately, the location was one of the remotest in the empire. The mental and physical privations suffered by officials marooned on Telegraph Island quickly became the stuff of colonial legend, so much so that relief crews sailing eastwards around the tip of the Musandam peninsula coined the expression “going round the bend” to describe their mercy missions – an expression which has since become Oman’s lasting contribution to the English vernacular and a fitting tribute to the sufferings of Telegraph Island’s Victorian castaways.
The station lasted just three years and in 1868 the cable was diverted away from Musandam and rerouted via the Iranian island of Hengham.
Telegraph Island
About halfway down Khor ash Sham lies lonely Telegraph Island (or Jazirat Telegraph), an extremely modest lump of rock named after the British telegraph station that formerly stood here. The extensive foundations of the old British buildings survive, along with a flight of stone steps leading up from the water. The island is a popular stopping point on dhow cruises, which often halt here for lunch. Boats can moor next to the island at high tide; at low tide you’ll have to swim across. It’s a popular fishing spot, and a great place to snorkel, with a kaleidoscopic array of critters including angel fish, parrot fish, and clown fish easy to spot through the crystal clear water.
Kumzar
One of the most inaccessible settlements in Oman, the famously remote town of KUMZAR sits perched in solitary splendour at the northernmost edge of Musandam, hemmed in by sheer mountains and accessible only by boat. While Kumzaris are very welcoming, they have occasionally had a difficult relationship with visitors in the past – for a time, foreigners were not even allowed to disembark and enter the town, but that rule has been lifted. Nevertheless, strictly speaking, the few visitors that make it here require a permit, which tour operators will arrange as part of a trip; this wasn’t being enforced at the time of research, however.
Kumzar’s main curiosity is its language, which has developed unique characteristics after centuries of isolation. Otherwise the town tends to remain far from the headlines, with the odd notable exception: impressively, Kumzar Football Club overcame teams of far greater resources, both human and financial, to win Oman’s regional cup in 2016.
DHOW TRIPS AND DIVING IN KUMZAR AND THE KHORS
The half- or full-day boat trip down Khor ash Sham is the most popular tour from Khasab, while the waters around the northern Musandam peninsula boast some of the finest diving in the Middle East.
BOAT TRIPS
Trips are on traditional wooden dhows, sitting on deck under an awning; expect to share your boat with around ten to twenty other people. Half-day khor cruises (usually 9.30am–1.30pm or 1.30–5pm) cost around 15 OR per person including drinks, but no lunch. These trips go as far as Telegraph Island and include one stop for swimming and snorkelling. Full-day cruises (usually 10am–4pm) cost around 20 OR per person, including lunch and drinks, and will get you to Seebi Island at the far end of Khor ash Sham, with a couple of swimming/snorkelling stops en route. Note that prices are often quoted in AED, such is the volume of visitors from the UAE.
Most operators can also set up overnight dhow trips, normally either sleeping on board or camping on the beach. These range from simple combinations of beach camping and full-day dhow cruise (around 35 OR/person) to multi-day trips taking in tours of Khasab, dhow cruises, mountain safaris and hotel accommodation (around 200 OR/person with Khasab Travel & Tours; prices vary according to how many people book).
Khasab Travel & Tours Around the back of the airport, south of the New Souk, opposite the Esra Apartments 2673 0464, khasabtours.com. All operators offer essentially the same packages at the same prices, although Khasab Travel & Tours tend to provide the most experienced and informative guides. Daily 9am–1.30pm & 5–8pm.
DIVING
The waters around the northern Musandam peninsula are home to a superb range of marine life including magnificent manta and eagle rays, hammerhead, zebra, leopard and whale sharks, minke whales and turtles, as well as myriad smaller tropical fish. Underwater habitats include beautiful coral gardens, sponge-covered rocks, dramatic submarine walls and a couple of wrecks. Despite what’s often said, diving around Musandam isn’t only for experienced divers with many hours in their log books – even unqualified divers can take the plunge. The best dive sites are around Kumzar, a 45min–1hr journey by speedboat from Khasab (although trips are often cancelled in bad weather), while there are a couple of further sites in the more sheltered waters of Khor ash Sham and elsewhere.
