In a continuation to my previous post on Wahiba Sands, I also wanted to mention about one of the mysteries I came across during my stay as well as watching the beautiful sunset and sunrise.
Since we had arrived around late afternoon, we set out to capture the sunset at about 5pm in the evening. With our cameras and smartphones in tow, we set out with Majid (our driver cum guide) in the Land Cruiser Prado to the vantage point which was to provide us the best view of the sunset.
Our Land Cruiser Prado arrives at the vantage point..
The sun is out in full force with the Desert Nights Camp in the background..
And the sun begins to go down..
As the sun was in the final stages of setting for the day, the number of vehicles increased..
And finally..
While we did get up early the next day to catch the sunrise, Cyclone Nilofar had other plans. With it closing in fast onto the Omani coast, all we encountered was the sun trying to get away from the clouds but unable to do so.
The sky above the Arabian Oryx Camp is getting dark..
The sun is trying to stay clear of the clouds but quite unable to do so..
The Love for Oman inscribed in the sands of time…
One of the mysteries which I encountered during my stay at Wahiba Sands was about a Land Cruiser Prado having 5 occupants in it and going missing on the evening we reached. A few of the Omani drivers tried to search the Wahiba for the missing vehicle throughout the night. Though they were able to contact the driver, the erratic mobile signals were not good enough to find the vehicle and rescue the occupants.
Finally, the driver of the lost vehicle had to literally burn their vehicle tyre the next morning so that the people could rescue them seeing the flames rise up high above towards the sky. This incident just went on to show that the vastness of the Wahiba could be quite dangerous at times. Though most of the occupants were old – aged individuals, they managed to survive.
Note: This experience is part of the 5 day trip organized for three bloggers by Ministry of Tourism, Oman & Indiblogger from 25th October to 30th October 2014.
Linking to NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month – December) – My post no 18 for this month.
Ruchi (@thewordcoiner)
Getting lost in a dessert is scary. Beautiful pictures. It’s amazing you took pics of so many moments.
aseemrastogi2
True Ruchi. Lost among miles and miles of sand at night is surely like reliving a nightmare. Good to know you liked the pics :). Was a beautiful stay at Wahiba Sands :D.
Monsoon Breeze
amazing pics 🙂
aseemrastogi2
Thanks guys :). Welcome to my blog :D.
Saru (@BaawriBasanti)
WOW, you guys had a great time.
aseemrastogi2
Yeah Saru. Was a trip of a lifetime :D.
Sushmita
I anticipated your experience to be adventurous, but this was scary!
Pretty photographs!:)
aseemrastogi2
Thanks Sushmita :). Yeah it was exciting and this experience of one of the tourist groups traveling with us was actually scary. Lost in the desert in the middle of the night with no contact with the world and without proper food and water is one nightmare scenario :O.