ending at the elbow of the Arabian
Peninsula, Oman was once a
powerful seafaring nation—
with its long, rugged coastline and
boat-building heritage. This is where
Sinbad the Sailor dropped anchor after
navigating the Strait of Hormuz, and Marco Polo wrote in
amazement about the bustling ports, from where dhows left to
course trade routes to Zanzibar or Goa, and beyond.
Decades ago, I remember coming out of the desert, parched,
desiccated by sand. I chanced upon the old shipbuilding port of
Sur, where the hulls of rotting dhows were stacked on the shore,
ribs exposed like skeletons of beached whales. I drove on,
stopping at Fins, a dazzling contrast of azure water and white
sand. Nobody was about. I tore o my dusty clothes and ran into
the sea. From that moment, I longed to travel the length of thiscoastline, craggy and wild and barren, down to the border with
Yemen and the region of Salalah, whose moonscape ourishes
into meadows a few months a year—when the monsoon gets lost
and clips the Arabian Peninsula. “We travel here hoping to stand
in rain,” one Omani told me.
When I nally made this trip, I came during Ramadan when
life takes on a dierent complexion. Days are slow, languorous,
sometimes like a still life. And secreted away on this astonishing
coastline is the hideaway hotel, Al Baleed Resort Salalah by
Anantara, on a long beach so empty it feels like another era of
travel. In the shoreline I spied starsh, which surfaced with the
ebbing waves like treasure. I swam in the warmth of the Arabian
Sea and made footprints, unmuddled by anyone else’s.
Now the property is launching journeys around these southern
reaches, making it the perfect base for camel treks on ancient
frankincense trails into the foothills of the Dhofar Mountains
with the Mahra tribe; camping in the dunes, or on beaches
between rocky headlands to awaken and spot spinner dolphins,
green turtles and humpback whales.^ M.J.C. WILL BOLSOVER DHOFAR MOUNTAINS Wish You Were Here The Dhofar Mountains, the Empty Quarter and the Arabian Sea
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