Musandam Discovery Diving Off Khasab Rd, behind Musandam Sea Adventure, Old Souk, Khasab 9968 2932, musandam-discovery-diving.com. Currently the only specialist dive centre in Khasab, this professional company runs a variety of courses and dive trips in the khors, as well as guided fishing trips. Two dives cost 45 OR with equipment or 35 OR without, while a single night dive costs 35 OR. Non-divers and snorkellers can come along for the ride for 10 OR. You can also learn to dive here, with an introductory Discover Scuba Diving course costing 55 OR; multi-day courses go up in price to 220 OR. Daily 8.30am–noon & 3.30–7.30pm.
KAYAKING
Khasab Travel & Tours and Musandam Sea Adventure both have kayaks for rent, which can be carried on board dhows going into the fjords, although no guides are available, so you’ll have to have a reasonable understanding of what you’re doing before venturing onto the water.
There’s not much to see here, and certainly nothing in the way of tourist facilities, although it’s still worth making the trip out here for the magnificent coastal scenery en route, as well as for the opportunity to experience Oman at its most remote and reclusive. Many of Musandam’s best diving spots are also located in the waters around Kumzar.
Geographically, Kumzar is a paradox. By land, this is one of the most remote and inaccessible settlements in Oman. By sea, however, the town overlooks the Straits of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, a fact reflected in the unique language spoken by its inhabitants. Kumzari is still very much a living language, despite the fact that it is spoken only in Kumzar town itself and on Larek Island in Iran, just across the Straits of Hormuz. Until quite recently older generations remained determinedly monoglot, speaking nothing but Kumzari – and according to local reports there’s at least one old man in the village who remains resolutely unfamiliar with any other tongue. However, a little sadly, if inevitably, Arabic is beginning to dominate in every corner of life; local children speak it not only at school, but increasingly at home. TV is all in Arabic, and many families feel that their children learning English and Arabic is more of a priority than teaching them Kumzari.
The basis of Kumzari is Farsi (the language of Iran, which Kumzari most obviously resembles), mixed up with a hearty dose of Arabic and Hindi (the result of long-standing trade with India), plus a significant number of loan words from assorted European languages including English, Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish – a remarkable linguistic melting pot. The numbers for one to five – yek, do, so, char, panch – for example, are almost identical to their Hindi equivalents, while the Kumzari word for bread, naan, will also be familiar to anyone who has ever eaten in an Indian restaurant. Many European loan words have also entered the language, including (to name just a few) upset, door, light, starg (stars), cherie (child), toilette (meaning, in Kumzari, a haircut) and bandera (from Spanish, meaning “flag”). Things have occasionally got slightly lost in translation, however: the word kayak, for instance, means a speedboat rather than a canoe, while the words open doro can serve as an instruction not only to open the door, but to close it too.
Kumzar’s inhabitants live largely by fishing for nine months of the year, netting barracuda, tuna, kingfish and hammour (much of which ends up in the restaurants of Dubai), before retreating to Khasab for the hot summer months: if you’re planning a visit, it’s worth bearing in mind that Kumzar becomes a ghost town in the summer.
Brief history
The settlement is said to be around seven hundred years old, its inhabitants including a hotchpotch of ethnic groups ranging from Yemeni to Zanzibari – the colourful theory that sailors shipwrecked off the nearby coast were also integrated into the population is backed up by the remarkable number of European and Hindi loan words found in Kumzari. The town’s population currently stands at around four thousand, with its own school, hospital, power station and desalination plant.
