The Difficult Route to Musandam
In the last 50 years the Arabian Peninsula has seen a remarkable development. Fueled by their enormous income from the exploitation of their oil reserves modern cities arose from the dust of the desert. The modernization has also led to a certain degree of openness towards the outside, in particular in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. They also have tried to diversify the economy. With their airline Emirates the UAE have created a far-reaching transportation hub which made Dubai to the biggest airport in the world. Tourists were welcomed in the former closed societies to such a degree that even very conservative Saudi Arabia now is open for travelers with little restrictions.
The town of Khasab
All that was put into jeopardy in the night leading to February 28, 2026. The states at the south shore of the Persian golf suddenly were drawn into a conflict with Iran which before was smoldering in some proxy wars in Jemen, Lebanon or Syria. The infuriated Iranians reacted with the blockage of the strait of Hormuz.
Inhabitant of Khasab
Before the attack an average of 110-140 ships passed the street of Hormuz daily. 40-50 % of these were tankers transporting oil or chemicals. These tankers transported 20-21 million barrels of oil per day. This corresponds to about 20 % of the overall daily world-wide oil consumption and 35 % of the production transported by sea. This affects in particular the states of Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Quatar. Iran's oil exports, and thus its sources of revenue, are blocked anyway. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have taken precautions by building pipelines to and oil terminals at ports outside the Persian Golf. The Saudi port of Yanbu at the Red Sea can handle 5 million barrels a day, UAE’s port of Fujairah in the golf of Oman can handle 1.5-1.8 million barrel. Another pipeline from Iraq to Turkey can handle about 1 million barrel. That leaves about 12 to 14 million barrels a day that cannot be shipped to the consumers any more. This corresponds to 12 – 14 % of the daily consumption world wide. In addition, 20 % of the world-wide LNG production, which has to pass the strait of Hormuz without alternative is blocked.
Trader in Khasab
Another direct consequence of the attack was the closure of the civilian airports in the area, above all Dubai. Emirates has built up the reputation of a reliable airline serving most countries in four continents via its hub in Dubai. Many European family holidays in Asia started with a flight connection by Emirates with a stopover in Dubai. Not only is this hub now closed, but West-East flights between Europe and Asia now are limited to a rather narrow corridor above Turkey and the Caspian Sea since both the airspace above Iran, the Arabian peninsula and Ukraine and Russia are closed.
Local in Khasab
The news is full about European nationals having trouble to get out of the Gulf states because of closed air space. But the consequences are more far-reaching. On the radio I just heard the story of a Dutch entertainer who was grounded in Thailand with his family since his Emirates flight home via Dubai is canceled. After a week of extended vacation they are now in Beijing, from where they might get a flight back home.
Indian workers in Musandam
It is easily overlooked that the territory of the Arab peninsula which is next to the strait of Hormuz and at the same time closest to Iran is not part of Saudi Arabia and nor of the UAE or any other of the gulf states, but is a part of Oman separated by the main body of this sultanate by the UAE. It is called the Musandam Peninsula. The distance between Iranian mainland and the peninsula is not more than 50 km. If the islands in the strait are considered, the distance is only 23 km.
Girl at their house gate in Khasab
The British, who dominated the history of the Arabian Peninsula in the 20th century, apparently believed that the Strait of Hormuz was better controlled by the Sultan of Oman than by an Arab emir. At the time the UAE were formed the northernmost Emirate, Ras al Kaimah did not join. Since they only had a small territory with a very low number of population the strait was better protected by Oman.
Entrance gates in Khasab
For a long time Oman and in particular the Musandam Peninsula were barely accessible. Only when Sultan Quaboos came to power in 1970 the country slowly opened to the outside world. But even after that the city gates of for example the capital Mutrah were closed every night. Musandam had little tourist facilities and was not accessible on a land route. With its high mountains and deep fjords it is called the Norway of the Arab peninsula. Due to its remoteness and traditional bad accessibility it also has preserved a lot of the traditional life. When we visited Oman in 2017 access was more easy, next to regular flights only taking 65 minutes there is a ferry and in 1997 a new road was built along the west coast to the UAE northernmost Emirate Ras Al Kaimah. We decided to use the most traditional way to go to Musandam, by boat.
