Salalah Oman

We had a really interesting day in Salalah Oman—talk about not being in Kansas anymore! Oman is bordered by Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It’s a Sultanate, which means the Sultan rules. There may be local legislatures (there has been universal suffrage since 2003), but the big guy essentially owns the country.

The current Sultan is Qaboos bin Said, who disposed his father in 1970. While prior Sultans owned everything and kept all the money, Sultan Qaboos (pronounced caboose) has done a lot to improve the living conditions in the country. In 1970 there was one hospital in the country. Today there are many. In 1970 no women were going to school and few men. Today public education is provided and a university has been built. Women make up 60% of the attendees at the university. So, in general, he’s considered a benevolent Sultan. Roads have been built; there are several airports, linking the major cities. Everything is new and very clean.

Don’t get the wrong impression, however. Few women are seen on the streets. Men may take up to 4 wives. It is a very traditional Muslim country.

Salalah is on the Arabian Sea on the southern edge of the country—a short 3-hour drive to Yemen. There are several resorts on the sea and liquor is served at these. It also has a huge port and this is the last stop for ships before heading into the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal. In fact, in the movie “Captain Phillips”, the ship that ran into pirates sailed from Salalah.

Salalah is known for 2 things: frankincense and a rich pre-Islam history. We saw a bit of both. The first thing you notice when you get off the ship is that this is a desert, but it’s a desert with a monsoon season and unusually high humidity (it was about 75% when we were there. Picture 1 shows the landscape over some of the ruins—low mountains and lots of sand!

Picture 2 was shot as we drove to our first historical site. This is a traditional Muslim cemetery. Bodies are buried facing Mecca. For men, there is a stone placed at the head and one at the feet. For women there are three stones at the head, womb and feet.

Our first stop was at Taqah Castle, the front shown in Picture 3. The current Sultan has 7 castles—one in Salalah and one just outside Salalah—monstrous places with private mosques. This castle, however, is much more modest and was the home of the Sultan’s grandfather. Picture 4 shows the royal bedroom and Picture 5 shows a baby’s cradle, which was located in the children’s room.

Then it was on to the ruins of Sumhuram (Picture 6), the area’s largest port in pre-Islamic times, between the 3^rd century BC and the 5^th century AD. At one point it was supposedly the Queen of Sheba’s port and frankincense was shipped all over the world. It is a large area with lots of ruins and a commanding view of the old port entrance, shown in Picture 7. Obviously, not many boats are getting over the sand bar and through the silt!

Also wandering around the Sumhuram site were camels. Pictures 8 and 9 show a couple. There were probably a dozen, all owned by someone, but allowed to wander in the wild. Depending on size, a good camel can run from $10,000-$30,000 and a good racing camel can cost up to $1 million.

We also encountered some frankincense trees, shown in Pictures 10 and 11. Looking closely at Picture 11, you can see that there’s a paper-thin layer of bark that is easily peeled away. Once that’s removed, you make a slit in the remaining bark and this gooey stuff comes out. Once removed, the gooey stuff is allowed to harden and that’s how it’s sold. There are various grades based on color and their healing potential. You can brew a tea from it or you can burn it and inhale the smoke. Looking at Picture 10, you’ll see some berries growing on the tree. These berries are edible, although no great health benefits were given for doing so.

Finally we went to the souk—the market. There were about 50 different “booths” in this market, all selling the same things. We wandered briefly and came back to the ship, missing perhaps the greatest sight at the souk. One of our friends, Bill Dunroe, found the fellow shown in Picture 12. Note the gun on his back! He’s armed, don’t know about dangerous.

For the last couple days we’ve been sailing in the Gulf Aden. In another hour or so, we’ll pass through the Bab el Mandeb, the very narrow opening into the Red Sea. Yes, we’re in pirate country! The threat is relatively low at this time, but we’re taking precautions. 4 young men dressed in black joined the boat in Salalah. Their guns came aboard in the middle of the night from another ship. They have sharpshooter rifles and 2 are on duty at all times. We’re also heading a group of ships through the area—not a really structured convoy, but there are usually 3-4 ships within sight. We’ve also seen a British war ship and we’ve been told there is also a Japanese ship patrolling at this time.

Last year, when the ship came through, the threat was much higher. There was razor wire around our lowest open deck. There was at least one occasion when a small boat approached the ship, the sharpshooters took aim and the boat made a U-turn.

Several years ago, one of the smaller Seabourn ships was attacked by pirates. All guests were sent to the dining room and told to lie on the floor. The captain turned toward the boat, intending to ram it and turned on our “sound blaster”, which emits very loud noises. There were, however, several bullet holes in the hull and a couple windows were broken by bullets. So one can’t be too cautious.

It takes 5 days from Salalah to our next port, Aqaba Jordan. We’ll make our 2^nd trip to Petra from there. Until then, hope we don’t run into the fellow in Picture 12!