The boat trip to Kumzar
The trip out to Kumzar by speedboat takes around 45min–1hr from Khasab, or around 2hr 30min by dhow. The ride takes you out past the magnificent sea cliffs enclosing the entrance to Khasab harbour, past the entrance to the fine Khor Ghob Ali, and then Goat Island (Jazirat al Ghanim), ringed with fluted limestone cliffs. In the past, local Kumzaris would often bring their sheep and goats across to the island by boat to graze, given the lack of suitable pastureland around Kumzar itself – hence the name. Throughout the trip, there is remarkably little sign of human habitation, saving a few military buildings on Goat Island.
Beyond Goat Island you enter the Straits of Hormuz, with magnificent seascapes, craggy headlands and a considerable number of oil tankers; the three rocky islands way out to sea are collectively known as the Jazirat Salamah, the most northerly piece of Omani territory. Ten minutes or so later you round a final headland, getting your first sight of Kumzar, with its colourful huddle of buildings backed up against the sheer wall of the mountains behind. Space is very much at a premium here; it’s said that the village cemetery was filled hundreds of years ago, and that locals are now obliged to bury their relatives in the grounds of their own houses.
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VIEW FROM JEBEL HARIM
By boat tour The spectacular sea journey to Kumzar is slightly more tricky and potentially a lot more expensive than a boat tour of Khor ash Sham. It’s possible to arrange a dhow through Khasab Travel & Tours and Musandam Sea Adventures for around 45 OR/person with four people, or 90 OR/person with two; pre-booking is advised. The return trip takes around five hours.
By water taxi Water taxis charge the inflated price of 120 OR to ferry tourists to Kumzar, but there is no reason to pay for this given the price of the boat tour.
Jebel Harim and the Musandam mountains
Although the khors are the principal attraction of Musandam, the peninsula’s mountainous interior runs them a close second. Here you’ll find some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in Oman, comprising a string of great limestone peaks and massifs known by locals as the Ru’us al Jebel, or “Peaks of the Mountains”. Mightiest of these peaks is Jebel Harim, Musandam’s highest mountain.
The mountains are usually explored from Khasab on either a half-day or full-day mountain safari with a local driver aboard a 4WD. Half-day safaris usually take in Wadi Khasab, Khor an Najd, Sal al A’la, A’Saye and Jebel Harim. Full-day trips continue beyond Jebel Harim as far as the Rawdah Bowl. It’s worth doing the full-day safari if possible – the Rawdah Bowl itself isn’t especially memorable, but the mountain scenery beyond Jebel Harim and the ridgetop drive above Wadi Rawdah are simply magnificent.
Wadi Khasab
Safaris begin by following the new tarmac road which runs from the southern end of Khasab, behind the airport and down through the broad Wadi Khasab. The wadi has provided mixed blessings. Rich alluvial soil, washed down the valley from the mountains, has long underpinned Khasab’s agricultural prosperity (the name Khasab, in Arabic, means “fertility”), although the wadi has also been the source of devastating flash floods; a large dam, built in 1986 across the wadi just south of Khasab, now protects the town.
Sal al Asfal and Khor an Najd
After about 7km you’ll see the unsurfaced road up into the mountains and Jebel Harim (signposted to Dibba) heading off on the right. Beyond here you enter the area known as Sal al Asfal (“Lower Plain”), a dead-flat plain which was formerly sea bed. Some 5km past the turn-off for Dibba you’ll reach an unsigned dirt road off on the left leading to Khor an Najd. It’s a stiff climb – 4WD is essential – up past a military firing range to the crest of the ridge, from where there are bird’s-eye views of the khor far below, and of the road hairpinning precipitously to a small scrap of rather unattractive beach. It’s also possible to camp here: it’s a popular spot at weekends with Dubaians. Drinking water is available, but there are no other facilities.
Sal al A’la
From Khor an Najd tours return to the main road, where your driver may show you a bait al qufl, which can be found here and in most other parts of Musandam. The next stop is usually the end of the tarmac at Sal al A’la (“Higher Plain”), about 20km from Khasab, also known as Khalidiya after the local Birkat al Khalidiya, meaning “Spring of Eternity” – somewhat ironic, since it has now dried up.