In the streets of Khasab
Every Thursday, the world's fastest catamaran takes you from the port in Mutrah in mainland Oman to Khasab, the main town of Musandam, 500 km away, in 4.5 hours. On a Monday, begin of January 2017, we asked at the hotel where we stayed in Mutrah where we could buy tickets for this ferry, but they didn't know anything. So we walked to the port, where a huge number of taxis were waiting, apparently eager to give one of the well-heeled passengers from a cruise ship a day trip around Muscat. There was no ticket office there either. After much inquiry and discussion, we found a driver who knew about it and was able to take us there for 2 rials. It turned out that the ticket office was just a few hundred meters from our hotel. It's so well hidden in one of the seemingly deserted commercial buildings at the entrance to Mutrah that we had already walked right past it several times while exploring the town. Buying the ticket was a breeze after we had found the place.
Gardens in Musandam
On Tuesday, I received a text message from NFC (National Ferries Company) informing me that the service for Thursday would be canceled due to bad weather conditions. In Mutrah, the sky was a brilliant blue, there was hardly any wind, and the sea appeared calm. Similar calm summer weather (it was winter here at the time) was forecast for the following days. The reason for the ferry cancellation was a mystery to us. Fortunately, it was no problem to book two seats for Thursday on the daily Oman Air flight to Khasab by mobile phone.
View from the plane across the Khors of the Musandam peninsula
The flight on Thursday departed Muscat airport precisely on time. The plane glided smoothly over the Gulf of Oman, where we saw a whole fleet of large tankers in the blue gulf below. Then the Musandam Mountains and the spectacular fjords, called khors here, came into view. We had a leisurely flight over the peninsula and a good view of Khasab, which lies at the end of a wide canyon. Then the plane did a second circuit. After the third, it turned south, and the pilot announced that landing today would be too dangerous. We would return to Muscat.
Beach and fishing boats in Seeb
After some of the luggage, including my backpack, finally turned up, a solution had been found for us at the airport. We were loaded into a few minibuses and taken to a hotel in Seeb, a part of Muscat, where we could stay overnight on expense of the airline. A special flight to Khasab, arranged just for us, would be scheduled to depart the next morning at 6:00 a.m. Buses would pick us up from the hotel at 4:00 a.m. A complimentary late lunch buffet has also been arranged for us, and dinner was served later. The hotel had a rooftop swimming pool and was located just a short distance from a long beach, deserted except for a few fishermen with their boats in shelters. In the morning, the flight not only was on time, but it also managed to land in Khasab. Next to me sat an Omani man who worked at Khasab Airport. It's an old military airfield with a relatively short runway facing the valley. Apparently, there are often strong downdrafts that make the approach dangerous.
Swimming pool in the hotel in Seeb and view from the rooftop terrace
A minibus from the Khasab Hotel, for a long time the only place to stay one on the entire peninsula, was waiting for us. We did't even have to pay for the previous night, which I had booked weeks before through a well-known booking-site.
Khasab
The hotel had the charm of a 1970s Eastern Bloc building. A few old dhows were stalled in front of the entrance, even though the place is quite a distance from the harbor. There's a large pool in the courtyard and a restaurant with tables by the pool where you can sit and read in the evenings.
Pool in the courtyard of Khasab hotel
In 1997 the construction of a magnificent coastal road has led to the begin of some tourism from the United Arab Emirates to Musandam. Nevertheless, the peninsula has retained a certain sense of remoteness. Most roads are still unpaved. Before our arrival the most significant event in Musandam in the 21st century was the construction of the enormous Lulu supermarket, for which part of the old harbor was reclaimed. Comparable in size to American supermarkets, Lulu is a world apart, a symbol of modernity's arrival in Khasab.
Main square in Khasab
You got the feeling that there were still more boats than cars in Musandam. The villages in the Khors were still only accessible by boat. As a tourist, you needed a permit to go there. However, the price the boat owners demanded was deterrent at the best. At Khasab port, they have better means of income. A lively smuggling trade with Iran was conducted using powerful motorboats. From the terrace of the Lulu supermarket's café/restaurant, we were able to overlook one of the harbor channels left behind after the land was drained and watch the arrival of the smugglers' motorboats or those from the remote villages. Many were operated by women wearing headscarves or even the typical Omani masks.
