Our Oman Experience: Salmah Plateau

Driving off-road got a totally new dimension for us last weekend. We could see how bad it could get, there were moments when it was better not to breathe and finally, we made a right decision to turn back.

We started Salmah plateau route from Fins, the road went up and up and up and it did not look so bad at first because the road even had some edges. It was steep climbing but nothing awful. The views got better and better, the higher we got. The plateau is around on 1,5km height and the view over the surroundings is wonderful: mountains in „front“ and sea in „back“, something totally different than in the mountains that are situated inland. Also, it was pleasantly „cool“ on the plateau, being only around 32C while in Muscat it was 45C (the hottest we have experienced here so far)! On the plateau there is also Mailis Al Jins cave entrance. We got to read that it is the second largest cave in the world but it is impossible to enter without a special equipment. Besides the cave and camels and some villages on the plateau there was also an airstrip. And then, after the nice wide airstrip landscape we continued the road but it became worse and worse. The rain had made the road complicated to drive, there were parts where there were big loose rocks and empty holes between them, so it was difficult to find a good place for car wheels. Then, some parts the road got nice again but after another difficult rocky part when we hoped it was the last one we ended up in wadi (dry river bed) and it got even more difficult, so we returned. It was a right decision, because later we heard that even the locals try to avoid part of this route. By the late afternoon we were back in Fins, where there are beautiful white-sand beaches. We had dark clouds all around us and we saw lighting in the distance but we got only some raindrops, perfect! We had some bbq and we relaxed until dark hours. When it became dark it was time for grab watching. It was oh-so-beautiful evening! When we started to drive back to Muscat our car started to give „engine failure“ notification but fortunately we arrived back safe and sound (next day, Andres took the car to the car rental to get it fixed... for next adventure).