The area is one of the most fertile in the peninsula, thanks to its location in a bowl at the foot of the mountains in which rainwater naturally collects, both at the surface and underground. The plain is dotted with pretty stands of acacia trees and, following periods of rainfall, lush green grass, looking a bit like an unlikely patch of African savannah in the middle of the Gulf. Dozens of goats wander the area, feasting on acacia leaves, which explains why the lower branches on all the trees have been stripped bare up to a certain height – in summer hungry goats may even climb up into the branches of the more accessible trees in search of fodder.
A’Rahaybah and around
Tours return along the main road back towards Khasab then take the left turn onto the dirt road to Dibba which you passed earlier. The track is well maintained and graded, but steep in places; 4WD is essential.
From Wadi Khasab the track climbs doggedly upwards, offering increasingly wide-ranging views over the surrounding mountains. Most of these are an enormous mass of stratified, greyish limestone, interrupted in places by pockmarked extrusions of igneous rock created by volcanic explosions under the sea bed – a distinctively gloopy-looking substance, like a kind of geological cheese fondue. The porous rock is riddled with caves, many of which were formerly occupied by the reclusive Shehi.
The first village en route is A’RAHAYBAH (pronounced “A’Raheebah”), where you’ll see patches of dried-up agricultural terracing – a result of the mountains’ increasing aridity due to the falling water table. There’s also a fine collection of bait al qufl on the mountainside above.
The Sultan’s House
Above A’Rahaybah, your guide may point out a series of distinctive rock formations. One (popularly referred to as the “Titanic”) on the top of the ridge above bears an uncanny similarity to a steamship with a pair of funnels; nearby stands a distinctive rock pinnacle claimed to resemble the outline of a praying man. Halfway up the cliff-face between the two formations lies the Sultan’s House (occupied until as recently as the early 2000s), a tiny cluster of primitive stone buildings perched on the narrowest of rock ledges. It’s apparently accessible on foot or by donkey, although to the uninitiated it looks like only an accomplished rock climber could reach it. Assorted abandoned cave houses can be spotted slightly further up the track, tucked away beneath rock overhangs in similarly rocky and inaccessible locations.
BAIT AL QUFL: THE HOUSE OF THE LOCK
Almost every village in the mountains of Musandam is home to at least one bait al qufl (“house of the lock”), a distinctive type of local building – looking more like an antique bomb-shelter than a traditional house – which is unique to the peninsula. The bait al qufl developed as a result of the migratory lifestyle of the local Shehi, who would leave their mountain homes during the summer months to go and work on the coast. Valuable possessions which they could not carry with them were left behind in the village, locked up in these miniature vaults. Although designed primarily for storage, bait al qufl were also used as living quarters, particularly in the depths of winter.
The bait al qufl was designed with the emphasis firmly on strength and security. Walls often reach thicknesses of 1m or more, fashioned out of enormous slabs of stone; the thickness of the walls had the additional benefit of keeping the interior cool in summer and warm in winter, as well as protecting its contents (and anyone inside) from the ever-present threat of rockfalls. Bait al qufl are usually around 6–7m high, although they look smaller from the outside since the floor is dug out 1m or so below ground level for additional strength and security; the buildings are also often surrounded with a raised platform to help drain rainwater and provide something to sit on. Huge earthenware jars were placed inside to store provisions such as water, dates and grains – the jars were often bigger than the actual door to prevent them being carried off, and had to be put in place before the walls were built up around them. Access is usually via a single tiny door, formerly secured with one or two chunky wooden padlocks, although most are now left open.
About 45 minutes from the turn-off to Sal al A’la you’ll arrive at the village of A’SAYE (also spelled “Sayh”; pronounced “See”), clustered around a neat little plateau set in a bowl in the mountains at 1105m. As at Sal al A’la, the bowl serves as a natural collection point for rainwater and fertile silt washed down off the mountains, offering an unlikely little patch of agricultural prosperity amid the arid surrounding mountains. The plateau is dotted with a patchwork of square fields in which the five hundred-odd villagers grow wheat, dates, figs and vegetables, with donkeys and goats rambling here and there.