The new Lulu supermarket in Khasab
The huge Lulu parking lot separates the old Portuguese fort of Khasab, which used to overlook the harbor, from the water. This fort, too, has been renovated in an almost kitschy fashion; the obligatory decommissioned dhows and a few rusty cannons lie in front of the entrance. Beyond this point, a marked hiking trail begins, leading through palm groves and gardens to the old town center, where, in addition to a mosque, there is a second fort, Al Khmazera. This is the old center of Khasab. Many women wear the gold-colored masks typical of the area. In contrast to the women, the friendly old men with red and white turbans readily post for portrait pictures. There were a few shops and the men sit in front of the cafes and chat. In a bare square, there are a few market stalls selling vegetables and animal feed. Scattered among the shops are even a few fields where vegetables are grown. Goats wander through the streets, trying to reach the branches that hang over the high garden walls.
Tea house in Khasab
Khasab also boasts many new, modern villas pompously decorated with numerous columns, tiles, and domes. There's also a huge new mosque, named after Sultan Qaboos, which is open to visitors. A large, unfinished barracks with watchtowers separates the town center from the airport area, where the Khasab Hotel is also located. All of this is framed by rugged, high, and completely barren mountains. One wonders where the water comes from in this arid mountain landscape, water that turns at least the old part of Khasab into a green oasis.
Woman with mask in the streets of Khasab
The aims of the war proclaimed by the leading politicians of Israel and the United States were inconsistent. The regime in Iran had reasons to expect aggression from their enemies for a long time. There had been attacks against Iran when Jimmy Carter made an ill fated attempt to free the hostages held by the regime in the US embassy in and last year, when a bombing raid tried in vain to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities. Therefore Iran was warned and had several decades for their preparations. Blockage of the strait of Hormuz had to be expected as one of the counter measures
Fortress in Khasab
A day of the campaign on Iran costs the United States around 800 million dollar. Since he now realizes that the attack on Iran and its consequences are not finished in a couple of days as planned but might have long lasting consequences the president tries to shift part of the costs and responsibility on other western countries and the Nato. He probably tries to copy his predecessor George W. Bush junior. However, Bush had profited from the world-wide dismay and pity after the 9/11 attacks, which were directed not only against the United States but at western society as such. In the middle east, however, it was the US and Israel who upset the precarious balance. It is sure that all the participants dearly regretted their involvement into the Afghanistan war, which did not lead to any positive result, and don’t want to repeat that mistake.
The Musandam Khors
Musandam's biggest attraction are the dhow tours, which depart from Khasab harbor into the Khors that have given the barren peninsula the reputation of being an "Arab Norway." The Khasab Hotel organizes these excursions, and in the morning a bus picks us up and takes us to the harbor.
Cruiseship and dhows in the port of Khasab
The harbor is full of dhows used for these tours. These aren't the traditional wooden boats built in the Omani town of Sur, but steel replicas. Comfortable cushions are laid out under a sunshade, and the helmsman sits in a small cabin at the stern. Everything is perfectly prepared. There's an ice bucket full of ice-cold drinks, doubtlessly non-alcoholic, thermoses of coffee and hot water for tea, and fruit. Later, masks, snorkels, fins, and towels are provided for swimming. Besides us, there are a handful of other tourists and an Arab family who sit a little apart and leave the boat after only half a day.
Dhows on their way into Khor Sham
The harbor was dominated by a huge cruise ship docked on the opposite shore. The two NFC catamarans, which were supposed to be scheduled to sail between Muscat, Dibba, and Bandar Abbas in Iran, were also moored there. As in other ports in Oman and Musandam a few old wooden dhows lie on the shore, apparently no longer in use and slowly decaying. Within the port area, new roads and what appear to be enormous paved parking lots are under construction. Clearly, they are anticipating a massive increase in tourist numbers.
Dolphins in Khor Sham
After leaving the port and entering the nearest Khor Sham a few kilometers later, our boat is accompanied by a group of dolphins. As soon as they come into view, the boatman accelerates. This is intended to entice the dolphins to leap alongside the boat. For a short distance, they do. The rugged cliffs rise almost vertically several hundred meters on both sides of the Khor. The mountains here between the Khors reach heights of up to 900 meters. Sometimes fishing nets lie at the foot of the cliffs, left there until they are needed again. Every now and then, a small sandy cove appears with a few unassuming buildings and a couple of boats moored in front. Tho villages are only accessible by boat. In summer, they are deserted because it's too hot even for the locals, and there are hardly any fish. Nevertheless, they all have electricity.
