HUQF Region - Al Wusta 2/3 days trip

DAY 1 PROGRAM

Start from Seeb (1pm after lunch) – carry tea coffee and sandwiches so as to not to lose time at pit stops

Optional Pit stop –

Drive towards Haima on the Salalah route – Via Bidbid, Sumail, Nizwa, Adam, Al Ghaba – Asphalt roads

Salt mountain and Cave Qarat Al Kibrit (reach before 5:30 and do carry torches) - 8.7 Kms before Ghaba Rest Area – Graded road – (N21 27 01.8 E57 16 40.4)   



Reach Al Ghaba (Via Nizwa, Izki, Sinaw ) – 2.45 hrs drive from Seeb

CAMP- DAY1 near Ghaba Rest Area (Side road - drive towards the hills that can be seen 3kms) Look out for fossils (Stromatolites)

DAY 2 PROGRAM


Gypsum quarry (N21 15 05.5 E57 25 46.0) and Flint factory with Flint stones to collect

Ghaba – 1 Oil Well (N21 19 40.6 E57 18 46.9) (abandoned in 1959 after drilling to a depth of 3455mts. One of the 1st oil exploration wells to be drilled in Oman along with the Douka 1, in 1955 and Fuhud 1 in 1956)
Haushi – exposed oil seepage MISSED (in 1962 by the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in Jibal, followed by Netieh and Fuhud in 1963 and 1964)
Drive through Barites quarry (N21 01 58.9 E57 42 08.4)
Sandstone hill with fascinating mega-figurines (N21 00 36.0 E57 41 01.1) (Look for fossil wood remains around the foothills) – Desert sand-worthy vehicle advised else it means a 1.30hrs walk through hot sand dunes which is quite demanding. This can be an excellent camping site if one can drive up to this spot with all equipment.

 Fossil – Rudists Reef (bivalve mollusks) (N20 39 29.2 E57 34 45.2) and Jebel Aswad (Black Mountain) - Look out to collect crinoid (sea-lilies) fossils. MISSED

 Driving through the Great Huqf Sabkah (Salt plateau with fine quick-sand like filling) is a good challenge. We landed up taking from local Bedu to dig us out when stuck in sands. Caution: Special sand-driving skills are required for this terrain and a light vehicle with high power (6cylinder +) with extra jerry-can of petrol. Showel and towels are a must as getting stuck is more a feature of this journey, each costing anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes.
Duqm port view by night and CAMP DAY2 – Dinner at the “Veronica” floating hotel

DAY 3 PROGRAM

Carry a picnic breakfast to Duqm Rock Garden () watch sunrise, get clicked and find your own snail, clam and slug fossils.

 Ras Al Duqm drive during sunrise is quite enjoyable.

 Ras Al madraka beach – photo stop and sea gull-chasing and move to the next beach to see the shipwrecks 

 Drive to the left-most beach beside the towering limestone canyons driving through a fisherman’s dusty road to the Shipwreck Beach - Negotiate with the Bengali or Omani fishermen and hire a boat for 1hr (10rials per head) – One can also shop some fresh fish if you land up early morning. Keep an empty chiller box ready with ice.
View the Warship wreck on the left and Greek Shipwreck and return to Duqm for fuel-tank fill and interior drives. Carry packed lunch.

 Wadi Al Khlata (N19 45 56.9 E57 26 09.4) for Palaeozoic Ice age continent “Gondwana” carboniferous glacial sediments of the Early Permian (600 million year old rocks, gouged by glaciers some 290 million years ago)
Easy drive to Nafun village beach (N19 52 34.0 E57 40 51.1) to view the White Mountain in the middle of the sea (can collect large pecten shells)
Several nice camping spots at the Sidarah village beach with a couple of abandoned wooden boats. One of the road-turning features a small hill full of amazing sand-stone strata in cream, pinks and red colours.

 Wadi Shuram (N20 08 07.3 E57 40 28.4) to see Mega-stromatolites, looking like gigantic peeled onions (500 to 600 Mn Yrs old) sediments (N20 07 41.4 E57 33 49.4) near a flat top hill of Khufai limestone
Oasis of Sar water well (N20 32 20.9 E57 26 32.5)
Qarn Mahatta Humaid low lying outcrops of the Late Cambrian Miqrat (sandstones and shales), Al Bushair (limestone) and Barik (sandstones) formations. The Barik sandstones contain many fragments of trilobite-spines.
Fishing village of Khafur - beach is littered with large bones of whales, dolphins and turtles.
Jiddat Al Harasis – good for camping in thet Tertiary limestone plateau at approximately 150m above sea. The eastern margin of the plateau is the Al Huqf escarpment (Miocene) that extends for more than 200 km in approximately north-south direction.
Al Joba village (3kms in route towards coast) - Huge monolith granites dating from about 730 million years ago.


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