Jebel Harim
From A’Saye, it’s another 20 minutes or so to the highest point of the road, below the summit of Jebel Harim, literally “Mountain of Women” and at 2087m the highest peak in Musandam. The mountain takes its name from the days when local women would retreat to caves up here in order to avoid being carried off by pirates or rival tribes while their menfolk were away on extended fishing or trading expeditions. The actual summit is home to a radar station monitoring shipping way below in the Straits of Hormuz and is out of bounds, although there are superb all-round views from the road, with breathtaking views back to Khasab and onwards towards Dibba. Many of the rocks up here are also studded with superbly preserved fossils, offering the remarkable sight of ancient submarine creatures – molluscs, fish, clams and numerous trilobites – now incongruously stranded near the summit of one of Arabia’s highest mountains.
Petroglyphs
The highest point of road (at around 1600m) sweeps through a large rock cutting next to an air-traffic control radar installation. Just below here, a track leads off to a fine collection of petroglyphs carved into mountaintop boulders: rudimentary but evocative weathered images chipped out of the stone, including matchstick human figures alongside animals such as gazelle, oryx, Arabian leopards and even what is thought to be a man on an elephant. Further fossils can be seen in the surrounding rocks.
The fossil wall
Past the summit, there are sensational views of the road ahead, as it runs along a narrow ridge before descending towards the Rawdah Bowl, plus stomach-churning views into the deep gorge below. En route you’ll pass a remarkable fossil wall, formed out of what was originally a chunk of sea-bed rock and covered in a dense layer of fossilized impressions among which the outlines of crabs, starfish and shells can clearly be made out.
The Rawdah Bowl
The road south from Jebel Harim runs along the ridgetop then, after about 45 minutes, descends sharply into the wide bed of Wadi Rawdah, flanked by huge limestone cliffs. From here, a turning on the left runs down a side wadi into the expansive Rawdah Bowl (signed as “A’Rowdhah”), a neat little plateau a few kilometres across, enclosed by mountains – it all feels a long way from anywhere, and pleasantly sheltered compared to the exposed landscapes en route. Despite its name (Rawdah means “garden”, or a nursery of flowers), the plateau is rather bare, with large expanses of sand and gravel, dotted with acacia trees, telephone poles and a scatter of modern houses, with the occasional wild camel wandering around – a strange sight this high up in the mountains.
TO DIBBA AND THE BORDER
It’s around 50km (45min–1hr) from Rawdah to Dibba and the UAE border. The actual border post is at Wadi Bih, just a few kilometres south of the turn-off to Rawdah Bowl, but this is closed to all foreigners apart from citizens of the UAE. If you want to explore Dibba and the southern part of the peninsula you’ll have to exit Musandam at Tibat and make your way cross-country via the UAE to reach Dibba itself.
The plateau is also home to a handful of more venerable remains including abandoned old stone buildings, several bait al qufl and a couple of cemeteries, both Islamic and pre-Islamic, with neat lines of headstones formed out of roughly hewn pieces of stone; the bowl was formerly used as a local tribal battleground, which presumably accounts for the large number of people buried here.
TOURS JEBEL HARIM AND THE MUSANDAM MOUNTAINS
Most operators offer a largely identikit range of mountain safari tours. These last either a half day (around 25 OR with a minimum of two people), which will get you as far as Jebel Harim, or a full day (around 45–50 OR, minimum 2 people), which will get you all the way to Rawdah Bowl. You may be able to save a few rials off the price by shopping around, although discounted prices will probably mean you may get a dud guide as a result. While solo travellers will have more of a headache organizing mountain safaris, most tour operators will attempt to accommodate you by allowing you to join a larger group, in which case you will be charged half the prices listed above; however, this may mean spending a lot of time hanging around aimlessly while you wait to be assigned to a group.
