On 7th April 1948, Wilfred Thesiger rode his camel into the settlement that is today called Al Ain. His party approached the settlement from Abu Dhabi, and travelled through the red sand dunes that still protect the town on that side.
“... we approached Muwaiqih, one of the eight small villages in the Buraimi oasis. It was here that Zayid (sic) lived. As we came out of the red dunes on to a gravel plain I could see his fort, a large square enclosure, of which the mud walls were ten feet high. To the right of the fort, behind a crumbling wall half buried in drifts of sand, was a garden of dusty, ragged palm-trees, and beyond the palms the isolated hog’s back of Jabal Hafit (sic) about ten miles away and five thousand feet high. Faintly in the distance over the fort I could see the pale-blue outlines of the Oman mountains...” (1, p. 268)
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the UAE, was born in Al Ain and the town is still a centre of political power in the country. The town has a National Museum, a Palace Museum, restored forts, archeological sites, a zoo, a large modern fruit and vegetable market and livestock and camel market, as well as those contemporary icons of the Middle East – Shopping Malls. However Al Ain’s shopping malls are strictly utilitarian.
Oases offer the visitor a good opportunity to view the ancient ‘falaj’ system which was (and still is in places) used to irrigate the date plantations.
Al Ain means “the spring” in Arabic and the town is part of the Buraimi Oasis which was divided when the border between the UAE and Oman was agreed on. The reason for the division was tribal allegiance as Thesiger explained,
“Zayid, as Shakhbut’s representative, controlled six of the villages in Buraimi. The other two acknowledged the Sultan of Muscat as their nominal overlord...” (2, p. 271)
Omanis and Emiratis move freely between the two towns divided only by a border fence and the distinctive headdress of Omani men is a common sight on the streets of Al Ain.
For the traveller who has ended up in Buraimi, neighbouring Al Ain offers reasonable accommodation and is easy to drive around. Excepting during peak hours when the town’s residents become possessed of the mad driver genie that lives at the heart of all Gulf States citizens. A word of warning – if you decide to drive around Al Ain buy a map. The town sprawls around oases and wadis and the sharp ridges of the foothills of Jebel Hafeet intrude into the outer suburbs. Confusing? It seems not until you are faced with your desired destination on the other side of an unbridged wadi.
Between 50 million and 30 million years ago the Tethys seaway covered most of northern Africa, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. It extended across this area and joined the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean sea. Proof of this is the fossils of all descriptions which are found in the area, including large fossilized corals which are found in the Jebel Hafeet area.
Jebel Hafeet is not, as is often claimed, the highest mountain in the UAE, but is certainly the best known. The road to the top of the mountain climbs almost 12 kilometres around 21 corners and has been featured on “Drive” and other motoring shows on television. Every year in January a cycling competition up the mountain attracts international competitors. Thesiger described striped hyena, Arabian tahr and Arabian leopard on the mountain. None of these animals are seen on the mountain today.
Thesiger’s account of tahr on Jebel Hafeet is set out in Arabian Sands:
“While I had been at Muwaiqih I had hunted tahr on Jabal Hafit, camping for a week under the mountain with bin Kabina and bin Ghabaisha and two of Zayid’s Arabs. ... They resembled goats and had very thick short horns. It was exhausting work hunting them, for the mountains rose four thousand feet above our camp, and the slopes were everywhere steep and usually sheer, without water or vegetation. The tahr fed at night round the foot of themountain, but the only ones we saw were near the top. The Arabs shot two females and we picked up the skull of a male. We had made ourselves sandals from green hide, without which we could never have climbed these cruel limestone rocks.” (3, p. 274)
Today Thesiger and his mates could have dropped into the Mercure Hotel near the top of the mountain and enjoyed a cool drink and a steak sandwich while watching the sunset over the desert.
Hunting of big mammals is now officially banned in the UAE. In October 2007 accounts of Arabian leopard in the Musandam, and mountain gazelle and Arabian tahr in the area around Dibba were published.
Al Ain Zoo was established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1968 at the foot of Jebel Hafeet. It is a research centre for animals from the hyper arid deserts of the Peninsula. The zoo also has an active ongoing breeding program for endangered native animals.
From Al Ain and Buraimi the traveller to Sohar once again journeys through the Hajar Mountains. This pass opens onto the Al Batinah region, the coastal plain between the Western Hajar Mountains and the Gulf of Oman. If the trip is from Dubai then the Hajar Mountains are crossed further to the north.
For the sports minded Al Batinah is well-known for horse and camel racing, and bull butting – a more humane version of the Spanish activity. In the Oman version two bulls are pitted against each other. The first one to retreat is declared the loser.
Sohar is yet another site of an early capital of Oman. It has a fort to emphasize the fact, fish markets in the modern style, a souq, a memorable mosque.
Sohar’s links to Oman’s seafaring heritage are very strong although the city’s claim to be the birthplace of Sindbad the Sailor is based on very shaky ground. These stories within stories place Baghdad, the City of Peace according to the narrator, as Sindbad’s home.
The claim that the city was the home of Ahmad ibn Majid, the Lion of the Sea, a renowned Arab navigator and cartographer is more believable. Majid was purportedly born in Ras Al Khaimah. Sohar would have been a natural base for the author of the first navigation encyclopedia. Vasco da Gama used Ahmed ibn Majid’s maps as an aid when he navigated the first shipping route between Europe and India. Sohar’s prosperity comes from the old real estate adage, position, position, position. Reputedly the oldest city in Oman it possesses an accessible port and is built close to ancient copper mines. Copper was mined in the region from the early Bronze Age and shipped to Mesopotamia and what is today known as Bahrain
The huge recently developed industrial area of Sohar is the base of the Omani Governments attempt to diversify away from total reliance on oil revenues. As well as a state of the art aluminium smelter and plans to become the Gulf Cooperative Council’s (GCC’s) leading producer of steel the city boasts one of the world’s largest port development projects. In spite of its industrial base, good planning has preserved Sohar’s picturesque qualities and the visitor need never view an aluminium smelter.
In keeping with its aim to seamlessly meld ancient and modern Sohar boasts some stylish, though expensive, hotels. The city is half way between Dubai and Muscat (200 kilometres in either direction) and is a good place to relax and break the journey.The trip from Sohar to Muscat continues along one of the least inspiring coastal roads in the world. A detour to Ras Al Suwaidi is a good way to introduce a bit of variety into the trip, have a meal, a swim, ride a horse or a camel, see an old fort, or just stroll along its wide, wide beach.
From Ras al Suwaidi to Muscat is a short drive. Past the horse race track, the camel race track, the bull butting arena and you have arrived, alive, in spite of the insane behaviour of other drivers on the road. Your hire car is covered in dust which must be washed, because after all, it is illegal to drive a dirty car in Oman.
Observer
Reference :
Thesiger, Wilfred, 'Arabian Sands' Penguin Classics, 2007
“The Voyages of Sindbad
”, Penguin Books, London, 2006Bagnold, Ralph, “The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes”, London, 1941
Heard-Bey, Frauke, “
From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates: A Society in Transition”, Motivate Publishing, London, 2007.
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Aside from the fort, mosque and Souk mentioned in your post, Ann’s most memorable experience of Sohar occurred unexpectedly early one morning, when she caught the excitement as dozens of motor boats came in to shore with their catch. People scurried back and forth between boats and market carrying large fish – one swordfish needed four men to lift it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great memory. Fish markets are always exciting and interesting places to visit early in the morning anywhere in the world.
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