Driving a Tacoma around the world

More fantastic phots and stories! Cheers for sharing them all!!

(I have to wonder how many Yanks got your title: "'A real zebra crossing"???)

 

Wow! Wow! just Wow! Epic journey guys! Thanks so much for sharing. Been following along for a while now. I just can't help think how brave you 2 are. If it was me and my wife attempting this? I mean, Just the safety and security alone to worry about each day, never mind everything else. And how about that 3rd gen so far. Simply amazing.

 

Too true, my wife has both American and British passports. She usually hides a Shakespeare quote in every country writeup as well

 

Pretty close. We’re thinking 40,000 miles in Asia, 30,000 in South America, and 10,000 in Central America. Crossing my fingers hoping it will last. Maybe Toyota will let me do a field trial of a 4th gen

 

Och, that's verra clever of our Dawn, is it no?!
I've not caught those quotes yet. Will be looking much closer now, tae be surrre.

 

Kenya


Our family group gathered with the Land Cruiser that was our home for a week (while our Toyota Tacoma was on its way to Oman)

Kenya was a terrific experience for us but not a typical overlanding one. As we did in Morocco a year earlier, we were gathering with our family for the holidays. We had planned several months earlier to ship the truck from Mombasa to Oman before the family arrived. (Not something we would ever do again, creating external deadlines around shipping internationally is setting yourself up for stress.) After that, our plan with our family group of six people was to visit Nairobi, the coast, and spend eight days with a professional safari company to visit the national parks. More on travel in Kenya later, first a few sidebars:

New Paperwork - switching to a Carnet de Passage

Kenya was the first time we were going to use our brand new Carnet de Passage. Going into our fourth year on the road, we finally had to bite the bullet and purchase one. Kenya was the first country that we hit that absolutely required a Carnet. It was a hefty investment for us (we went with Boomerang which was a higher cost upfront but a half of the deposit than the Swiss company, TCS that we contacted). Options for North American vehicles are limited, The US does not have the same variety of systems in place for this that the EU countries do. The $1,500 (ouch) we spent on the one year Carnet would hopefully get us all the way through India. For comparison, in our year in Africa up to Kenya, we spent less than $1,000 on vehicle permit fees and it would have been less than $500 if we had not chosen the wrong border into Ghana which was a $500 mistake. Details on permit costs are on our West Africa Visa and Vehicle Permit Blog. Vehicle costs for southern and eastern Africa since the time of that post were a little over $200.


Our newly minted passport for the truck - has to be stamped in and out of each country we visit, starting with Kenya through India


The Uganda/Kenya border, a little chaotic, everything under construction.

Luckily our customs official in Kenya (once we found him) was kind enough to walk us through the whole process of using a Carnet and tell us what to watch out for in keeping the Carnet valid. The main point of a Carnet is to make sure you do not dispose of your vehicle in a country so basically, it is getting your car stamped in and out by the customs office of each country you visit.

Adventures with the Truck - Broken Leaf Spring

Our job after entering Kenya from Uganda was to get the truck to Mombasa so it could be loaded on a ship, then to get ourselves back to Nairobi to meet the family. Of course, things became a little more complicated at the last moment. We limped into Kenya with a broken leaf spring, a little panicked about our chances of a last minute fix in time to get to Mombasa for our shipping date.

We made it to Jungle Junction (iconic overlanding camp in Nairobi run by the knowledgeable Chris) and he got us squared away quickly. He was not fully happy with us as he would have preferred the time for a complete re-build of the leaf spring packs, but we were on a schedule so he compromised by finding replacements for the top two leafs.


Passenger side view of the rear axle, missing its leaf spring


Both sides of the leaf springs, broken passenger side on the bottom. The top leaf broke where the second-from-the-top leaf stopped.

Chris at Jungle Junction pointed out the design flaw in the springs, a weak point where the lower portion of leaf spring pack joins the top leaf spring. The break occurred at the point where the second leaf spring ends and the top leaf spring continues by itself to the curl. His fix included extending the second leaf all the way to the beginning of the curl at the end for extra reinforcement.


In order to get it completed in one day Chris’s five man crew worked until 8 PM getting it ready for our 8 hour drive to our meeting with the shipping container in Mombasa

Shipping the Truck Mombasa, Kenya to Salalah, Oman

And then we were on the road and on our way! The three days we had hoped for to clean and organize the truck before shipment had evaporated– we got into Mombasa after dark after passing probably 200 slow moving trucks and had a date with the shipper the next morning, but we made it. We chose to use the same shipper that we used to send the truck from the US to England, IVSS, and even the same agent, Martin McGowan. He set up our shipping container and connected us to local port agents in both Mombasa and Salalah.