Khasab Travel & Tours Around the back of the airport, south of the New Souk, opposite the Esra Apartments 2673 0464, khasabtours.com. The guides provided by Khasab Travel and Tours are particularly informative. Daily 9am–1.30pm & 5–8pm.
ACCOMMODATION
There’s nowhere to stay up in the mountains, although camping is possible in a number of places, including the beach at Khor an Najd, among the acacia trees at Sal al A’la, or in the remote Rawdah Bowl.
The coast road: Khasab to Bukha
The coast road (Highway 2) between Khasab and the UAE border at Tibat is still the only reliable land connection between Musandam and the outside world (at least if you discount the very rough road over the mountains from Khasab to Dibba described above). The 35km highway (around a 45min drive) is one of the most dramatic in the country, a fine feat of modern engineering with jaw-dropping sea views. If you fancy stopping for a picnic there are numerous little patches of beach with palm-thatch sunshades dotted along the road – the best is just before the village of Al Jadi, about 3km north of Bukha.
Wadi Tawi and the rock carvings
To reach the carvings, take the signed left turn from Khasab to the village of Qida, 4km away, then follow the road through the village for around 750m until the tarmac runs out – it’s another 750m from the end of the tarmac along a dirt track, driveable, with care, in a 2WD, although it’s a lot more pleasant to walk
The first 10km of the highway immediately south of Khasab’s Atana Khasab hotel are perhaps the most dramatic of them all, as the road twists around Khor Qida, perched on the narrowest of ledges blasted out between the towering cliffs on one side and the sea on the other.
Musandam boasts an unusually rich collection of petroglyphs (from the Greek petros, meaning stone, and glyphe, meaning carving): simple rock art images which have been chipped out of boulders, cave walls or other convenient pieces of stone using sharp bronze, iron or stone tools and highlighted using a white pigment made from coral. Ancient petroglyphs can be found throughout the peninsula, often in the remotest places, and depict a wide range of subjects including people, animals (particularly horses and camels), as well as abstract symbols and geometrical patterns whose meaning has been lost. Dating the images is difficult, although the fact that most of them depict human or animal figures suggests that they may well pre-date the arrival of Islam (which prohibits the making of images of living creatures). Of Musandam’s many petroglyphs, the most easily accessible are those at the top of Jebel Harim and those in Wadi Tawi.
On the far side of the bay, some 4km south of Khasab, Wadi Tawi sports some fine prehistoric petroglyphs, showing boats, houses and soldiers on horseback. Drive carefully, if bringing your own vehicle, following the directions above and keeping a wary eye out for goats – of which there are many – en route (running one over could prove not only distressing but also surprisingly expensive). After about 500m you’ll reach a cluster of ramshackle houses. Shortly afterwards, the track curves to the right in front of a brownish-white house, just past a well surrounded by three small trees. On your left you’ll see a terrific mass of fallen boulders, a couple of which have been walled in to create tiny cave houses beneath the rocks (although they’re no longer inhabited – or only by goats).
These boulders are where you’ll find the rock carvings. Easiest to spot is the boulder with five separate carvings, including a trio of camels. A boulder to the right has a stylized figure on horseback, while you’ll find another virtually identical horseman on the rock next to the door of one of the miniature boulder houses. It’s fun to hunt around for other pictures, although in many places it’s nigh-on impossible to tell whether the white dots are the remains of carvings or simply a natural mineral effect. Even if you don’t find the carvings, it’s a lovely valley walk between high limestone cliffs, pockmarked with caves, and with goats everywhere, often in the most unlikely places.
Al Harf
Past Khor Qida, the road climbs sharply upwards from the water to the ridgetop above, cresting the summit through a deep rock cutting before reaching the village of AL HARF, roughly halfway between Khasab and Bukha. This is the highest point of the road, with fabulous views – it’s said that on a clear day you can see the coast of Iran. Unfortunately it’s difficult to find anywhere to stop to enjoy the views along the narrow highway itself. The best option is to take the unsigned side-turning off the main road on the right about 500m past the summit rock cutting, then turn right again. This brings you to a peaceful vantage point with bird’s-eye views out to sea, over Khor Qida and to the mountains inland.
