April 5-7, 2019

I live in the small company town of Al Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. The terrain is flat, characterized in the far west by sebkha, a flat saline plain that often has a blistered surface like giant flaking paint chips.  Heading east travelling along some 400 miles of coastline, the terrain begins to shift as you drive through the Emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, and Ras Al Khaymah, becoming increasingly more mountainous and rugged.  Ras Al Khaymah contains the highest peak in the UAE, Jebel Jais at 1892 meters (6207 feet). But that isn’t my destination for this trip.  I am heading past Ras Al Khaymah to the Musandam province of Oman. This small isolated enclave juts out from the Arabian Peninsula into the Strait of Hormuz, separated from the rest of the country of Oman by more than space.  Khasab is as far as I can go I by road. The last leg of the trip to my destination of Kumzar will be a three-hour boat ride on a dhow, the traditional sailing vessel in the waters of the Middle East.

Kumzar is a small town of a little over 1000 people, originally settled by Portuguese sailors about 500 years ago. It is isolated by mountains on three sides and is only accessible by boat.  The city is in the unique position of being completely isolated by rugged mountains, yet exposed to one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. This curious mix resulted in the village developing a separate language, Kumzari, a unique blend of Farsi, Arabic, Portuguese, English, in addition to unique local words.  The town is not a tourist destination. In fact, one source I read said the town banned tourists in 2010 due to their intrusive behavior, but apparently this ban doesn’t apply if members of your crew have family in town.  Such remote isolation makes a destination like this a high prize for those who savor the road less travelled.

I am having a great time visiting destinations off the beaten path through a pair of Meetups I belong to in the UAE.  This trip was set up by UAE Trekkers (https://www.uae-trekkers.com).  Travelers from the UK, Pakistan, India, and the US arrived for our dhow ride in Khasab by different means.  I caught a ride from Abu Dhabi with two ladies in a rental car driven by a splendid Syrian named Menem.  I don’t normally chat much about personal details with drivers, but over the next few hours I learned a few things about Menem.  He is of the Druze religion, originally born out of Islam but they are not considered Muslim and the Koran is not their Holy Book. There aren’t a lot of Druze. Syria has the largest concentration at about 600,000. The Druze are somewhat Unitarian in drawing elements from many different religions and believing all faiths are valid and lead to the same divine source.  I don’t ever recall meeting one before, but Menem was a fine man.  I apologized for asking him these details, but he said it was okay, he could tell I was of a ‘free mind’.  He is from the town of Al Suwayda in Syria, near, as he described it, to Jordan and Palestine. He is only one of several people I have spoken to here that refer to Palestine as a physical place in casual conversation, not making any kind of political statement. I always find that interesting.  He felt much war was the result of too much religion.

Passing through customs at the Oman border was an easy affair. I paid 35 AED (about $10) to leave the UAE.  My 12-month visa from a few months before saved me the 50 AED it would normally cost to enter Oman, and we were on our way.  About an hour later we arrived at the port city of Khasab, where we met the rest of our party and ferried out to our dhow to spend the night.  This was a large dhow, maybe 50 feet long, with carpet and cushions laid out majlis style. I slept under the stars on the mats.  The temperature was perfect – I slept without so much as a sheet – and enjoyed a pleasant breeze with no bother from bugs.   

I awoke the next morning to the sight of a small harbor surrounded by mountains.  We set sail, eating a breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and pastries as we worked our way up the Oman coast.  We were soon entertained by dolphins and stopped to take the first of many breaks to kayak, snorkel, and swim. Small fishing villages dotted the coastline, completely isolated, but with power lines snaked down the hills to them at what must have been considerable effort.  We pressed on just a bit further to our next stop at Telegraph Island, a small island with remnants of an old British telegraph station from the mid-19^th century.  The water was clear with a refreshing bite to it when you first dove in, and the clear shallows made for some fine snorkeling.  Large jellyfish were common, but they were just pretty rather than the variety that sting. One of the crew dove down and in short order came up with two large cuttlefish he caught by hand.  These were added to our freshly made fish stew a couple of hours later, the first of several catches that were added to our menu on the trip. 

We continued to Kumzar, enjoying a splendid lunch as we travelled.  The surprising Menem produced the most beautiful fruit salad I have ever seen, with cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, and grapes crafted into an artful floral display.  Soon after we dropped anchor in a secluded cove about 30 minutes from Kumzar.  We would spend the night later, but there a couple of other agenda items first.  Most of us boarded the smaller shuttle boat and headed to the town for a short afternoon rock scramble in the mountains behind the town.  One of the crew, Walid, had a sister living there, and we visited her house.  These are the moments you will not get with a tour group and are priceless to me to experience how other people really live.  The houses don’t look like much from the outside, but inside were clean, simple, and comfortable.  We headed on to the back of the small town where hike would begin, passing dozens of goats along the way (Menem – ‘They eat everything’).  This wasn’t really a hike, more of an exploration of about 4 km through the rocky canyons surrounding the town.  Some of the local kids scampered around us, laughing at us picking our way through the boulders as they hopped from rock to rock wearing their kanduras and sandals.  We headed back into town as days end approached, stopping by Walid’s sister’s house again for some refreshments of juice, tea, watermelon, dates, and pita bread.  Curious local youngsters dressed in colorful local attire smiled and waved at us as we walked down the street. 

We arrived back at the dhow about sunset.  During our absence, some of the travelers had caught more fish, and the crew member who had success catching cuttlefish earlier had success again, this time with scallops the size of small dinner plates.  The fish became part of our barbeque on the beach, along with skewers of chicken and lamb, rice, baked potatoes, and fruit, washed down with red wine from a paper cup. Life is good.  As we took the shuttle boat back to the dhow, we experienced the thrill of an amazing bioluminescence display.  The water flew through the air like spark showers as we splashed the surface, and my fist looked like the beam of a flashlight as I held my hand underwater.  I had heard of this phenomenon but did not expect it, and certainly not the level of brilliance we were treated to.  The stars were bright as we found our way to our cushions.  What a great way to end a special day.

We were up before the sun the next morning to beat the heat for a morning hike to a pinnacle overlooking the town.  Eggs were made any way you like as long as you like fried hard, which was just splendid on a piece of bread.  Some fruit and yogurt and we were ready to go.  We took the shuttle to town and headed up the rocky slope behind town.  Walid led the way in his kandura and sandals while the rest of us plugged along.  In about an hour, we were treated to a glorious vista overlooking the town, nestled into a barren rocky shoreline with the Strait of Hormuz in the distance.

We returned to our shuttle craft and said our farewell to Kumzar.  We met up with the dhow en route and had enough time for a splendid swim stop that gave me a chance to savor the experience one last time before heading back to Khasab.  Our crew, all local Omani (except Menem), were wonderful hosts and showed us a delightful time with an authentic Omani experience.  Cost for this trip was 1400 AED ($381).  This includes the dhow cruise accommodations for two nights on the dhow, meals, snorkel gear, kayaks, and sleeping bags/blankets.  It does not include transportation to Khasab or the visa for entering Oman which can be easily obtained online or on arrival.