Finding our shipping office in Mombasa, wedged between grocery and hardware stores. Andy just ran through a thunderstorm, he is not really that sweaty.


Following our guide to where we will load our truck into a container


Andy appreciating the empty container and yet another thunderstorm


Loading it in! (Pole pole, or slowly, slowly in Swahili) Bit of a tight fit but all OK.


Except that the only way for Andy to get out was to slide down to the floor and crawl under the truck

And then it was time for our container buddies to load. A brief and huge moment of appreciation for August and Tatjana - we found each other on a Facebook forum for people overlanding - Dawn had done a post about looking for a container partner to share costs. We are so grateful to have had such thoughtful, smart, and interesting travel partners. It is a little nerve wracking to figure out shipping from foreign ports and having people to brainstorm with was huge. We also were dealing with a time schedule because of family commitments and August and Tatjana cheerfully went along with it and helped enormously. (August offloaded our truck in Oman and parked it for us as we could not be there when it arrived) They also had to endure the stress of not knowing if we were going to make it in time when we were dealing with our broken leaf spring.


Mercedes Sprinter going in, spotter on top, four of us sitting in the back to compress, tires fully deflated and it squeaked by.


Tires deflated as far as they can go.


Our awesome container buddies, August and Tatjana from Germany


Container ready to be driven to the port


Andy and August locking it up

Despite the last minute stress, the things we worried about in advance were non issues. The customs inspection was cursory, barely even a glance inside, just checking the VIN. Despite having to provide extra paper work and pay an extra $600 for a “haz” container because of our lithium battery, no one inspected that either. No one checked that our propane tanks were indeed empty (they were) or how clean the truck was. No one made sure we had no food inside (we had some canned and dry goods). A lot of worries were for nothing. We were amused to find out though that the “haz” container we were paying extra money for did not really mean special handling, it just meant that our container would be placed in a location easy to push off the ship if it caught on fire.

Traveling Kenya

We took a deep sigh of relief, but felt bereft without our home. Needing a moment to de-compress, we shouldered our duffel bags and got on the ferry to Diani Beach where we had used credit card points to book a couple of nights at a resort. It was a welcome break and the ocean breezes offset the extreme heat and humidity of the Mombasa area.


Very popular ferry from Mombasa island to Diani beach area


Our favorite - walking a white sandy beach


Andy eating our newfound favorite fruit - passion fruit

Our two beach days flew by and it was time to meet the family in Nairobi. A brief comment on climate and comparing Kenya’s two biggest urban areas. Nairobi is at nearly 6000 feet. Weather is pleasant and refreshing. But Mombasa quickly became one of our least favorite climates - hot and humid to the extreme. The stickiness was really only bearable for us when faced into the wind at the coast, like a dog with its head out the car window. We spent quite a bit of time in Mombasa with all the logistics but it was a challenge for us.


Our three weeks in Kenya

On the other hand, we enjoyed wandering around Nairobi. It was a great blend of traditional African and contemporary international cultures. We found the village style fruit markets but also trendy cafes. The city felt diverse and alive, Swahili was the most common language but you could hear up to 10 different languages in one block of walking.

In general, we found Kenya to be a very easy place to travel. English was more widely spoken than in nearby Tanzania, even in remote areas (Our Swahili is still very limited, “asante” for “thank you” and “mambo” or “mambo jambo” for “how is it going.” The world over we love the smiles we get when we even attempt a greeting in the local language - even if we butcher the pronunciation.) Tourism infrastructure was well developed, even to the point of rest stops along the major routes with toilets, coffee bars and of course souvenir stores. We were visiting highly touristed areas and felt like we were in international company, as opposed to many areas of Africa where we had felt like the only tourists for miles. Safety was never a concern. We had heard of the dangers of walking around Nairobi at night so made sure we took Uber from point to point after dark.


City center market in Nairobi


Complete with roof top Marabou storks waiting for food scraps


Downtown conference center


Lots of art galleries to explore. This is what Andy does when Dawn explores art galleries.

The first to arrive of our family group was our son Trevor. An avid outdoorsman and photographer he quickly grew weary of wandering city streets so we set off of a morning drive in Nairobi National Park. One of the oddest parks we have been too, it is literally adjacent to Nairobi skyscrapers but is full of wildlife. They fenced the side closest to the city.


