Geo-tour of Oman's Sohar Road on 22 April

Dear All,

Leslie Butler from Al Ain Chapter is inviting Abu Dhabi Members to a Geological tour in Oman, If you want to participate, please email directly Leslie Butler

On Friday the 22nd of April, our Field Trip will be a highly photogenic geological tour of the Al Ain-Sohar road (Oman Route 7) We will meet at 09:00 in Oman at the car park of the little mosque just past the Omani Immigration post at Wadi Jizi. That’s 56°10’09.3” E, 24°12’58.9” N; or 24.2163611° N, 056.1692500° E decimal.  This is just a small, local mosque, not in use on Friday morning.

BASIC FEATURES This is about beautiful or interesting geology. There’ll be some excellent photo-ops, and a couple of shaded picnic-ops away from traffic noise. However, most of the drive and stops will be along the main road, which usually isn’t too busy on a Friday morning. We won’t stray far from our vehicles, except at one magnificent broad wadi where a 15-20 minute walk (plus same back again) is well justified, and that’ll be late in the morning with no shade, other than at the point where we turn back.

DURATION How long the whole trip will take depends on how much time folk want to spend in particular places.  My basic schedule is three to four hours, not counting getting there and back, but we can extend or curtail on demand. I cvan provide a list of coordinatesto anyone wishing to follow the route at their own pace.  We won’t be going all the way to Sohar.

GEOLOGY Although I’m billing this as a geology trip, I am not a geologist, and I’ve selected the stops on the basis of their attractiveness or interest. The tour is based on Route 6 of Ben Jordan’s excellent ‘Geotrekking in Southeastern Arabia’. I’ll have notes available for interested parties, but I won’t be lecturing.

COST For most foreign UAE residents, visas will cost AED 85: 35 Dirhams to exit the UAE, and 5 Riyals to enter Oman. They usually prefer you to pay by credit card.  Omani charges vary by nationality and even occupation (no charge for children), so if you’re not sure of your status, check www.rop.gov.om/english/dg_pr_visas_agcc.asp

You can claw back some of your visa expense by stocking up on cheap Omani petrol. There’s a gas station about 6km before the Wadi Jizi border post, and they accept Dirhams.

INSURANCE.  If you don’t have Oman vehicle insurance, you can obtain from a 24/7 office by the first roundabout you come to after you pass the Emiurati Al Shiklah border post.

TAKE the usual water, snacks, hats and good shoes for the loose surfaces. There are some wadi pools you might want to wade into, though only at one site. A camera, of course. Polarised shades enhance the view.

CONVOY ARRANGEMENTS It would help to let me know if you're planning to attend, but I’m not setting a limit on numbers. A few vehicles is preferable to lots, of course, so please pool as much as possible. There are places to park before you enter the Emirati border zone, or you could seek travel partners through this Yahoo ENHG Group. There's a good phone signal everywhere along the route, by the way.

DIRECTIONS to the UAE Shiklah border post

from Dubai, you should follow signs for Al Ain centre. You go through some roundabouts with no left turn (because the Omani border fence is in the way), and then go left at the first opportunity. Follow that road (past a border post which only GCC citizens can use) until you come to a roundabout with only a right turn, and follow that to a wadi bridge and a T junction at which you turn left. That gets you on to Khatam Al Shiklah street which you follow (passing the Al Ain Hilton and Danat hotels on your left) to the Khatam al Shikhla border post. 

from Al Ain: Proceed along Khatam Al Shakhla Street, past the Danat, Sand Golf club etc to the Khatam al Shikhla border post. You don’t have to get out of your car here, but make sure you have passports and cash handy. Once through, do not take the truck road to your right but keep straight on, and straight on too through the next two roundabouts. The petrol station above mentioned is a few km after the 2^nd roundabout.

from Abu Dhabi:

Enter Al Ain on the E22 and keep going as the E22 turns into Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street. Go straight at the big Tawam Roundablout, then turn right after UAE University, marked by an overpass above and a large rounded blue-ish building on your right. Go straight through the next r/a, which has a sort of gazebo on it, then left at the next r/a. That puts you on ‘Schools Road’ aka Khalid Bin Sultan or 147^th Street which will take you past Etisalat, the Hilton and Danat hotels and so on to Shiklah.

Alternatively, you could join the E30 AD-Al Ain truck road which by-passes the city before becoming the E7 which takes you to the Shiklah border crossing.

OR COME THROUGH HILI Alternatively, if you’re familiar with the Hili-Buraimi crossing, it may be more convenient to use that, and then follow signs for Sohar or Muscat as the route to Muscat is via Sohar.  

After Shiklah

Follow the road to Sohar/Muscat. There have been road works and diversions lately, but they’re pretty good at putting up helpful signs.

Next stop is the Omani border post. Here you park and enter the building. At the desk on your right, you’ll see a queue and some piles of forms one each of which you should complete before joining the queue. Visas are usually paid for with a credit card. Once back in the car, you’ll be checked by customs, then a tad further on you hand over the paper you received at the desk, and you’re free. Our meeting point, the mosque car park, is 100m or so on your right. That’s also our first stop, as there are ancient copper workings just up from the trees in this rather pretty location.

FINALLY One reason for entering Oman through Shikhla is the immediate array of contrasting colours and textures nearby and on the horizon. After you clear UAE controls, note the layers of what look like mud slabs to your left, but which are actually . . . well figure it out yourself.

Please Contact directly Leslie Butler

 lesliebutler@yahoo.com

Field Trips are open to paid-up members of one of the ENGH Chapters under their own responsibility

 Yves Queromain