Bukha
Around 25km twisting kilometres south of Khasab lies the modest little town of BUKHA. The principal attraction here is the fine old fort, which sits right next to the coastal highway backdropped by huge mountain cliffs (ignore the blue signs pointing inland to Bukha village).
Highway 2, just before the mosque on the left-hand side if you’re driving from Khasab • Mon–Thurs & Sun 9am–2.30pm • Free
Built in the early sixteenth century, the fort originally stood right on the shore (which has since receded somewhat) and is surrounded on three sides by a now-dry moat in which, legend has it, unfortunate prisoners were formerly chained up and left to drown by the rising tide. Boxy rectangular towers sit on opposite corners of the fort, separated by the circular southeastern tower, which is distinctively pear-shaped; its curving upper storeys were apparently designed to reduce the impact of cannonballs. The whole thing is very neat and aesthetically pleasing, particularly as seen from inland, with the little fort sitting high on its pedestal against the rich sea green of the Persian Gulf.
There’s not much to see inside, apart from a couple of unfurnished rooms set around a small courtyard with the wali’s apartment in the centre and a large pit covered by an iron grille – possibly some kind of prison. The rooms are largely undecorated, save for the usual evocative assortment of lanterns, wooden ladders and miscellaneous torture paraphernalia, such as old wooden stocks.
Sultan Qaboos Mosque
Just behind Bukha Fort
The town’s gleaming new Sultan Qaboos Mosque was opened in 2016 as part of an ongoing wave of grand, government-funded places of worship. The style is the usual contemporary Islamic, with two minarets framing an ornately ornamented dome; it’s very impressive, although non-Muslims are not allowed inside. More interesting is the old mosque, remnants of which still remain on the site – it actually looks much more like a house than a place of worship, with its humble stature and rough stone walls, and lacks both dome and minaret.
Dibba and around
At the southern end of Musandam, sprawling across the border with the UAE, lies the small city of DIBBA – a pleasant enough place, although not really worth a visit unless you can afford to stay at the idyllic Six Senses Zighy Bay resort further down the coast, or have a particular yen to explore the southern portion of the Musandam peninsula. Foreigners are only allowed to travel as far as the border post at Wadi Bih, however, which somewhat limits the area available for exploration.
Modern Dibba has something of a split personality, being divided into three parts: Dibba Bayah on the Omani side, Dibba Muhallab, part of the UAE’s Emirate of Fujairah, and Dibba al Hisn, part of the UAE’s Emirate of Sharjah. There’s a police checkpoint at the UAE–Oman border where you’ll have to show your passport when entering Oman, but no visa formalities. You will, however (unless you’re a GCC citizen) require a border pass, which will be arranged by your hotel in Dibba – this effectively makes it impossible for non-GCC residents to turn up in Dibba without a hotel reservation. It’s also important to note that the hotel must be booked at least seven days in advance, and you have to provide the hotel with a scan of your passport and visa so they can arrange your border pass.
Brief history
Sleepy though it may now be, Dibba was the site of one of the most important battles of early Islamic history. In 632 AD, shortly after the Prophet Mohammed’s death, the forces of his successor, the caliph Abu Bakr, defeated those of a local ruler who had renounced Islam. A large cemetery on the plains behind the town (on the UAE side of the border) is traditionally believed to house the remains of the ten thousand rebels killed in the battle.
South of Musandam, about halfway between Dibba and the Omani border at Khatmat Milalah, lies the curious Omani exclave of Madha – a tiny dot of Omani territory (comprising just 75 square kilometres) completely surrounded by the UAE. The area is reached via a single surfaced road off the main coastal highway between Khawr Fakkan and Fujairah city near the district of Qurayya.
