THE NEJD

Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter

The desert has always had a strange attraction on men. Living there is really all about survival, even though conditions have certainly improved in the last thirty years. The Bedouins are beginning to settle down, and they are more likely to ride in their four wheel drive or pick up trucks, but their heart belongs to the desert on which their gaze is fixed. Apart of themselves will for ever dwell there, totally free but so small in front of this vastness.
Each year, they used to cover hundreds of miles in search of new pastures for their camels and goats, moving from one watering hole to the next. Among the high sand dunes and sandy plains, there were scattered pastures that were a luxury after the arid gravel plains. Moving camp was a time for happiness and excitement.
In their tribe, they learnt from early childhood to respect their leader, his authority, the principles of Islam, traditions and the rules of hospitality, they also learnt about solidarity and how to survive...
The stories and photos of W. Thesiger, and of all those who have crossed the Arabian desert have turned Bedouins into characters of legends. Many of these proud companions have now disappeared into the eternity of the desert. However, their memory lives on in the dunes and in the harsh plains where they toiled, happy to be just themselves. Small, black, goat hair tents were scattered about the valley...and dark dad women sat churning butter or moved about getting sticks or herding goats...The small children were seated in camel litters... Among these Bedu tribes, there is no contrast between rich and poor, since everyone lives in a similar manner, dressing in the same way and eating the same sort of food. (W. Thesiger)

Even when they have settled, the Bedouins remain attached to the desert and to their tribe's culture

Their grown up children now work for the government or for oil companies. The Sultan has had villages and houses built for them, schools have been opened for their children and even for adults who want to learn. Some live in town and occupy a good position, but they can still feel the call of the desert. They go and sleep under the stars, absorbing the dunes and the space. Some, even after ten years of work, go back into the desert, to live under the tent and breed camels and goats again. Thesiger said that this land was cruel and more capable of bewitching anyone than any other region in the world.
Although, thanks to their cars and to the villages built for them in the desert (Thumrait, Shisr, Madhi, Qatbit...) the Bedouins no longer have to cover thousands of miles in search of water and pastures, their spirit and their respect of hospitality rules and of others live on. They have kept a strong sense of morality which comes from the laws of Islam and the pride which for centuries has guided their relations with others. They are deeply attached to their traditions and to the rules that dictate behaviour within the tribe.
Although they have settled, they continue to breed camels, mainly for racing, an activity they are very fond of. For them, the camel is a gift of God and a model of patience, given to them to keep them company in their travels, in their hardship, in their solitude and in their thirst sometimes.
Camel racing takes place in winter on Fridays and on days of national or religious celebration (National Day, Eid...). It is a highly colourful show that must not be missed on any account! The Omanis ride their camels differently to other Arab riders as they position the saddle on the hump of the camel.

A highly sought after tourist destination The desert must be approached with great precaution

Nowadays, most tourists dream of going into the desert. Sometimes they might not be able to judge the difficulties it represents. It is totally out of the question to go in alone and face the inhospitable plains, the oceans of dunes, the ever receding mountains and the disappearing tracks. Only those who have lived in the desert know its dangers and its marks. A minimum of two four wheel drive are needed before embarking, equipped with a mobile phone and a GPS (Global Positioning System), enough water, food and petrol and above all someone who knows really the desert. It is also essential to know how to drive on the sand and how to tackle the dunes.
The Nejd is not only the ocean of dunes shown on postcards. It is also mountains, plains covered in stones and salt deposits, canyons and stony wadis. It is crossed by many tracks drawn by the wind, the caravans, the four wheel drive and old rivers...But the wind can also biuw them ott or cover them with sand.
This is how the shuttle Challenger discovered buried under ten metres of sand tracks used 2000 years ago by caravans loaded with frankincense. These tracks all led to the same point: Omanum Emporium, the Shisr of today. Archaeologists thought they had discovered Irem, the city, mentioned in the Koran, that looked like paradise, Ubar the One thousand and One Nights city with the marble walls and golden roofs. In the desert, the limits between reality, dreams and mirages are all blurred.
A trip to Shisr is a must, to dream, look and listen to the wind and the tales of the archaeologists or to forget the modern world and lose all notion of time to discover the timeless world of the desert. Shisr (85 km from Thamrait and 150 km from Sahilah) is the starting point of many trips into the desert and a place where Antiquity and the frankincense roads face the 20th century across the ages.

