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Oman is one of the oldest civilisations on the Persian Peninsula and is alleged to have been the home of Sinbad the sailor. Long, lovely beaches, feathery palms and groves of citrus are set against a mountainous backdrop. You can enjoy a Muscat City tour, as you spend half a day visiting museums, the aquarium and the old Mutrah souk. Friendly, hospitable people combined with fascinating sightseeing, scenery and great beaches make Oman a joy to visit. You can combine your trip to Oman with a stay in Dubai

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Fortresses and Frankincense
The Arabia of myth and legend lives on in Oman: desert forts guarded by white-robed figures armed with ancient rifles and curved daggers; palm-shaded oases; the home port of Sindbad the Sailor; and a fiercely independent but hospitable, courteous people. And oil is there, too, although in modest quantities so that the income has permitted sensible development but little in the way of extravagance.

Lying along the eastern shores of the Arabian peninsula, Oman covers some 300,000 sq km (115,000 sq miles). At the far northern tip, and cut off from the rest, is the Musandam Peninsula, a beak of land pushing out into the Strait of Hormuz and occupying a strategic position overlooking the entry to the Arabian Gulf.

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The coastline is at its most inviting around Salalah on the Arabian Sea in the south, in the north between Shinas and Mutrah where it is known as the Batinah, and between Muscat (Masqat) and Sur. Long, lovely beaches, feathery date palms, groves of citrus and lush fields of alfalfa embellish this curving fertile plain, backed by the towering Hajar mountains, whose peaks climb to more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft). Beyond this stone wall, the land falls away again into the endless spaces of the Arabian Desert. Unlike the people of the interior, whose isolation made them self-reliant and aloof, the coastal dwellers have had centuries of contact with the outside world. Their ancestors sailed before the monsoon winds to trade with India and East Africa, and they carry the traces of Asian intermarriage to this day. The people are mainly cultivators, herdsmen or fishermen, some of them still putting to sea in curious rafts of palm wood. Their traditional palm houses, barasti, built so as to get the full benefit of any sea breeze, are now mainly museum pieces, though you may spot one or two along the coast.

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The Green Mountain (Jebel Akhdar), so called from the colour of the rock, is a cool, craggy highland dotted with orange orchards, vineyards and walnut groves, with natural areas where flowers-roses, marigolds and tall pink hollyhocks-run riot. In Saiq, a town of roses, the petals are collected and boiled, and the liquid distilled to make rosewater, on sale throughout the country. Inland oases support fig, peach, apricot and pomegranate trees. Water to irrigate them is brought from the mountains by the age-old falaj system of tunnels and stone channels. The supply is extremely reliable, even over long dry spells.

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The west and centre of the country is a sun-beaten land of shifting sand dunes and thorn bushes, habitable only by a few Bedouin, their camels and goats, and in recent years, oilmen. Animals in the more remote regions include the shy Arabian tahr, a kind of gazelle, panthers, wild cats, wolves, porcupines and rare black hedgehogs. The seas are exceptionally rich in fish, and the government is concerned to protect stocks from foreign fleets which would over-exploit them.South is the province of Dhofar, with another beautiful coastal plain, hemmed in by the rugged Jebel al-Qara. The often generous rainfall of the summer monsoons brings a rush of new growth, dressing the hillsides in verdant green, to the surprise of first-time visitors who come expecting desert.

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Frankincense, the fabled scent borne by the Three Kings, was Dhofar's most famous export for thousands of years and was even sent to the Great Temple of Babylon. Salalah is the provincial capital, with a varied mix of people including many black Omanis, the descendants of immigrants from Zanzibar.Oman's population of around 2 million is growing fast, now that infant mortality has been cut to a tiny fraction of the levels of thirty years ago. The language is Arabic, in several different dialects. Religion is almost 100 per cent Muslim, most people belonging to the Ibadhi sect which established its separate identity as early as the 7th century. In recent years there has been a cautious opening up to tourism, and visitors have been given the chance to discover this friendly, fascinating corner of Arabia.

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