The enclave is notable mainly for one geopolitical oddity: the village of Nahwa (a few kilometres further along the road past Madha town, at the end of the tarmac). Bizarrely, this village actually belongs to the UAE emirate of Sharjah, creating a Russian-doll effect whereby the UAE territory of Nahwa is enclosed within the Omani district of Madha, which is enclosed by the UAE emirates of Fujairah and Sharjah – which are themselves bookended by Omani territory on either side.
Dibba Muhallab and Dibba al Hisn
Fujairah’s Dibba Muhallab is easily the largest and most developed of the three areas, and one of the UAE’s more pleasant towns, built on a pleasingly human scale, with neat apartment blocks, tree-lined streets and a sweeping seafront corniche giving the whole place a pleasantly Mediterranean air. Sharjah’s Dibba al Hisn is smaller, with a rather toy-town main street lined with identikit faux-Arabian villas and office blocks.
Dibba Bayah
Things are even quieter and significantly less built-up over on the Omani side of the border in Dibba Bayah. The pleasant seafront is fringed with a fine arc of golden sand, plus the occasional fishing boat, while just inland stands the obligatory fort, which isn’t open to the public. To get to the fort, follow the brown signs inland to “Daba Castle”, left of the main road through town about 750m north of the border checkpoint.
Wadi Bih
From the police checkpoint it’s possible to travel north along the rough, graded track into the mountains as far as the official border post at Wadi Bih some 35km further on, though the border is closed to all but Omani and UAE nationals, so you can’t go any further than this.
TOURS AND ACTIVITIES DIBBA AND AROUND
Both the Golden Tulip and Six Senses Zighy Bay can organize dhow cruises, mountain safaris (although you can only get as far as the border post at Wadi Bih) and diving trips.
Extra Divers Zighy Bay Six Senses Zighy Bay 2673 5888, extradivers-worldwide.com. The most reputable operator in this part of Musandam, offering dive trips suitable for all levels, and taking in hard and soft coral reef environments home to barracuda, nudibranchs, moray eels and leopard sharks. Prices range from 45 OR for one dive to 325 OR for ten dives over five days.
Nomad Ocean Adventures Corniche St 2683 6069, discovernomad.com. This local operator offers diving trips off the coast of Dibba, as well as an extensive menu of dive courses ranging from entry level to advanced. A standard two-dive trip with equipment costs around 26 OR; courses begin at around 15 OR for pool-based Discover Scuba sessions and range up to 260 OR for advanced tech diving courses.
ACCOMMODATION
Dibba has the only accommodation in Musandam outside Khasab, and makes an interesting alternative base from which to explore the southern end of the peninsula. You can reach both places listed below from the UAE without having to buy an Omani visa, although you will need to make a reservation at least seven days in advance so that your hotel can arrange a border pass for you.
Golden Tulip 2km north of the border on the coast 2683 6654, goldentulipdibba.com. The location of this old-fashioned four-star gives it a pleasantly end-of-the-world feel, although the hotel itself is nothing to write home about considering the price. Rooms are comfortable but bland, arranged around attractive but rather tired-looking gardens and a smallish pool. Food at the Khasab restaurant is average, with a menu which spreads itself rather too thin across Arabian, Indian and European dishes, while there’s also a café and the rather alarming, black-and-white striped Zebra Bar. The nice swathe of beach at least partly compensates. 99 OR
Six Senses Zighy Bay 2673 5888, sixsenses.com. This very exclusive resort is hidden away on the coast, a 15min speedboat ride or 23km drive north of Dibba (4WD required); 4WD limousine transport can also be arranged. Guests approaching by road also have the option of making the last part of the journey by tandem paraglide (70 OR/person) – either the maddest publicity stunt in Arabia or a wonderfully exhilarating way of arriving at reception. Gimmicks apart, the setting is blissful, tucked away beneath the mountains, with a fine swathe of beach and accommodation in attractive rustic villas sporting rough-hewn stone walls, lovely wooden ceilings and lots of palm thatch. All come with their own small pools and every imaginable convenience, and there’s also a top-notch spa, although with rates from around US$1350 per night it’s a very expensive treat. 520 OR