Telegraph Island
Our first stop is Jazirat al Maqlab, Telegraph Island. In 1864, a repeater station for the telegraph connection from London to Karachi was established here. A message took five days to travel from Europe to India. For several years, this was the loneliest outpost of the British Empire, where a few soldiers had to endure the murderous climate of Arabia. Within two years, two of the inhabitants died, and due to the hostility of the locals, the station had to be permanently guarded by a gunboat. However, the line was never particularly reliable, and by the mid-1870s, the station had been abandoned. We anchor off the island, and with my water shoes and waterproof camera, I swim to the landing steps. You have to be careful. There are lots of sea urchins here, and the water is shallow close to the island. On the island, which is about 100 meters in diameter, the foundations of a few buildings still stand besides some withered acacia trees. Although there isn't much left to see, you can imagine how boring life must have been here for the servicemen.
Fish around Telegraph Island
When we arrived, there was only one other dhow anchored off the island besides us. But after a short time, the small island was surrounded by boats. Apparently, all the passengers from the cruise ship in Khasab harbor had set off to come here today. I wonder why they all had to dock at Telegraph Island at the same time and then head further into the fjord all together. On the return trip in the afternoon, the island was deserted. However, the water was rougher then, and apparently, the island isn't always accessible due to the tides. Nevertheless, snorkeling here is worthwhile. I've rarely seen so many fish in one place. This is apparently also due to the fact that food is constantly being thrown overboard. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the meter-long, but peaceful, sharks that are supposed to live here.
Lunch preparations on the deck of the Dhow
We leave the island and after a short time a motorboat pulls alongside, bringing our lunch in Indian thermos containers and taking the Arab family with it. There's a wide selection of fish, chicken, vegetables, and rice. Then we continue further into the fjord. The water here is calm, but increasingly covered with a layer of green algae. The boat crew claims that these algae only appears in winter when the water is cold. As a result, fish are scarce. I imagine that the real reason is the water quality of the largely enclosed Persian Gulf, into which a few particularly polluted rivers like the Euphrates and Tigris flow. At the end of Khor Sham, the isthmus separating it from the eastern Khor Al Habalym is only a few hundred meters wide.
The vertical cliffs of Khor Sham
Before the arrival of Islam the Musandam Peninsula had been occupied several times by Persian empires. Later Persian rulers occasionally tried to extend their power south across the straight of Hormuz into Oman territory. In 1747 a Persian force was expelled, after they first were invited by an Omani ruler needing support from outside to stay in power. Recently Oman was one of the few countries which had good relations with the Iran. Therefore it also mediated in conflicts with Iran and its neighbors. Certainly the present war also has big influences on Oman. Although a handfull of drones ending up on their territory did not cause much harm tourism has come to a standstill. For the time being the port of Khasab will not see any cruise ship business. And of course the smuggling with speedboats across the strait of Hormuz has ended.
The mountains of Musandam
A shallow wadi stretches south from Khasab. A mountain road leads to the interior of Musandam, and several side roads take you to villages perched precariously on the steep slopes above the wadi. A mountain pass leads to the spectacular bay at the eastern end of Khor Naj, where we planned to camp for a night.
The road climbing into the Musandam mountains
The Khasab Hotel arranged a rental car for me. I was picked up and taken to Abu Sultan Al Shehi Trading Est., for short Khasab Rent a Car. My original intention was to rent a regular car, but the owner assured me that I would definitely need a four-wheel drive for the inland areas. An older, somewhat dusty and worn-out Land Cruiser was parked out front. I got it for 70 rials for two days. My companion was not pleased at all when she saw the enormous vehicle after I returned to the hotel. But although the main road into the mountains is a steep but passable gravel road we would never have been able to drive many of the detours in the interior we would do in the next two days with a normal car. Some of the descents were so steep that cold sweat appeared on her forehead. And it was not from the heat.
