A Love Affair Continues

When Terrey and I met with Sara, the woman who lived in Muscat and took us to dinner, she insisted that we could not drive through Oman and not go dune bashing. She also insisted that we need to meet up with "her bedouin" and that he would take us out, no problem. So, after this exchange, we found ourselves waiting for a man named Bader to meet us at an Al Maha gas station outside the village of Biddiyah. Not quite sure what to expect, we waited anxiously. Read More...

As soon as Bader made it to the gas station, we locked up the car and left in, essentially, a stranger's car. He quickly took us off the paved roads and onto a somewhat path leading straight into the sand dunes.

We quickly zoomed by miles of sand and sparse shrubs but soon started passing some of my favorite guys...

Camels!!!

 and goats!!

As I was grinning widely, we continued zooming past animals and eventually made our way to the big, tall sand dunes. 

We got out to stand on the side of a huge drop. I cannot describe the quiet that I experienced. Living in cities for the last couple of years, you learn to fall asleep to the sound of the cars driving by, the honks, the people walking by. Here in Doha, you learn to sleep through the call to prayer. On top of this sand dune, there was no sound. Nothing for miles around us to make noise. So, with the sand burning my feet and my ears ringing with the nothingness, we adventured around. 

Then we got back in the car, put on our seat belts, and held on for dear life.

Soon we made our way to a beautiful mirage. A tent full of goats!

Bader's family all lives out in the desert and these are their goats. Every morning, the goats make the mile trek to their house for food and water. But, they do not like cars and people, so they come back to their shady tent for the day. They make the same trek at night for dinner. 

I even got to hold one of the babies! Who soon decided to climb up a little farther...

After my new friend scratched up my chest and stomach trying to get closer (because he loved me so, I am sure of it), we headed back to Bader's family home, where I was greeted with another fabulous sight.

(I seem to be turning into a camel...)

Bader's family owns the camels and do make some money off of having people come ride them. He informed me, while trying not to laugh, that there are no wild camels, much to my dismay. Every camel is owned by someone as they are a huge part of Omani culture.

Bucket list item checked off!

As we were riding, I noticed this little guy following along behind us. Bader informed me that our shadow was friends with the camels we were currently riding and does not like to be left behind, so he just followed to be close to his friends. 

We then headed inside to have lunch. We got to sit in Bader's house and he made us a traditional meal complete with dates, chicken, rice, and yogurt. And in true fashion, it was all eaten with your hands.

After stuffing our faces, we finally headed back to the lonely gas station to get our car and head back on the road. 

Disclaimer: As I was driving most of the time and also unfortunately am not Elastigirl and cannot take photos of myself, some of the landscape photos and pictures of me were taken by my friend Terrey.