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A two day excursion south of Muscat Oman brought us a far south as Ras Al Hadd and included stops to meet Bedouins, swim in a skin hole, watch dhows being hand built, and ride a camel.

First we went south to Ras Al Hadd to see the turtles nest and to watch the newly hatched baby turtles crawl to the sea. Once again, we had our guide Khalfran. It is an overnight adventure with limited accommodation options. We stayed at the Ras Al Hadd Hotel, the first place on our adventure I really would NOT recommend. Sleeping in tents with the camels would have been an improvement.

Sadly, there were no turtles, but Khalfran found lots of other wonderful things to show us along the way south and then again on the drive back up to Muscat.

huge sink hole in Oman - it is swimable
This was a massive sink hole. We climbed down the steps and dipped our feet in the water. It really was this stunning color.
Craftsman hand building a traditional ship called a Dhow in Oman.
We stopped at a Dhow shipyard and watched master craftsman at work hand building traditional Omani Dhows. These ships are custom ordered from Sheiks and others of influence and will take up to five years to complete.
Where the Omani Sea and the Indian Ocean meet the water is crystal clear - Ras Al Hadd, Oman
Where the Omani Sea and the Indian Ocean meet the water was so crystal clear we could look down and see fish. (Ras Al Hadd, Oman)
Sarah Albom riding a camel in a Bedouin Camp in the interior of Oman
After having the traditional dates and Bedouin coffee in a tent, Sarah had a ride on a camel in the desert (I had permission to photo the women guiding the camel.)
Melissa Albom getting up on a camel in a Bedouin Camp in the interior of Oman
Getting up and down on the camel can be quite a bit challenging as Melissa learns here.

Next stop after Oman is Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We opted to carry one tour book for the entire region selecting Lonely Planet Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula.

Have you visited a Bedouins camp or any of the interior of Oman?

All photos on this page © Rhonda Albom 2012. All rights reserved.

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  1. Even more amazing memories to treasure. Green with envy, but I’ve been on a camel – you can keep it! Mine was rather more bad tempered and I suspect ill treated though.

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  2. Camels always make me laugh I don’t know why, Melissa looks like she is in fits of laughter there LOL.

    That sink hole photo looks beautiful 🙂

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  3. The camel looks as awkward … I’ve only ridden them once and swore never to get back on one ever again, hahaha.

    Wanted to ask you about those sink holes though- have always been very intrigued by them. Are all of them really deep? This one appears shallow but supposedly all of them do.

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    • LOL – that’s how I feel about elephants 🙂

      The water in the sink hole was shallow, but the hole itself was very deep. You can only see some of the stair here. They come from the ground level.

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  4. Riding a camel is great fun. We did an overnight trek in the desert in Rajasthan, India. We rode in early hours of the morning and late afternoon and spent the hot (extremely hot) middle of the day resting under some trees.

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    • We still plan to do a camel trek in Morocco, this was just a short “ride.” Your trip must have been amazing, except for the extreme heat.

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