Nairobi National Park: White rhino (Photo credit Trevor Elsbree, as with all the wildlife photos in this blog)


Lioness on the prowl


Impala


African crowned crane - now one of our favorite birds


Male and female ostrich pair


Our first black rhino sighting! Much more rare than the white rhino.

Next to arrive, our daughter Claire and her boyfriend Nick. We were almost equally excited to receive the 40lb bag of supplies they brought.


Nick and Claire with our 40 lbs of stuff we ordered and had delivered to them in the US so they could bring it to us


Contents of the bag

Our other son Nicholas made it in at 3am and was still up for visiting Sheldrick Wildlife Trust the next day (he had actually sponsored a baby elephant as a gift for a friend in the past). Visiting the orphanage was a lovely experience, clearly the young giants were being well taken care of and prepared for release into the wild.


Elephants playing at the mudhole at Sheldrick Wildlife Orphanage





Family photo time, Dawn’s smile doesn’t get much bigger

And then because we were close by and we seemed to be re-visiting trips of the past when we carted three young children round zoos and wildlife parks, we headed to the Giraffe Sanctuary to feed giraffes.


Feeding the giraffes - surprisingly rough but gentle tongues!


Don’t think we will ever see a sign like this one again

Continuing our grand tour of Nairobi, we visited the national museum and snake center (Andy saw his first black mamba, Dawn was happy it was behind glass and not out in the bush) and walked through the peaceful arboretum.


Another family photo - no truck to take photos of so we are back to taking photos of our kids


Walking across Nairobi


None of us are city people so everyone came alive examining the trees in the arboretum


And yes, Dawn required another family photo. We love our kids, they put up with it with the required smiles.

And we had a lovely dinner out with Trevor’s grade school friend who happened to be living in Nairobi.


Trevor reunites with his elementary school friend, Olivia

And then the real fun began - off to the iconic Kenyan national parks. We had set up a whirlwind tour of Tsavo, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. Let the games begin!

We signed up with Spirit of Kenya for our trip and they were amazing in setting up a tailored trip. They provided a super experienced guide, Rafael, and he completely took care of us for a week. We signed up for the “mid-range” option but honestly the accommodations and food were light years ahead of anything we had experienced in the past few years. The things we get excited about now: bedside tables, a toilet, plugs, free toiletries, hot running water– we are easy to please.


Trevor and Nicholas’s favorite safari positions


The group’s first elephant in Tsavo West National Park


Trevor having fun capturing the mini and macro wildlife (pictured here: an Agama)


View from our safari tent at Tsavo National Park


Tsavo had more of these miniature antelopes - Dik Diks - than anywhere else we had been


This baboon had a rough night

Tsavo National Park had beautiful scenery, but brush was often thick by the side of the road so it could be more difficult to spot wildlife. This made us appreciate our next park, Amboseli, even more with its wide open vistas and more elephants than anywhere else we had been.


Scenic overlook at Amboseli National Park


Wildebeest


Our first cheetah as a group!


We sat and watched it as the sun went down. It was not the least bit concerned we were there, although eventually it sauntered off

We had begun our exploration of Masai culture in Tanzania and continued to be interested in their traditions and way of life. We ran into these young men on the road on a walk outside our hotel in Amboseli, and enjoyed a lively conversation with them.





Cape buffalo at Amboseli


Not quite the iconic Kilimanjaro shot at Amboseli, but if you look carefully you can see it poking out of the clouds


Hilltop view at Amboseli

Then we were off to Lake Nakuru. This was unexpectedly one of our favorite parks, definitely lesser known. But the scenery was stunning and varied and there were lots of opportunities for intimate wildlife sightings.


Nicholas modeling his new safari hat by Lake Nakuru (he forgot to bring a hat so made a roadside hawker very happy)


Then Dawn had to take photos of everyone at the lake


Photo of the photographer


Hippo fun





Mother and baby white rhino strolling along the lake bed


First lion on the safari!


Andy’s favorite bird - a Lilac-breasted Roller


Giraffes taking a break from headbutting practice


Just chilling out in the grass


Hyenas - always so fascinating to watch, the most recognizable evening silhouette with their sloping backs


Claire’s favorite position on safari - comfortable seat, knitting in hand (note the male lion outside her window)

Then, our final national park with the safari company, Masai Mara. Connected to our favorite, the Serengeti in Tanzania, Masai Mara is known for lions. It did not disappoint.