On the road in the Musandam mountains
After stocking up on supplies for two days at the Lulu supermarket and filling up the tank (which you did not have to do yourself here), we set off on the first detour listed in the Oman Off-Road Guide: a mountain village behind Al Mahas, just outside Khasab.
Lonely Acacia looking down into a valley in Musandam
A new paved road leads into the flat wadi above Khasab. A dam has been built outside town, apparently intended to keep the floodwaters from the rare downpours away. And indeed, a brownish pool is visible in a dip on the mountainside. So it does rain here occasionally. New villas have been built in the valley, seemingly scattered haphazardly across the flat landscape. Apart from a few acacia trees, there is hardly any vegetation. Everything is surrounded by a rugged, steep mountain landscape.
Palm tree protected from the goats by a fence
The days of donkeys and camels are over. But although nobody seems to live there anymore, steep, zigzag tracks for all terrain vehicles have been built to almost every village. Some seem to climb almost vertically up the barren mountain slopes. If someone still has business in these mountains, they drive. Apart from goats, we saw hardly any domestic animals.
Treehouse
One of the few trees stands in a tiny building, just a few square meters in size, with an iron entrance door. I wonder what came first, the tree or the building to protect it from the goats. Maybe there would be more vegetation if the hungry, omnivorous goats would not swallow anything sprouting from the poor ground.
Musandam - deep valleys, steep mountains
At the end of the wadi, the path climbs steeply in hairpin bends up the slope, ending at a small parking area. Above it lies a village with deserted, dry fields and a palm tree, which, like the tree down in the valley, is carefully protected with a high fence. Only a few of the buildings still look habitable. No inhabitants are to be seen. You walk across the rooftops from one to the next. I stay carefully at the edge of the roof, where the supporting stone wall must be underneath, because many of the roofs have holes. You can expect to easily break through the thin layer of clay.
House with locks
Here several of the "houses with locks" typical for this area can be found, low buildings that are half-buried in the ground. They were used to store provisions locked away while the owners were in Khasab which is cooler during the hot summer. Some still have carved doors, others the more recent colorfully decorated steel doors. Some are open, and you can see remnants of the furnishings, rows of clay jars, and the niches in the walls that served as shelves. Everything here is bone dry. There's no sign of a well. How did people get water here, in particular before the road was built?
Interior of a ruined house with a lock
Threshing place in an abandoned village
Descending is more difficult than the ascent. The gravel on the dusty track could easily cause the car to slide. However, when the road was built, excess gravel was left on the valley side as a kind of barrier, so there is some protection from turning the car into a toboggan sliding down the mountainside. It is not entirely comforting that we occasionally see car wrecks lying far below at the bottom of the wadi as we continue our tour. I hope they were just dumped for disposal.
Acacia groove
At the end of the main wadi, there's a large acacia grove, perfect for a lunch break. It's surrounded by slopes covered with stones that have cracked from the heat. This is one of the few shady spots in Musandam. The goats, ruminating in the dust beneath the trees, seem to know it too. A children's playground has been built in the middle of the grove. Like everything else, it's empty.
Khor Naj
From the main road, a good track carved into the side of the mountain leads up to a pass overlooking Khor Naj, a khor which connect to the gulf of Oman to the east. A winding road descends to the bay, where we can see a few fishing boats.
Camping at Khor Naj
For campers, there are several concrete platforms here, shaded by palm-thatched roofs. A water tank even comes with soap and a toothbrush. Unfortunately, this otherwise romantic spot is covered in litter. There is a container, but it's overflowing. A few goats spread the trash even more. I start a cleanup effort, collecting three full garbage bags just in the vicinity of the campsites, which I later deposit in an empty container in Khasab. The garbage also seems to attract insects, which bite me as I spend part of the night on a mat on the concrete platform. The shore consists of algae-covered stones, making it uninviting for swimming. This makes this otherwise spectacular place somewhat disappointing.
Garbage collected in Khor Naj
After breakfast the next morning, we set off on a tour into the interior of the Musandam Peninsula. A dirt track leads from Khasab to Dibba. Large signs, however, indicate that foreigners are not allowed to cross the border post there. Apart from us, there is very little traffic. A few water trucks are struggling up the mountain at a snail's pace. From sea level near Khasab, the road climbs more than a thousand meters before reaching the Sayq basin. This is a high valley with a village that still appears to be permanently inhabited. The valley is as green as a valley in Musandam can be. In addition to the usual goats, there are also sheep and even a few cows.