Could the Atlantis of the Sands be buried under Shisr

On the digs carried out by American archaeologists, the foundations of seven out of the eight towers (six round and one square) of the fortress have been unearthed. It was built one century BC and collapsed following an earthquake or a landslide in the first centuries of our era. Just below, there is a deep cave, a large natural fresh water reservoir that must have supplied water to the city and its gardens. Today, the oasis with its palm trees and crops is far smaller than the gardens that rivalled paradise. Shisr means cleft. The well lies today under an overhang of limestone forming the ceiling of a cave that cuts down obliquely under the sand and gravel. This well must have been inside the citadel with its grain stores, living quarters, administrative offices and meeting places to provide a commercial centre for traders who congregated in tented settlements around the city.
The discoveries made by the Americans since 1992 around Shisr cover several millenniums: tools, shells, bones dating from the stone age, pottery, ceramics, bronzes all indicate that the Dhofaris had many contacts with the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans and, according to Professor Juris Zarens, this leads us to think that there was a settlement there 2800 years BC. When the frankincense trade waned, that of Arab horses flourished and Shisr remained a stopping point for caravans at least until the 13th century and probably until the 16th century. Fragments of Chinese porcelain have been found (celadons dating from the 10th and 12th centuries), Islamic jewellery, various coins from different periods making it possible to retrace the caravan routes. A chess set made of soapstone dating from around 500 AD has also been discovered (a soldier, a king, a bishop, a knight and a rook). One South Arabian sandstone lamp from 200 BC represents the oldest artefact connected with the incense trade. The Atlantis of the Sands, Lawrence of Arabia dreamt of, has delivered many treasures, more than 4000 objects so far.
A small museum has been opened at Shisr housing a sample of all the discoveries, photographs of the area taken by Challenger and a model of what the Shisr fortress must have looked like.
Shisr has not yielded all its secrets yet, some even think that the first settlements there date from before the 3rd millennium BC.
Today, Shisr is the administrative centre of the Wilayat of Thumrait where the sultan had houses built for the Bedouins who wanted to settle. These houses are big, full of light, surrounded by high walls in true Arab tradition. The men work for the government and the oil or construction industry. However, the women are still finding it difficult to adapt to their new environment. They prefer to gather in one of the courtyards around a boiling coffee pot where they chat while weaving fabric or baskets. They still need to be together like in a tribe. The spinning and weaving of wool is an indigenous local industry, along with tent making, palm frond weaving and the leather industry.
Bedouin women play an important part in every day life in spite of the appearance of modesty given by their scarves or masks. They are responsible and enduring women capable of adapting to very harsh conditions.
They look after their family, keep food always ready for any passing guest (fruit, dates, coffee and water), but they also look after their own asset, their goats. They sell them on the Friday market where they are the only women to do business in addition to those who sell frankincense.
The old Bedouins do not like to stay in their homes either. Every morning, they go to join their herds of camels and spend the day there. They drink the camel's milk or bring a snack with them. They come back at night fall. This call for the desert, each and everyone understands whatever the generation. For this reason, they are always ready to take you there.

The Magic of Dunes

About 20 to 25 km from Shisr, there are some wonderful dunes, some almost 100 m high. They can be golden, pale or honey coloured when the sun goes down in the horizon. In a succession of waves, they reveal the amazing vastness of the landscape. The beautifully hemmed sharp crests wind their way above the slight waves like the surf when the sea crashes onto the beach. The wind and the sand play a thousand games with the sand escaping the wind and its whims into deep hollows that look like alabaster cups. The ataps hold on to it on the steep slopes. The camels are at home here, ignoring the bumps and dips, appearing and disappearing with phlegm, condescending of the steep slopes that are so difficult for men. It is easy to imagine the long caravans with hundreds of camels, each carrying over 150 kg of frankincense, spices and cloth...It is believed that camels can walk up to 160 km per day! They feed on dates, grasses and fodder but can also do without food and water for several days, using the resources in their hump.
The dunes are even more beautiful and much larger than the ones we imagined in our dreams. But we only see their beauty and their perfection. The green touches of the ataps and of the few desert flowers defying the drought give a romantic impression of the desert. But at the end of the dunes, another desert is waiting for us, a desert covered in stones and gravel, grey and arid, impressively empty where nothing grows. This is when we realise that it is a daunting place. It is possible to take trips into the desert from Shisr. It would take on average three days with two nights spent in the desert. Several travel agencies in Salalah can organise these trips in four wheel drive in the safest of conditions with all the necessary backing and equipment.
The frankincense caravans of yesterday stopped at the oasis of Muqshin (350 km from Salalah) with its ample supplies of water and dates. It is now another starting point for trips of discovery in the desert where you can find magnificent landscapes of dunes, cliffs and wadis. There are also many wells and springs. You can also discover traces of the distant past in engravings and implements dating from the Stone Age.
The inhabitants here are mostly herders and breeders, mainly of camels. They also grow palmtrees and grasses and manufacture goods from leather and palm fronds. Their traditions are influenced by the badawi tradition and include different dances (Al Hedaa, Al Hubal singing, and the dances of Al Habout and Al Taghroud).
Dhofar is not short of space! You can discover the two real borders of Oman, the sea and the desert where the Omani gained their reputation. They have written their history and built their culture on both. Today, Dhofar is the guardian of an important part of the history of Oman and the location of a vital element of its economic development: its new container port, in the country's seafaring tradition, will turn Salalah into one of the world's top ten ports.
The substantial development in tourism in Dhofar will turn the region into a new doorway to Oman and the Gulf countries, becoming in a way the ambassador to Omani hospitality. Today Dhofar wants to defend and perpetuate its part of the Omani heritage and at the same time take into account and cater for the new economic interests of the Sultanate.
Oman is the work of all those who have woven its fabric, its mystery, its history, its prestige and those who have built its reputation. Dhofar is each one and all of them.