Early morning balloons over Masai Mara


Early morning pride of hunters





In one of our trip highlights, we watched the pride of lions encircle and try to take down a warthog. We all hold new admiration for Puumbas, as the warthog evaded capture and took off across the savannah, tail high. Maybe the lions were tired but they left a wide avenue of escape for it in their formation.


Cape Buffalo wallowing at Masai Mara


Hartebeest posing on the tallest point it could find


Christmas morning picnic breakfast in the park (Rafael assured us there were no lions about).


Because just when you think there are not lions about, they are there!

At our hotel outside the park, we took a walk with some young Masai men from a neighboring village. The young man who spoke English described their lives and customs. He was anxious to earn money for more cows which he could trade to the local schools for his younger siblings’ education.


Visiting the cow boma (a paddock encircled by a branch fence)


Josef showing us how to make a Masai toothbrush


Nicholas was up for learning how to brush his teeth Masai style


Trevor let the chief’s son dress him appropriately


And when it started to rain they brought us in one of their homes, constructed of clay with a smooth cow dung surface. Nicholas is still working on those teeth.

Then, the next day on our final drive, Rafael took us by a different Masai village which welcomed tourists with a traditional dance (which of course everyone participated in).











And a demonstration of making fire


Using two sticks and a board to make fire

Our time with the safari company ended on a high note. We said our grateful thanks to Rafael, who dropped us off at Lake Naivasha so we could explore Hell’s Gate Canyon National Park.


Afternoon rest at Lake Naivasha


Our most photogenic couple posing at Hell’s Gate Canyon overlook

To wrap up our family time, we were heading back to the southern coast to Kilifi to attend the New Year’s Beneath the Baobab music festival. Well, most of us. Claire’s boyfriend Nick had to fly home to go back to work and Andy decided to relax at the Airbnb and forego multiple days of young DJ and African house music artists lighting up the Baobab forest.


Trevor indulging in a life long tradition (taught to him by Andy) of catching and holding wildlife


Nicholas indulging in a lifelong family tradition of climbing whatever rock is around (also taught to him by Andy)


Exploring the coast


Entering the Beneath the Baobabs festival grounds - surprisingly calm experience, a remote reserve with cool breezes and venues well spread out, it was a beautiful place to hear music.

Two days of music! It was a cultural immersion into young African artists and an amazing experience.


Relaxing by the stage (going to see live music, a lifelong family tradition taught by Dawn).


This sign felt right


One of the many young DJs we enjoyed


And the lights go out on 2023!

Thank you for reading and indulging us in a family memoir. Not to worry, once we hit the Arabian peninsula there will be much more of the overlanding content again. Happy New Year all!

 

Another EXCELLENT write-up with AMAZING photos! Really appreciate you sharing so much of your adventure and Beautiful family!!

Enjoyed seeing it all, everything, and would be here all day if I tried to comment on it all. But had to say how I got a chuckle out of seeing the dreaded aluminum replacement oil filter cap. lol
Also, a favorite Thai beer being advertised by Nicholas: Chang Beer. Nice! Hopefully you will be able to visit the brewery when you touch ground in SEAsia. Chang is only second to my favorite: Beer Lao (out of Laos, of course).

Keep the good read and great photos coming. God Speed and best of luck!

 

Thank you so much! We had a lot of fun. Yes the dreaded aluminum oil filter canister. The short story is when changing the oil in Malawi, I tightened the small cap that predrains the oil too tight and broke it. Now with oil coming out at a rapid rate I called the mechanic and he did an African fix which kept us going until leaving Africa. African ingenuity is amazing for five dollars we were back on the road in a half an hour.

After over a year we get to say goodbye to Africa with twinges of regret. People have been simply amazing. Now on to the Middle East! We have real route challenges trying to get to Singapore

 

Again, thank you for sharing. This thread and the one @turbodb does are 2 of my favorite for living vicariously.

We love our Ultimate Ears speakers, you will love that Wonderboom if you haven't tried one of theirs yet.

I have been wondering how you are going to route through Asia. Looks like the best choices are up through Turkey (going around Syria) and across the Caspian for a northern route, or just ship over to Karachi. But then you have to get around Burma. Challenging times, wish we could all just get along!

 

Thanks! Sounds like we have found our competition.