View down into the Emirate Ras al-Khaimah
From here, one can take a detour along an adventurous mountain path to a desolate settlement situated on a rocky plateau right on the border with the United Arab Emirates. On the other side, the terrain drops almost vertically for 1,000 meters. Somewhere in the haze lies Ras al-Kaimah, the northernmost of the seven emirates. Up here, too, there's no one in sight, not even a car, although the road is littered with plastic bins that someone has lost here and didn’t care to retrieve.
Terraced fields and road in Musandam
Beyond Sayq, the road continues its ascent, winding around just below the summit of Musandam's highest mountain, Jabal Harim, at 2,050 meters. A military outpost is the reason that access to the summit is blocked, but the stark mountain scenery here is spectacular enough. The road maintains a relatively constant elevation along the flanks of the reddish-brown slopes. To the right a deep wadi begins. Even there, some bare terraces have been created for cultivation. After crossing a rocky ridge above the wadi, one gazes into a vast valley, a view comparable in its grandeur to Death Valley in California or the gorges of Ethiopia. Every layer of rock is clearly visible. Then again, the occasional rain showers have carved wild fissures into the sides of the valley slopes. The diminutive size of a few scattered acacia trees underscores the grandeur of the landscape. Our excursion takes us to another valley, where a few palm trees have succumbed to the drought. Here, too, there are a few villas and a new mosque. In the valley below, some of the old, low stone huts have collapsed. It's hard to imagine the conditions under which people once lived here and struggled for survival. Today, only a lone pickup truck leaves a long trail of dust in its wake. What the inhabitants of the luxurious-looking villas behind their high walls do here is unclear. Could they be the same people who used to cultivate the small, parched terraced fields and raised their goats?
Mountain plateau on the route to Dibba
Sultan Quaboos has taken good care of his subjects. The oil revenues allowed him to give them a life of leisure. Most of the work is done by foreign immigrants, mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh or India. Today they are suddenly at the edge of a war zone, in danger of being hit by a stray rocket or blown up by a drone in its trace. But even when they are not in direct danger the connection to their country of origin is blocked as long as the airports are closed. In addition, the supply of workforce might dry out when the conflict lasts for longer. Who volunteers to work in a war zone?
The spectacular view into a valley in Musandam
Along the coast road to the Emirates
To leave Musandam over land, we had to take the coastal road from Khasab to Ras al Khaimah. However, there were no buses or other public transport. The Khasab Hotel arranged a driver to take us across the border to a bus stop near Ras al Khaimah. From there, regular buses departed for Dubai. However, before leaving the peninsula we also rented a regular car for a day to explore the coastal road to the border.
The valley of Tawi
This recently built road is carved directly out of the vertical cliff face at the water's edge. In some sections, they are already working on raising and widening it. Right in the first few bays after Khasab, there are still some traditional fishing villages. Also here, as a demonstration how progress arrived, abandoned wooden dhows lie on the beach alongside the ubiquitous plastic boats. If you take a detour into a side valley to Tawi, you'll find a few rocks with petroglyphs in the middle of the seemingly deserted village. An Indian construction worker, busy plastering a new villa with a colleague, points them out to us. They are said to be 2,300 years old. The drawings of animals resemble the goats wandering on the road close-by. The side road ends in this village. The rock faces on both sides are almost vertical. The valley continues into two narrow wadis.
Petroglyphs in Tawi
A little further along the main road, a series of hairpin bends crosses a ridge. At the top, there's a viewpoint with a picnic area and another children's playground. Our visit disturbs the only other living beings here, again some goats, which have left their droppings everywhere. Then we come to a long beach with an oversize parking lot and a picnic area with sunshades, changing rooms, tables, benches, and playground equipment. On the landward side, everything is surrounded by a high wall with an open gate. The place looks deserted and dusty, and no water comes out of the grimy taps. But the fine sandy beach is clean. Once again we have a spectacular place for ourselves.
