Wilderness Adventure in Oman

Overlooking the Gulf, the Omani capital’s ancient sites, colonial fortresses, modern high-rise towers and colourful souks are huddled between mountains carved from the earth’s mantle and the Arabian sea. The skyline is pierced by neat rows of date palms and the minarets of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, while some of the best beaches and most elegant resorts in Oman can be found on this glittering coastline. 

Rising to heights of 10,000ft, the Jebel Akhdar Mountains are rugged and rocky, with craggy, pink-ochre peak punctuated by green terraces of fruit orchards and date plantations, watered by mountain springs. Tucked away here and there are traditional, lost-in-time villages of stone and mud houses, which overlook the spectacular peaks, gorges and wadis.  

The Musandam Peninsula is the pointy tip of the Arabian boot, separated from mainland Oman by the UAE. The people here are renowned for being some of the most welcoming in the region, and the landscape is starkly beautiful, with pinkish-brown cliffs and jagged fjords contrasting with emerald seas. Below the waves, dolphins and groupers swim past plunging, near-vertical cliffs.