With a combination of UAE National Day and the Eid Holiday in close proximity we decided that this was the perfect opportunity for a long trip into Oman to see as much of the country as possible within a 5 day limit.
After meeting up with Wong in his 4.2L LWB Patrol, we set off towards the EPCO filling station on the Hatta Road, where we joined with Ian and Sheila in the Super Snark (Supercharged 3.5L Prado) and Dave in his Prado.
One hour later we were at a busy border as most ex-pats from Dubai appeared to be heading into Oman for the holiday period. However we cleared customs with little delay and soon we were on our way to meet up with Paul and Kate just south of Sohar.
With everyone on board we continued south towards Muscat then at Seeb we took the detour round to the Nizwa road, stopping for fuel and some refreshments close to Sultan Qaboos University.
We turned SE through the Eastern Hajar Mountains just after Bid Bid into a windy road towards Ibra and soon we saw the Wahiba Sands to our right as we approached Mintirib, where we filled up with fuel before heading into the sands.
It was now late afternoon and we headed south on a good set of tracks to find a suitable camp site for the night in an area far from any of the Bedouin camps in order to avoid problems. We had been warned about children throwing stones at vehicles driven by foreigners.
Dave and Ian selected a camp site that proved to be a bit of a problem for the Disco to get to, however by using an alternative route and tyres at 10 psi I made it.