We love the wonderboom! Its so much better (louder and much more unidirectional) than what we had before.

Our route through Asia is certainly gong to be challenging. We have four problem locations, that we know of. First one is how to get to Greece/Turkey. That involves either shipping from Saudi Arabia, driving thru Iraq, or driving thru Israel and shipping to Greece. The next one is that Azerbaijan hasn’t opened its land borders since Covid. So either we put the truck on a flatbed and have it shipped over the border or we apply for a transit visa thru southern Russia. That gets us to Kazakistan but we still have to get thru western China and Myanmar.

 

Oman



Oman is an overlander’s heaven. It is probably the simplest place we have ever traveled in our truck in terms of abundant and gorgeous wild camping and easy and inexpensive access to any amenity (gas, food, water). Oman has wisely invested it’s oil revenue in infrastructure and the roads are excellent. Frequent cell towers ensure coverage over most of the country, even in most remote areas. The people are warm and welcoming, and embrace a culture of camping and enjoying the outdoors.

The scenery astounded us. We thought of desert and sand and more desert. But there is so much more. We drove some of the most beautiful coastlines, wound our way up rugged mountains, and explored private wadis (deep canyons or ravines with rivers, streams or water pools depending on the season).


There are very few actual regulations about where you can drive in Oman, leaving it up to common sense which seems to be working.

Oman quickly jumped its way to our short list of favorite countries. (Others on the list: Iceland and Norway for scenery, Romania and Albania for a combination of intriguing culture and beautiful varied outdoors, Morocco and Benin for diving into ancient African cultures and architecture, and Tanzania for an iconic African experience that combines wildlife, beautiful landscapes and fantastic people.)

We arrived in Oman in January which meant perfect weather - cool enough to hike and walk, warm enough to swim in the ocean, sunny, bright and dry. The only surprise for us was the tendency for strong gusting winds to blow up in the middle of the night, rocking our camper with their strength. We learned to plan for this as we pulled into our sites at the end of the day with a slight balmy breeze that we knew would turn into 35mph gusts by 2am. This tendency with the winds was consistent from low elevation beaches to the highest peaks.


Our three week 1500 mile route through Oman

Oman was also the perfect landing pad for us on the Arabian Peninsula. The country seems to successfully retain its Muslim roots and traditions while embracing modern economics and tourism. The country was recently ruled by Sultan Qaboos known for his “renaissance” period. He had a vision for education and prosperity which embraced workforce training and investing in infrastructure and actively opened the Oman up for tourism. The country feels prosperous. Although there is also the fact common throughout the Arabian peninsula that a majority of the manual labor and lower paying jobs are going to immigrants on temporary work permits from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This creates a very obvious division between the Omani people living more luxurious lives and the immigrant “worker” population. In Oman, 67% of the workforce are immigrants.

Oman is a safe, stable country. The current Sultan, Haitham bin Tariq took over from Sultan Qaboos and has continued his policies. He also believes in the country’s role as a peacemaker in the region. As visitors we were welcomed and with curiosity and smiles. The Omani people dress traditionally with the men in head to toe white and the women in black. Almost all women covered their hair. Although we dressed modestly and Dawn stuck to long dresses, she never felt that she had to cover her hair.


So happy to be back on the road in our home on wheels. After a month of carting our duffels and food in and out of Airbnbs in Kenya, we are remembering why we love the simplicity of this lifestyle.

As Americans, we are very aware of the complex web of relations between the US and countries in the Middle East. We did our best to approach interactions with humility and kindness and were treated in kind. We quickly learned our key words in Arabic (“shokran” for “thank you” and “salaam alaikum” for a greeting) and Google Translate became our friend (very fun for us to watch it typing out Arabic from right to left). One gentleman in Oman told us he was “not very happy with the US government right now” but then proceeded to take the time and effort to personally guide us to where we could fill our propane tanks. We also had one hilarious interaction early on at a souq where Andy was trying to say “thank you” and instead called the shopkeeper a drunk (shokran vs sakran). Some confusion at first, but then lots of smiles and laughter as the mistake was explained by someone with good Arabic and English skills.


First day in Salalah - walking the beach

As rookie travelers to the Arabian Peninsula, we booked our plane flights with a Friday arrival in Salalah, the port city where we would reunite with our truck. In the Muslim world, Friday is the holy day so we had some time to kill exploring Salalah before we hit the overland life again. We were also blessed with the continued presence of our son Trevor who traveled with us from Kenya to explore Oman.


