Live like Lawrence of Arabia
(But with five-star luxury and four-wheel drive)
If you have fantasies of playing Lawrence of Arabia or having a romantic Arabian Nights adventure, Oman is one of the Middle East’s hidden gems, offering vast undulating deserts shimmering in the sun and dotted with Bedouin tribes who now seem more wedded to their four-wheel-drive cars than to their camels.
The Wahiba Sands, south of the capital Muscat, is where many locals go ‘dune-bashing’ at the weekend in huge off-road vehicles. This involves tearing across the sand in the gas-guzzling cars which make our 4x4s back home look like Minis.
Our driver, Abdullah, from Zahara Tours, does his best Jeremy Clarkson impression as he drops gears and races up dunes that soar hundreds of feet into the air. Our two-ton vehicle skids through the late afternoon heat and our children whoop and scream as we threaten to topple into the ochre dunes.
It’s a magical experience, and as darkness descends we head back to the Arabian Oryx camp to sit around the fire and lie on Persian rugs staring up at a star-studded night sky.
The next morning we’re up early for a camel trek. If you’ve ever imagined yourself as Omar Sharif sauntering imperiously across the desert on one of these creatures to meet Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence of Arabia, think again. Steering a car across slippery sand is far easier than trying to control one of these wilful, ill-tempered beasts.
Back in the comfort of our 4x4 we head next to the Anantara Al Jabal Akhdar, the highest fivestar resort in the Middle East, at 2,000m above sea level. Inspired by the magnificent views of the Hajar mountains’ jagged lunar landscape, the next morning we drag ourselves from the hotel’s astonishing infinity pools to go rock climbing and abseiling. There are breathtaking views across the Jabal Akhdar (the green mountain) during a nerve-jangling traverse across a newly opened route, using steel cables to manoeuvre along the cliff edges.
Taking a break from our adrenaline-fuelled adventures we return to Muscat, the charming port carved from a natural volcanic bowl facing the Arabian Sea. It’s studded with palaces and souks gently nestled into the waterfront, and the tranquil oasis of the Sheraton Muscat hotel is perfect for exploring the city and the forbidding desert guarded by ancient forts such as Nakhal.
We head out at dawn to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, a kaleidoscope of swirling designs and colours which can hold 6,500 people. Just as impressive is the Muttrah souk, the market place known to the locals as Al Dhalam (‘The Darkness’), as sunlight never seems to penetrate its labyrinthine lanes.
The stalls are filled with frankincense, fresh spices, ancient maritime sextants, pistols and curved daggers called khanjars.
The teak dhows that ferry tourists around the port and along Oman’s 3,200km of coastline are still built in the same traditional style as those carrying Sinbad on his seven voyages of discovery. But it’s far easier to take a short internal flight across the vast desert known as the Empty Quarter if you’re heading to the south of Oman. Here in Salalah, Al Baleed beach resort sits next to the ruins of a city dating back to 2,500BC. A romantic evening walk along the beach is interrupted as hundreds of crabs scuttle across the sand in the twilight, nipping at our toes.
The children take to their beds with their own stories of fleeing