Beach on the coast road to the border
The next town, Al Jadi, is something of an oasis nestled beneath the sheer cliffs. But the palm groves look neglected and deserted; some of the trees are dead and have fallen over. Buildings are in ruin. Even if immigrants are employed to work the gardens there is no profit to made here any more. It is easier to rely on the oil-incomes of the Sultanate. But as usual the mosque appears well-maintained. Narrow paths wind between walls through the neglected gardens. By the sea, behind a roughly constructed dike there's a harbor filled with plastic boats. Large fish roam the clear water.
Bay along the coast road in Musandam
Burkha, the last town before the border, is a larger settlement. But we don't see any tourist infrastructure like cafes or restaurants here either although there are two fortresses, one on the beach and another on a hill overlooking the town. Both have been meticulously renovated. The fortress on the beach can be visited. It is said to date back to the 17th century. In the courtyard, there's a dungeon covered with a grate. I read that prisoners were tied up in here until they drowned in the rising tide.
The town of Burkha
The fortresses in Burkha
Former prison and torture hole
Beyond Bukha, you have to cross the border into the UAE. Both sides have built enormous border posts bridging the road. While the driver waits, we have to walk into a building planted between the lanes of traffic, where three border guards in white burnouses and white headscarves held by a black band attend to the few who want to enter the Emirates. They aimlessly move our passports from one of the many computers to another. You get the impression they can't find the right key. Then another guard arrives in a uniform, breast covered in medals. He doesn't help speeding up the process either. The visa itself is free; it's just about getting a stamp in your passport. After an agonizingly long wait, they apparently take it for granted that we are sufficiently convinced of their importance, stamp our passports, and we can carry on.
Port along the coast road to Musandam
The United Arab Emirates arose from the fear that the individual Emirs had of Saudi Arabia. After the withdrawal of the British protectors in 1971, there was a great risk that they would be swallowed up one by one by the big neighbor. A small emirate like Umm al-Quwain had little more than 4,000 inhabitants; all together, the population was probably around 250,000.
The British presence in the region can be traced back to the local tradition of piracy. In 1808, the Jawasmi tribe captured her majesty’s ship Minerva and murdered all of its 40 crew members but the carpenter whom they needed to do repairs. Other ships were attacked as well. The British saw their trade routes to India threatened. In September 1809, a squadron left Bombay and shelled the ships in the port of Ras al-Kaimah, including the hijacked Minerva. When the locals refused to stop the piracy, the British sent another squadron of 3,700 soldiers from Bombay, besieged Ras al-Khaimah, killed 400 pirates, and forced the local sheikhs to abandon piracy. The locals turned to pearl fishing for livelihood but for the next 100 years, discontent reigned in the Gulf as nothing was as profitable as piracy.
Reduce speed
Our journey continued by car to the bus stop in Ras al-Khaimah. This emirate seems to consist mainly of one enormous cement factory. Everything appears dusty, dirty, and desolate. Miserable, single-story shop buildings with dusty cars parked out in front line the street. This was not how we had imagined the wealthy Arab Emirates. But Ras al-Khaimah and its neighbor emirate to the south, Umm al-Quwain, apparently do not receive much of the oil windfall. The available money seems to have been just enough to build a multitude of roads. This is a country where public transport is in its infancy. The bus stop is located in the middle of nowhere, amidst parking lots. There are a few waiting benches and a small cafeteria, but at least a huge flat roof provides some shade. We're glad when we finally are able to board the hourly bus to Dubai.
Bus terminal in Ras al-Khaimah
85-90% of the oil, roughly 4 of the 5 barrels which had been exported through the strait of Hormuz, went to Asian markets. 38 % of the flow went to China. However the countries most dependent on the Arab oil are Japan, South Korea and to some extend India. While China received 47 % of the oil imports through the strait of Hormuz, Japan got 73 % of its oil from shipments through the strait of Hormuz and South Korea 60-70%. While China can shift its source of supply to sources in Russia and Central Asia there are few other resources on which in particular Japan and South Korea can rely on.
Gate to an abandoned garden
The countries of the European Union only got 3.8 % of the oil imports from shipments through the strait of Hormuz, the US only 2.5 %. It is therefore largely a matter of speculation that oil prices sore to such a degree in the EU. Since the Asian countries are the main recipients of oil from the middle east a call for help in the protection of the shipping lanes in the strait of Hormuz should go to the entire international community, not to Nato alone. It would be the task of the Security council of the UN to initiate a mission. Again it can be seen that China wisely keeps away from such involvements. Just as Sun Tzu (544-496 BC) said in “The art of war”: “Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake….”