Our first Arabian horses!


View from our Salalah hotel window

Salalah was our introduction to typical modern Islamic architecture. Very white (or cream), clean lines with touches of artistry.


Some of the older architecture is a little crumbling


And the mosque minaret is the most common architectural feature


A happy reunion! Picking up the truck from our shipping agent.

First order of business, re-stock on food! Enormous hypermarkets were common throughout Oman in larger cities and we headed to our international favorite, the Carrefour where we knew we could get decent baguettes (still a favorite). But there was still a lot of local flavor to the selection.


Dawn had never seen so many varieties of tahini in a market


Andy in his matching shirt was thrilled that the Omani people also love his favorite soft drink


Trevor going local with camel milk and a date cookie

And then we were off! We headed west along the coast from Salalah as we had heard there were spectacular beaches and cliffs to see - there were.


Coastal road west of Salalah


Trevor sitting on the edge at Shaat cliffs


Just exploring - very rarely did we see a dirt road posted as “private” or “no access”


Picnic stop at Fazayah Beach cliffs


Our first night’s camp at Fazayah Beach. Trevor tenting it.


So much beautiful scenery from the coast with its aqua water


To inland mountain passes


Another beach picnic stop. Trevor and Andy examining the pools full of pink shrimp


They were everywhere! Dying along the edges of the water. While we were inspecting them a pickup full of guys appeared and they proceeded to scoop them up into buckets - probably good eating?


And then oops, didn’t quite get enough speed up leaving the beach and sand softer than we thought. Looking closely you can see the tire deflator on the valve stem, we hadn't deflated beyond highway pressure.


Trevor our champion digger


Maxtrax to the rescue - again! (We have used them three times in three years, Mauritania, Senegal and now Oman)


Made it out with a speedy back up then punching it back through. It made us feel a little better that a local driver got stuck too in almost the same spot so we were able to exercise our winch and get him out.


Just appreciating the stunning coast line as we headed back through Salalah and started working our way north toward Muscat


Its very common in Oman for beach picnic or camping sites to have some sort of structure or shelter. Trevor was grateful to get his tent out of the blowing sand.


Our first camels in the road!





So many scenic overlooks and viewpoints. The coastal drive from Salalah to Muscat is one of our all time favorites.


Pulling into a wadi camp


Fresh water in wadi Ash Shuwaymiyah


A happy reunion with our container buddies we shipped from Kenya to Oman with


View from camp


More camels!


Road into the wadi camp


Picnic lunch stop at a canyon edge


A classic picnic lunch in Oman - pita bread, cheese and hummus available in even the tiniest markets


A local family came out to meet us and using a lot of hand signals, asked for Andy to put air in their tires (they had quite a load in their pickup bed). We are guessing that they had come to understand vehicles like ours often had compressors on board.


While Andy worked on the air, Dawn posed with the family camels


Not every intended camp spot worked out, we went out to this remote beach to find it covered in fishing boats and infrastructure. No people though, we probably could have camped there but it felt strange to do so.


Trevor surveying the land (we nicknamed him Goatman on this trip, always heading to the highest point)


But no problem, we found a scenic site in the black rock formations set back from the beach


Another quiet morning in camp


Mid day stop at the rock garden at Duqm. Typical for attractions in Oman, free and no one around. There’s Trevor finding the highest point again.


While Andy relaxes on his own rock couch


Typical town along the coast


Although some of the sites we camped in had rubbish around, especially near urban areas, public dumpsters were everywhere, it is clear that the government is working on the problem. We also often saw workers out in even remote areas picking up trash.

Despite already getting stuck in the sand once in Oman, we decided to check out a track into Wahiba Sands - the biggest dunes in Oman. We know we are heavy, so sand is not always our friend, but still thought we would try.


Heading into the Wahiba Sands track from the coast

Of course, we got bogged down and stuck. We fired the notion of driving the track further but decided to spend the night in the dunes anyway.


Trevor running ahead to scope out the landscape for camping


Found a hard packed camp site on top of a hill!

This was our first time traveling for multiple weeks with a third person and it actually worked well (at least for Andy and Dawn!) Trevor slept outside in a tent (we offered him the small converted dinette bed but he declined) and rode along in the small third seat. He was a great helper, problem solver and navigator. Not sure we would want to do it with someone who was not a family member though! While he was with us we removed the backseat shelves and just folded the extra stuff in, it worked somehow.


