Tales of the unexpected - and not a spider in sight

Oman keeps surprising me - just when I feel totally surrounded and immersed in the dry, desolate nothingness of the landscape, a little oasis of vegetation and colour reveals itself. In the middle of a desert, a pool teeming with life; in the craggy mountains, a lush plantation. Here are some of these little splashes of colour and life, just to show that it's not all barren rock and earth ...

A dried-up river bed ...

... turns out to have trickles of water left ...

... and plenty of life making the most of the small pools.

Hidden in a corner of the majestic Ghubra bowl ...

... is a little paradise of terraces and orchards ...

... providing fruit, vegetables and a riot of colour
for the villagers of Wukan ...

... all made possible by the water channelled from the mountains above.

The strangest mystery for me is where all this water comes from to create these little enclaves of life. I could count the number of times I've seen it rain on my fingers, and the mountains above these terraces and wadis are completely bare ... and yet the water flows and collects all year long. Curiouser and curiouser ...

Superb snorkelling - with no spiders whatsoever

I know I'm always banging on about scuba diving, and it really is quite an amazing experience, but you don't have to go through all the learning and lugging about of equipment to enjoy splashing about, sea creatures and beautiful reefs - the snorkelling here is pretty ace too, as my most recent visitors found out this weekend ...

A teenage turtle making a run for it ...

The ubiquitous grey moray

A porcupinefish (spikes in, so feeling happy!)

Either a banded sea snake or an eel that mimics it ...

By far my favourite of the lot though were the two cuttlefish we saw lurking - one clearly sulking and trying to blend with the surrounding coral, while the other one changed colour and opened up when we got near ...

You ain't seen me, right ...

Reminds me of the pimped up cars with the UV underlights ...

eating something? licking coral? or are those its 'bits'?

And of course when you're snorkelling, you still get to experience that strange sensation that all scuba divers have - feeling sleek and agile in the water like some kind of strange dolphin, when in fact you look like a bit of a tit ... the total loss of street cred and shame, what fun!

Rocking the goggle-eyes look

Sexy lady!

Hmm ... not quite the gorgeous mermaid ...

Yuck

Just to prove that it's not all beauty and wonder - a (not so) little house guest in our desert camp hut that was most certainly not welcome (White Space, you would have screamed like a girl - we saw it's big beady eyes shining from 20 feet away ...)

Creepy shadows ...

I swear, it was as bit as my hand ...

But hey, it could have been worse - I still haven't come face to face with a camel spider, and frankly that's one experience I can live without (click here to find out more - there are whole websites dedicated to these things!)

This one may not look so bad ...
(in fact, rather like our own 'harmless' house spider?!)

... but some of them have bigger jaw sections

The stuff of horror movies ...

... in fact, there was one
(and it is allegedly one of the worst films ever made!)

The road to nowhere ...

I've already talked about my little three-day 'sand tour' and it's many granular delights, but the other theme of the our trip turned out to be the sheer emptiness of Oman. Despite it being the holidays, we spent large periods alone on wide empty roads in wide empty landscapes - morose and lonely perhaps for some, but for us it was wildly beautiful and unexpectedly varied. As far as 'nothing' and 'nowhere' can be varied ...

The road to nowhere through the foothills ...

... into the plains ...

... and even cutting through mountains

 'Nothing' also comes in a variety of colours ...

Stripes of light sand and dark rock

Layers of red, white and green

Shades of grey ...

... to nearly black.

 And we also found that 'nothing' and 'nowhere' can be surprisingly full of life and beauty ...

A lone tree in the scrubby wilderness

 Misty mountains

Colour in desolation

There's always a reason to smile III

Even in a roadside caff, you can find something to take the edge off a frustrating day ...

10 reasons to love sand

My friend Mal and I recently did a little mini-tour of Oman which we nicknamed our 'Sand Tour' - unintentionally, it ended up involving a lot of sand, of different kinds and in different landscapes.

So, it may end up in your ears, up your nose, between your toes and where the sun don't shine, and you may still be shaking it out of your shoes and your rucksack for years afterwards, but here are 10 reasons why I still love sand ...

1. WIND SCULPTURES - the interaction of wind and sand makes for some breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, some of nature's most graceful art ...

2. WET SAND ART - the combination of wet sand, tides and scurrying little creatures also makes for some wonderful patterns and designs ...

wiggly worm trails

I don't know what made these;
is it only me that thinks that they look like little sperm? 

3. FEAST OF COLOURS - sand comes in a whole range of colours that I just can't find names for - bronze? ochre? off-white? ...

From nearly white ...

... through pastel shades ...

to deep reds ...

4. MOVING LANDSCAPES - sand isn't just static; I love the way it shifts and encroaches, changing the landscape from one day to the next ...

Dunes slowly swallowing posts ...

... and sometimes even the road itself.

5. IT'S NICE TO WALK ON - walking along the beach or in the desert with soft sand between your toes is just delicious ...

6. IT'S EVEN NICER TO LIE ON - the perfect place for a little lie down, or even a full night's sleep better than anything those silly camping mats can offer ...

And relax ...

7. IT'S FUN TO DRIVE IN - oh boy, is it fun to drive in, like driving on snow but with less chance of skidding and the added bonus of dune-bashing!

8. A NATURAL EXFOLIANT - it may be a pain when you get it in every nook and cranny, but why waste money on all those expensive exfoliating masks and scrubs when you can let sand mixed with water or wind do all the work for you ... for free?

Glowing tanned skin,
strictly nature's way ...

9. CAMELS - OK, not strictly a property of sand as such, but where there's sand, there are usually camels, and I LOVE camels (a much maligned and misunderstood creature) ...

10. SUNSHINE - as a rule, sand and sunshine go hand in hand, and I can never get too much sunshine ... isn't this reason on its own enough for you to love sand too?!

Chilling with a sandy sunset - lush ...