From the nomadic steppes of Kazakhstan to the frenetic streets of Hanoi, Asia is a continent so full of intrigue, adventure, solace, and spirituality that it has fixated and confounded travelers for centuries.
From Jebel Samhan Plateau, we drove around Baobab Grove to Mirbat. After a short visit, we drove east along Highway 49, passing rugged mountains on our left and the coastline of sandy beaches on our right. We slowly drove around fishing towns and windswept cliffs fringed by the cerulean...
We made a short stop in the fishing town of Mirbat to stroll around its harbor and merchant houses in the ruined old quarter. Some locals remain, but many are derelict as modern residents opt for concrete lodgings over the traditional mud and wattle. Some of the old buildings have kept...
We were surprised, same as botanists, to find a small stand of baobab trees gracing the thickets just above the Salalah Plain. These magnificent giants, their trunks sometimes ringed with snails, stand head and shoulders over the more typical Dhofari vegetation and are the only such trees...
We drove to the upper plateau of Jebel Samhan to stay overnight. It suddenly ends in a vertiginous drop of more than 1000 meters to the coastal plain below. Barely a ledge interrupts the vertical cliff, and it seems impossible that there should be any route down from here that...