Trevor all set up for the night in the dunes


Our only visitors

Our last stop before Muscat was a stop at Wadi Shab. The most developed and well known of the wadis in Oman, reaching the end involved a short boat ride, a hike and a swim through consecutive pools.


Boat ride into Wadi Shab


Hike into Wadi Shab


Despite it being more touristy and visited than other wadis we went to, it’s sheer beauty made it worth while





Andy preparing to jump in for the swim to the end at Wadi Shab - phones and t-shirts in a dry bag.


Bimmah Sink Hole - picnic lunch stop

And then we were in Muscat, the largest city in Oman. As we approached the city and saw more people using the wild areas and we realized how unique our time down along the rugged southern coast with miles to ourselves had been.


Beautiful mosque view from our hotel room. Highlight for us in Muscat -first hot shower in 2 weeks!


Trying out some new drinks! (and Andy still appreciating an old favorite). A dry country, we were substituting fruit and caffeine drinks for alcohol.


A rare meal out in Muscat - the best falafel ever!


First experience of the over the top mall culture on the Arabian Peninsula. With many areas being unbearably hot outside for half of the year, malls are huge and include a variety of extravagant amusements - this mall in Muscat had a snow play area inside.

We only spent one night in Muscat - washed ourselves and our laundry and were on our way. It was a modern prosperous feeling city, very contemporary in feel and we were hungry to visit some history.

We made our way to a few historic forts and appreciated the architecture, but could tell they had been fully renovated and there was usually very little information for visitors of the historic importance of the site which made it harder to appreciate.


Nakhal Fort





Beautifully renovated and sited Nakhal Fort





From Nakhal Fort we made our way to Nizwa Souq - one of the oldest and most famous souqs (market place) in Oman. It was a relaxing place to visit - no pressure and lots of beautiful local handicrafts.


Pottery at Nizwa Souq


Old mosque in Nizwa


We wandered some side streets in Nizwa and found old abandoned houses to explore



Then off to a wadi to camp!


Andy taking the opportunity to wash the truck in a wadi. We later found out that you can be fined for having a dirty car in Oman - oops

Our final stop on our historic cultural tour of the region was Tanuf Village. An ancient village which was bombed by the British in the Jabal Akhdar Wars in the 1950s, the standing ruins still give a sense of how people lived.


Tanuf village ruins






Our final stop in Oman was one of our favorites. We drove into the tallest mountain range and explored the vastness of the Jebel Shams area. We did not take on some of the epic cliff hanging drives as we are basically overloaded and still have PTSD from some of our African road attempts but opted for the direct, mostly paved, route to the top of Jebel Shams. Once there we went on one of our favorite hikes in years, the Boardwalk HIke, a cliff hugging trail which ends up at an abandoned village built into the caves. An easy 5 miles round trip, the views were astounding.


Boardwalk trail, Jebel Shams








Abandoned village at the end of the trail


Goatman at the top of the nearest peak


The sun goes down on our Jebel Shams camp


Well, Oman was fantastic. We hope we have inspired others to visit. We look forward to seeing what the rest of the Arabian Peninsula has to bring. Thank you for reading and safe travels out there!

 

Epic!!!!! Amazing journey so far. Always look forward to your updates. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

Fantastic again! My favorite photos still are the ones of the African peoples, especially the Masai.

I love those photos where you and your family are arm in arm with the Masai. It would be incredible to go out with them on one of their traditional hunts.

The world would be a lot better place if we could all get along like that hey? It is possible, but unfortunately there are still too many tyrants as leaders in this world.

Sounds like that Sultan of Oman had the right idea, investing in infrastructure, education and creating a welcoming country.

Great stuff, continued safe travels.

 

Also very curious as to what safe route you plan to move to your next destination in the Middle East.

 

Our next move is not to cross Iraq, which a few Europeans are doing, but instead drive to Haifa, Israel and put the truck on a 3 day ferry to Greece. We fly. Trying to do this before Ramadan

 

Suscribed !!!! I just found this post !!!!!! so some amazing pic... Thank you for sharing.. I'll start from post 1 on the weekend..

 

@Soft Taco did a really nice write up on us if interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdnxDca1fE

 

Wow! I hope it doesn’t put you to sleep!

 

Incredible pictures and story!
It's really awesome to see you doing this.
I just started following along but i look forward to keeping up with your adventures.

 

It's been a exciting adventure that's for sure, thanks for checking us out