Dubai
The old part of Dubai along Dubai Creek is quite pleasant. You can cross the water in small boats, there are a few historical buildings, and a maze of shopping streets. Moreover, you can always find a restaurant on either side of the creek where you can eat comfortably and affordably. In the Al Fahidi and Shindaga historic districts, there are a few small hotels in renovated historical settings and a pleasant, accessible souq. However, it's just as lifeless as many of the city centers in Oman. The core of Arabic life is spent behind closed doors. We do, however, find a pleasant restaurant with a courtyard where you can eat camel meat and drink camel milkshakes. The meat is tough, and apart from the price, I don't taste much difference to a conventional milkshake.
Boots on the Dubai river
The old basar
The annoying thing about Dubai is the incredible traffic and the bad, dusty air, which makes life difficult for visitors who enjoy walking. I try to walk from our hotel to the dhow harbor. First, part of the road is completely blocked off, and I have to backtrack. Then, you walk long stretches through the dust alongside the roaring traffic. Fortunately, the path also runs past the Emir's palace. You cannot see it, but at least the high wall is separated from the road by a painstakingly maintained lawn and trees, which make walking a bit more pleasant. Then, you continue alongside the traffic, crossing an enormous bridge to the other side of the creek. A few Indians, enjoying their day off, are fishing under the bridge.
Walking along busy highways
At the dhow harbor, you feel like you've been catapulted back a hundred years. Pakistani and Iranian sailors and dockworkers, who clearly cannot deny their pirate ancestors, load and unload the ships by hand. Many of the ships are still made of wood and were perhaps built in the shipyard in Mandvi, India, which I had visited a few years ago. The quay is packed with cargo to be transported to India or Pakistan and delivered by trucks to be shipped. Much less is being unloaded from arriving ships, it seems. The men are incredibly friendly – I'm constantly asked to take photos, and one boat crew even wants to invite me for lunch.
The Dhow harbor
Even when these slow and sluggish boats don’t have Iran as their destination, their sailing now is blocked. It is far too dangerous for these wooden ships to leave the harbor. The friendly men working here and the sailors are out of work, the merchants out of business. And eventually the situation will also backfire onto the manufacturers of the goods shipped from here.
Workers in the Dhow harbor
Everything what was built here was financed by the revenues obtained from oil. Even when some of the oil still can be put on the market the comfortable source of income has at least temporarily decreased or dried up. A situation, which eventually would occur anyway once the oil wells dry up or the world has found a way to rely on alternative energy. 45-50% of the global oil production is used for road transport (45 to 50 out of 100 barrels) and another 10-15% for other transport such as by air or sea. In the EU road transport accounts for 35-45% of the oil consumption. The consequent change to electric mobility could not only half the global emissions but also reduce the dependence of countries on the oil producers. Most of the countries in possession of these resources are ruled by dictatorial regimes which can only exist because of this income. Maybe this war is the chance to get rid of them.
Some of the friendly and photogenic workmen in the port
I didn't see any of Dubai's modern sights, but visiting this port made our two nights in Dubai worthwhile. Add to that the dusty rooftop swimming pool at the hotel and the good food – you have to admit, it's an art to keep a city like this alive in the desert dust. Erich Follath summed up Dubai in his book with the following: "The cathedrals of consumption, the temples of illusion of an ideal world, are the true lifeblood of this city, and everything focuses and culminates in a call to action that resonates even in the city's name: DO BUY."
But the illusion of an ideal world has abruptly come to an end…..
Lunch on one of the Dhows
Sources:
Erich Follath, Jenseits aller Grenzen : auf den Spuren des großen Abenteurers Ibn Battuta durch die Welt des Islam. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, München 2016
Oman Off-Road, Explorer Publishing, Dubai 2015
National Geographic, January 2014, Impossible Rock, page 130-145, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/131223-mark-synnott-deepwater-solo-rock-climbing-oman
The times of India, March 2, 2026, Middle east oil shock risks
The straits times, June 23, 2025, Asian countries most vulnerable to strait of Hormuz blockade
Other posts about Oman:
A book was published about Musandam. Link to preview of the entire book:
The flag of the Emirates
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