Interesting gatch tracks once we left the hard top
Late start, around 10 am and 4 vehicles left Salalah heading for N17E53, a point that Streaky and I had considered attempting last year.
We followed the coast road which had a nice interesting zig zag road reducing our average speed, plus we stopped for photos and the inevitable military checkpoint before we left hard top and headed east towards Yemen.
Looking for fossils
Eventually we reached the beginning of the wadi that we had picked as the way to N17E53, and into a different terrain from our usual driving
Into the wadi
Getting narrower
We then met an old man and his family who were living in the wadi, and basically found out that we could go no further than about 3 Km from the Confluence Point (GPS straight line calculation). By now it was around 4pm and only about an hour of daylight left.
Sulaiman, Waly (custodian) of the wadi with Linda and Be
Ian and Sheila's dogs attract the children
Some decisions had to be made based on other factors
SC and Yanni had a flight back to Dubai at 3.30pm the following day and Mike was going to drive Be's Pathfinder back to Dubai at max 80 KPH with a planned stop in Nizwa.
So Mike drove SC and Yanni back to Salalah, Be doubled up with Linda in the Fortuner and we camped in the wadi.
Last camp
Planning the treck to the confluence point with the help of a satellite map and a few beers
*****
