Another long weekend courtesy of the Islamic holiday al-’Isrā’ wal-Mi‘rāj. So we are leaving 40 degrees and heading for the mountains of Oman. At 2000 metres on Jebel Ahkdar we find a refreshing 28 degrees – we are definitely acclimatised.

The last time we were here a thunderstorm and torrential rain restricted our exploring so our first stop was the village that we had turned back from when we could no longer see the road. Looking at the drop offs, we were very pleased that we hadn’t attempted this a month ago.

The deserted plateau that we discovered on our last trip was now full of picnicking locals and a small army of campers occupying the easy to get to sandy spots. With the roof tent we don’t need the soft ground and so headed higher along a deserted track until we found a suitable view and a tree to hang the shower in.

After a two hour walk the next morning we were trying to decide wether to move camp or not when a 4WD drive pulled up about 50 metres below us. So the decision was made – we were not going to stay if we had neighbours. The sole occupant came over to say hello and when we offered him tea said that was actually coming to invite us for coffee. So we spent the next two hours sharing tea and coffee, sitting on a mat under a juniper tree with a fascinating local who turned out to be the Minister for Environment and Climate Affairs. On the Oman government website I discovered that his title was His Excellency Mohammed bin Salim bin Said Al Tobi.

Despite having friendly neighbours we still decided to move and proceeded to meander away across the huge plateau in low range in search of another place to camp. Another good move. We found more fabulous views, another tree shower, a wadi to explore and vast area to come back to on another weekend.