I survived! The event which I had been dreading for the entire past year is now over and I survived!
Yes, I'm talking about camping in Oman. Not just camping as most people know it with disgusting communal showers and an inadequate shop in the camping grounds and intermittent electricity.
I'm talking about camping where you have to carry petrol on your roof and 5 days of water; where you discover the inefficiencies of your cooler box after day 2 and live off tinned food, pasta and crackers. Where if you want to get clean you swim in the sea; if you need the loo you wander off into the dunes and dig a hole, while trying to avoid the 26 kids from our convoy who are roaming and exploring. The kind of camping where if your car breaks down you have to abandon it in the desert as there's no towing service (yes, we did see one abandoned at the bottom of a dune).
Sound like fun?
Actually, despite the manifold difficulties, it was.
Day one we all made our way to Al Reesh camp, on the outskirts of the Wahiba Sands. This camp was our last luxury - and I use the word very loosely. We had running (cold) water and electricity (7-11pm) as well as huts with manky mattresses and bedding. The boys did some dune bashing and we got to enjoy the sunset from the top of a huge sand dune. The kids enjoyed the bonfire and the adults all relaxed in the Arabic style entertainment area.
In the morning some of us endured a cold shower (how on earth do some people take them voluntarily?) before we headed off to cross the Wahiba Sands. There were 12 cars plus a guide in his own car - and boy was he invaluable, not only for getting us across the desert to the outskirts of the acacia forest, but for rescuing various cars that just didn't quite manage to make it through some tricky areas. Darrell naturally didn't get stuck once, and even though his suspension packed up halfway through the trip, he nursed the car along and listened uncomplainingly to my litany (you gotta sell this rubbish car, I'm never going anywhere in this car again, I never wanted to go the desert anyway...you know the kind of thing).
We camped the next night at the edge of the Acacia forest - again, the word is used loosely. There were Acacia trees. So the place was more wooded than usual, but if you have visions of cool forests with floors covered with leaves - forget them. Just sand with some dry and thorny looking sticks protruding. Really.
The next morning the first of our drop outs occurred and 2 cars peeled off and headed back to civilisation and hot and cold running water, while the rest of us headed down the coast to Barr Al Kidman (sp?). The guide had left us which was a pity as before leaving the camp we were flooded by little Arab boys who apparently lived a couple of kms away. They had extremely light fingers and absolutely no shame in opening car doors and grabbing what they could. We lost Darrell’s watch and our vital converter from the car to them - D was on the roof tying up our camping equipment when he saw the boy dive into the car and rapidly disappear with his loot. We were not happy – we could not recharge our phones or camera and had to borrow a pump for the mattresses for the rest of the trip.
The drive to the beach was uneventful (apart from my constant worrying about when we were going to break down for good as all the lights on the dashboard were having a merry old time) and it was actually quite awesome seeing this line of cars motoring along while in front of us, behind us, to either side of us, there was nothing but our tracks.
The beach was stunning. Think Mauritius without people and hotels and roads and cars. And without ice-creams and ready chopped pineapple served to your lounger or ice-cold G&Ts. Anyway, the point is that the beach was exquisitely beautiful and we relaxed with a sigh of relief having made it that far. We set up camp and my darling hubby had been nice enough to bring a wind-break along for me, which he set up as a loo area and moved several times a day. Just to make me happy - isn't he nice? I think the other girls were a bit jealous of that!
We relaxed and drank ever warmer beverages, slept and read by the side of the water and made our way through our cooler boxes with dedication. The boys built a raft with stuff that had been washed up onto the beach, played hide and seek in the dunes and did a lot of boy stuff that I'll probably never know about for my own peace of mind. Steph played dolls with her friends and totally ignored the gorgeous sea right next to us - she doesn't swim with fish and crabs. She likes chlorine.
We swam with rays and fish leaping out of the water. We also kept a lookout for dolphins (apparently had been spotted there before) but didn't see them.
Briefly, it was idyllic. And finally on Day 5 it was time to break camp and make our way back to civilisation (again, casual usage). Just in time as most of us were about out of water and nearly out of food. Darrell and I headed up to Muscat to the Crowne Plaza hotel with our friends Rachel and Tony and I have never been so glad to see a hotel. I had booked us into a modest little family room where the kids could come in with us, but Darrell took one look at the very functional bathroom and upgraded us to a suite where I had a Jacuzzi bath and separate shower and could have swung a litter of cats had I had the inclination. He said I deserved it! (I think he was right!).
One luxury night and then back to AD, driving convoy with Tony and Rachel in case of our car not surviving the last leg, and now the camping trip is nothing more than a lot of sand I'm going to be emptying out of the car and house for the foreseeable future.
I survived!
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