Oman road trip: how we did it

There is no magic here. We were largely alone at the places we visited but that is mainly because we were travelling out of season and / or midweek. Our route and method are pretty well-trodden for several reasons: we’ve got the kids with us so didn’t want to go totally remote, we were in a single ship 4×4 rather than having the security of a convoy, and we didn’t have an enormous amount of time. It would certainly be easy to spend months touring the depths of Oman. That’s for another day.

Oman is a really great place to visit, in our view the jewel of the Arabian peninsula. Breath taking scenery and nature, easy to travel around and the most friendly people you will find anywhere. Perfect for an adventure with the kids, certainly. It is also a safe place as long as you respect local cultural sensitivities around dress, and don’t stray too far south west to the Yemeni border (which in any case is unlikely). We wild camped everywhere with no trouble at all.

The route

We left Muscat and headed west into the Hajar mountains bound for Jebel Akhdar. They are relatively close to the capital at around 3 hours drive. This made sense as our first destination as much of the morning was consumed with picking up the vehicle and kit, buying supplies and so on. It also worked for us as the mountains were likely to be cooler at night, presenting a gentle introduction to the camping for the kids prior to the heat to come later in the trip. From there a reasonable leg of driving to the refreshing pools of Wadi Bani Khalid and a wild camp above the village there. The first of two very long legs down to the Sugar Dunes followed, then a couple of days later back up north to the dolphins and turtles of Raz al Hadd. From there a couple of simple short trips up the coast back towards Muscat.

The map below shows very well how much more there is of Oman still left for us to discover.

Outfitting with 4×4 and camping gear

After a modicum of googling I got in touch via WhatsApp with Chris of Nomad Tours. This turned out to be a great move. Admittedly we have no experience of other camping hire outfits in Muscat, but we found Chris to be enormously passionate about helping people get out and explore the Oman he clearly loves. He has a wealth of experience and advice that he’ll give you if you ask. Equally you can just crack on yourselves. For us, looking to fix up this adventure while we were already on the road (in deepest southern Egypt at the time), and at quite late notice, we weren’t in a position to do much research or planning so the opportunity to ask Chris questions and book over WhatsApp was invaluable to us. On this particular occasion Chris was especially gracious as he himself was travelling at the time too. I suspect other gear hire outfits may not offer the same level of ready support.

Worth noting that Chris does in busier times arrange group convoys of 4x4s to go out and get deeper into the country.

We hired the 4×4 from the firm Chris recommends and works with all the time which is based right next door to Nomad Tours. I suspect you could hire a vehicle from somewhere else and have Chris’ team fix up the roof tent to that. But for us the simplicity of going with the two firms that know each other worked for us.

Food, water and fuel

Even though we weren’t going into the depths of the Wahiba Desert, it still makes sense to be well stocked with drinking water and a couple of days of food supply. Food stores were plentiful roadside and in towns and villages on our route. The same goes for cheap small cafes and restaurants. Sustenance was never a problem.

Chris supplied a gas stove and more than enough gas for the full trip. We were also furnished with a surprisingly effective hand pump shower and a spare Jerry can of water. Fully self sufficient with a diet based on rice and couscous from the supermarket, embellished with fresh stuff picked up as needed.

Petrol stations are plentiful, and unsurprisingly gas is cheap here. A 4×4 can quickly get through a tank so we made sure to top up frequently just in case.

Sleeping

On the roof in the tent. Temperatures varied enormously with altitude and breeze. Atop Jebel Akhdar mid September we supplemented our own liner bags with full sleeping bag. We didn’t need the sleeping bags anywhere else.

Costs

A tale of two halves this. The bright lights of the chain hotels of Muscat and associated stores and services are seriously expensive. At the same time, once outside of Muscat Oman becomes pretty reasonable on the wallet when shopping in local stores, eating locally etc. In fact, we are struggling to recall a country where the gradient from the costs in the capital to the costs elsewhere is so considerable.