Desert camping, Night stay in Incredible big desert in Oman, Bidiyah, V...

WELL FIRST THING THAT COMES IN OUR MIND WHILE TAKING A TRIP TO A DESERT, FEEL LIKE LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. A DESERT IN Oman, is not the only desert in the country, but it is the easiest to access and the most developed, while still giving you the feeling of leaving civilisation behind.

Never expected our safari to be very great and definetely it wasn’t necessarily top of my Oman wish list. However, our trip to Wahiba Sands, was truly a fun and a fantastic experience and we had perfect weather conditions, moderate temperature. It was once in a lifetime experience for sure.

It is worth noting that I do think how much you enjoy your desert adventure will come down to picking the right camp for you, and there’s a lot of camps to choose from! 

We paid around 65 USD. I.e around 6000 India Rupee, which had breakfast and dinner complimentary. We had booked a land cruiser for dune bashing , which picked us from Sur, nearly 2 hrs drive from this sand desert. Name of our camps, where we stayed at night was Sama Desert camp.

There are a huge number of camps at Wahiba Sands and they vary a lot when it comes to size.

The Omani weekend is on Friday and Saturday and this is when the desert becomes much busier. The price of camps though fixed, availability might become an issue during these times.

You don’t need a guide or permit to enter the desert, so it’s a popular place to come for Omani’s with their own 4WD’s, as well as those that like to stay in the fixed camps.

Although everyone we met did take either a camel, ATV, or 4WD dune bashing trip in the desert, you don’t have to. Actually we did, 4WD dune bashing  and If you are up in the dunes, you can walk around them without the need for a guide and watch sunset, sunrise and stargaze in a picturesque location. 

We did these camps in march mid.

The vast majority of camps will shut down for summer and many (including ours) do not open between March and September. Temperature during these times are literally hot.

Camps were huts made of concrete and had nice wooden interiors. In the night you had option to watch a movie that is played on big screen and low chairs, beds placed on the outer side of the camps, with a bonfire.

The night time temperature was 23C which still sounds hot, but you have a large window on both sides of the tent which you can leave open to let the breeze run through.

The food was awesome and buffet was set up.

During our visit dinner was chicken, camel meat, vegetable masala, dhal, rice, grilled chicken, rice, icecrea, salad, bread and many more things. Breakfast was eggs, french toast and small pancakes with various toppings and variety of other option were available as well.

I really loved our time at Wahiba Sands. The main thing I wanted to do at the desert was dune bashing,  watch sunset, sunrise.

Wahiba Sands is located close to the small town of Bidiyah, which can be accessed with any car. The final bit into the desert requires a 4WD or a transfer with your camp if you don’t have one. Bidiyah is just under 200km and a 2 hour drive from Muscat, roughly 2 hours from Nizwa and 1 hour 15 minutes from Sur. 

Next morning, after breakfast we head to Wadi Bani Khalid, around 60 -90 mins drive from here.

After we turned off the main road we drove through a series of tiny villages then up and over stunning rocky mountains to this Oman desert oasis.

From the car park it’s only a five-minute walk to the pools, making it one of the most accessible wadis in Oman—the other popular wadi, Wadi Shab, is a 45-minute hike from the car park.

Entrance to the pools is free.

Wadi Bani Khalid has been developed with a few bridges, seating areas, and a restaurant, and a water pool with flowing water, in between.

The first pool is the largest. The wadi does get busy, especially on weekends (Fridays and Saturdays in Oman), but rest of the days, less crowded.

The pools are full of fish that will give you a foot massage, put your feet inside the water. Free of cost here, which might be payable in other countries. 

From the main pool you can swim (or walk) under a bridge (where many people like to jump off) and into a narrow canyon with pale rocks looming above.

To get to the second set of pools you have to walk—follow the sign and walk for about 10 minutes on slightly slippy rocks and tough terrain. Pools here are quite smaller.

You can continue for another 10 minutes to visit the Muqal cave—bringing a torch is a good idea. INSIDE THE CAVE, IT DOES GET A LITTLE TOUGHER HAS YOU MOVE IN. PRESSURE IS ENTIRELY ON YOUR KNEES AND PEOPLE WITH CLAUSTROPHOBIA SHOULD AVOID THIS. Ate the end of this cave, as we are told , Is the source of the water in the wadi.

After spending few hours here, we will now return to Sur, which is around 3 hours drive from here.