Descending over Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque into Muscat

The 22.35 Oman Air flight turns out to be the last flight scheduled from Heathrow each day.

For the national airline I was disappointed that the In-Flight magazine was riddled with errors about Oman. The standouts were in an article about Bandar Khiran and its “placid bay” with “no sound pollution, vehicle pollution” . While the main photo was of Bandar Khiran; one of the others was of the residential area of Wadi Kabir (not a bit of water in sight should have been a give-away for the team responsible for the article ) and the other of Bandar Jissah – both many kilometers from Bandar Khiran - but both labeled up, Bandar Khiran

Oman Air Bandar Khiran

For any unsuspecting reader who relied on the “How to go” section – they would urgently need an accurate “How to get back” as the “How to go” section is seriously inaccurate !

Key factual errors were added for good measure about the Mausoleum at Qalhat ‘Bibi Miriam’.  This was stated to have been built for a lady ‘Bibi Miriam’ – but was in fact built by her for her Turkish husband, who was the ruler of Qalhat & Hormuz at the start of the 14thC.

Despite all that I managed to get sleep and woke to the announcement that we were descending into Muscat .

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

Swinging round we approached from the East and descended past Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to land about 45 minutes early .

Sultan Qaboos visit to Iran

Sultan Qaboos will make his visit to Iran on Tuesday 4^th. It has been scheduled a few weeks ago, but was postponed. 

Iran is an important neighbour of Oman and the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be taking the oath for a new second four-year term. 

Hormozgān province, which His Majesty will visit, is an interesting choice.

Today Bandar Abbas, main city of  Hormozgān, is Irans main Naval Base. In the past Oman ruled the town of Bandar Abbas  (named after Shah Abbas ) in the 18th and 19th c .

The links go further.

Visited by Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta – the Island of Hormuz was the principal town of the Kingdom of Hormuz (an Omani/Arab Kingdom) whose second City was the, now ruined, town of Qalhat in Oman .

Persia has ruled parts of Oman, most notably under the Sassinids and later under Nadir Shah

So Sultan Qaboos will be in Iran on the day of the Oath by the new President. He will be the first Head of State and probably major world figure to visit Iran, since the recent elections – perhaps that was the original intention.

Oman at the Seminar for Arabian Studies

It was good to join the Seminar for Arabian Studies at the British Museum.

Held annually it focuses on the history and archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula . It was especially nice to meet up with Ali Al Mahrouqi on July 23rd, which is Oman’s ‘Renaissance Day’. He was attending on behalf of Oman’s Ministry of National Heritage and Culture and put up a Poster of the project he is working on, including Adam which I enjoyed visiting with him last year.

Ali Al Mahrouqi and his Poster

At this years Seminar I found the overview by Derek Kennet on pre-historical sites in Wadi Andam and also Axelle Rougeulle talking about the first season of excavation at Qalhat very interesting.

Derek Kennet talks about pre-historical sites in Oman