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Braving the Muscat-Salalah Road! Only for
the Adventurous!
Posted on July 25, 2010 by andydbrown| 6 Comments
Most people
are wise enough to take a plane down to Salalah from Muscat and then rent a car from
there. I never learn. This was my 3rd trip to Salalah by car; driving the 1040 km
distance this time by rental car. It’s a pleasant enough drive although some complain that it’s
“boring” as there’s nothing but desert in all 4 directions. Depends on which stretch of roadyou’re talking about. There are actually 9 segments of road (barely passable as a
“highway”), each with their own beauty and challenges. The first stretch is Muscat-Nizwa
which covers 285 km of trip. Two bonuses of this highway are the smooth, well-paved road
and the scenic mountains as one enters Nizwa!
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The 2nd part
is Nizwa-Adam which is only 56kms. (There is always the fear of being stuck in the middle
of nowhere without petrol, so I make it a rule to gas up at any petrol station I drive by if I
have travelled more than 100 kms since the last one.) 3rd, Adam to Al Ghabah (this is where
the excitement of the ride begins to fade off….time for COFFEE!) which covers 119
kms. Al Ghabah to Hayma (4th part) is another 199 kms. After 4.5 hours of driving, it starts
to feel like you’ll never make it to Salalah with another 491 kms (or 4 hours of driving) to
go! My mind fades in and out of images of me on a comfortable flight to Salalah and slaps tothe face are occasionally necessary to keep this Canadian boy alert! I’m not sure where the
BAD STRETCH of road starts exactly, but there are ridiculously damaged segments of
highway with signs promising “under maintenance” but those PERMANENT signs have
been there for the past 3 years with no signs of any improvements. 200-300 kms of the road
are so terrible, that you really have to make sure you have strong new tires to brave this
adventure! Here is a short video showing you just HOW bad I mean! Sometimes you even
get to experience a light sandstorm which is pretty cool to drive through! Here’s a better idea
of what most of the undamaged road is like.
Hayma to Al
Ghaftayn makes up the 5th leg of the journey, lasting only 90 kms. Al Ghaftayn to Muqshin
(6th) is even shorter at 65 kms. Muqshin to Qatbit (7th) is another short stretch at only 64
kms. Some visitors chose to shack up at the Qatbit Resthouse before moving on to Salalah
the next day. If at all possible, avoid it. There’s nothing there and it’s a boring hole in the
wall. That’s why it’s best to leave Muscat nice and early so you’re not tempted to “give in”
at Qatbit! Qatbit to Thumrayt (8th leg) is a long stretch at 195 kms but no problem as the
realization that you are indeed finally going to arrive in Salalah gets the juices flowing! Themost beautiful part of the drive (and well worth the 8-10 hours it took to get there) is the final
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(9th) part through the Dhofar Mountains coming in to Salalah. Incredible!!…that is if it
isn’t TOO foggy to see due to the Khareef like on my drive in on this trip. I arrived at the
police checkpoint (at the start of the mountain range just before Salalah) at about
10:30pm. This was my view for the next hour driving in:
On a positive
note, it was SO refreshing to roll the window down and feel the COLD air of the Monsoon
rains! Salalah, oh là là!!!
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