The Wahiba Sands

The Wahiba, officially the Sharqiya Sands, covers roughly 12,500 square kilometres of eastern Oman, and its structure is distinctive: long parallel dune ridges running roughly north to south for tens of kilometres, up to a hundred metres high, separated by gravel corridors, the whole shaped by two opposing wind systems. A Royal Geographical Society expedition surveyed it in 1986 and recorded a species list far higher than the landscape suggests. Bedouin families of the Wahiba and other groups graze camels and goats here and several run camps. Access is from Bidiyah, where tyres are let down for the sand, and lodges range from basic to expensive.

What you actually see

• Parallel dune ridges - the long north-south ranges up to a hundred metres.
• Gravel corridors - the flat ground between the sand ridges.
• Bedouin camps - the herding families and their camels.
• Desert lodges - the camps set among the dunes for visitors.

When to go

October to April; summer temperatures are extreme. Nights are cold in December and January. Camps fill during Omani and Gulf holidays and need booking.

Honest expectations

Driving in requires four-wheel drive, deflated tyres and some experience; vehicles get stuck routinely and recovery is expensive. Camps vary enormously in standard and price. Sand and dust get into everything. Dune bashing damages the surface and disturbs residents.

Nearby

Bidiyah is the entry town; Wadi Bani Khalid lies northeast.