Picnic in Yemen

After a very nice drive through the Dhofar mountains we arrived in Yemen – where if anything the scenery is more dramatic than in Dhofar.

Enjoying the Yemeni sun

on small beach we had a simple Picnic before turning around, for the drive back to Salalah.

Fortunately we managed to arrive in time for a nice dinner in town.

Wilfred Thesiger and Oman’s Desert

I arrived at Aiyun around Sunset. The mountains were cracking as they cooled down after the day’s intense heat and, in answer, birds called .

Wilfred Thesiger first arrived here in the Autumn of 1946, descending through the same pass as I had taken. The place hasn’t changed since his visit. The beds of Reed still flourish and the water in which, he was told, a monster serpent lived and would sometimes seize a goat when it came to drink, is still deep and suitably mysterious & dark.

Wilfred Thesiger stayed here in 1946

The next morning I took a few photos – of a magical place, serpent or not.

Returning to Muscat I took in the Aeolianite Coast – the fossilized sand dunes of Oman that underlay both desert and sea bed . Here they form cliffs which crumble into the sea, probably retreating meters every year.

Wahiba Aeolonite

Oman’s Birds

Skirting around Jebel Samhan in Dhofar we had two wonderful experiences . Over the coastal region two Verreaux’s Eagles cavorted in the sky above. These are probably the largest Eagles in Oman and since they pair for a long time – I assume this was a male and female.

Verreaux’s Eagles in the skies of Dhofar

Larger still – a flock (if that’s the appropriate name ) of 8 Griffin Vultures glided away over the mountain plateau. The Griffin, along with the Lappet Faced, is Oman’s largest Raptor .

One of a flock of 8 Griffin Vultures over Dhofars Mountains

Eagles and White Stork in Oman

 

A Steppe Eagle in the sky above Salalah Oman 2

Each summer the Indian Ocean Monsoon sweeps along the slopes of the Dhofar Mountains creating a mid-summer change of climate ‘The Khareef’ . Trees come into leaf , grass and other flowering plants carpet open areas. The temperature plunges from a truly sizzling 50+c over the crest of the hills, to a very pleasant mid20’s c on the sea facing slopes and coastal plain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Stork fly in Dhofar

 

Driving down from Muscat I arrived in Salalah just as the first of the White Storks and migratory Eagles arrived for the winter . The storks spread through the hills feeding on insects; they also congregate in an area next to hundreds of eagles. This is a somewhat hazardous proximity; though I have not seen an Eagle bring down a live flying stork – I have seen Eagles waiting patiently for an injured stork to die. Perhaps there was more to that event than serendipity .

Arabian Leopard Oman

Grabbing a couple of bottles of water, we set off at a good walking pace under the cloud cover of the early Khareef (Monsoon) season in Salalah Oman . I enjoy walking with Hadi al Hikmani, enthusiasm is always a good companion and Hadi packages his in friendliness and knowledge. On this walk, his knowledge identified fresh ‘scat’ (excrement) on our pathway – in fact Leopard scat . Fresh, in fact, very fresh – probably less than half an hour old. In the day that followed, we walked along Leopard tracks and with all our stops and starts, examining the tracks and collecting scat we didn’t catch up with our invisible walking companion. We returned along the same path and astoundingly found more scat; the Leopard had returned to the path after we passed .

Arabian Leopard in Oman

Over a year before, on another walk with Hadi, I said to him that I would write about Oman’s Leopards; as he believes that awareness is a key to its survival. So, shamed that no article had been produced in over a year, I returned to Muscat and somehow produced a piece. Wonderfully ‘ Oman Today ’ has used it in their August edition – I’m delighted of course.

Oman Today cover August 2008

Oman is a key territory of Panthera pardus nimr, the Arabian Leopard, and, with possibly less than 200 individuals in the world, awareness may well help its survival