Last weekend we made a trip to Turtle Beach. Oman is intersected by the Tropic of Cancer. This means we are part of the strip with hottest sea temperatures on Earth (not to mention hottest air temperature...). This means Oman is blessed by turtles nesting on the southeastern shores. Mom was here visiting us for a month, for this reason we scheduled our first visit to the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve to this time. With our random sight stops the road to and fro the trip resulted a complete tour.
Our first stop was the Sink Hole. That deep big hole was created by an asteroid. At school Misi heard of it, he ended up telling a whole long story about it and even analyse the tiniest stones on site. We saw two cliffdivers jumping from the top rim.
We arrived to Sur at siesta time. We easily found the boatyard, where they build the traditional Omani sailing boats, called dhows. They are made almost entirely by handwork and without any plans, all from memory. The knowledge has been going down from head to head generation after generation.
Sur is a pleasant and peaceful seashore town. Its has a cornish and a brand new bay bridge.
Quite surprisingly Sur also has a fort (actually each town or even townlet in Oman boast an immaculately renovated fort). On our last visit to Nizwa the kids had a fantastic soldier role game at the fort, plus Mom is also fond of forts, so we spontaneously inserted it to our route. It was well worth it. As we arrived there it was closed. After walking around it we decided to have a tea break at our trunk-tea/coffee-bar which brought us the arrival of the keeper. Off the game begun and the camera shooted and Mom finally had a smile of utter happiness on her face! The greatest reward of all.
We arrived to Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve in the afternoon hours. We reserved one of the recently built eco tents. Actually they are spacious weekend houses equipped with all comfort (bathroom, AC, king-sized beds, water heater for tea and coffe, porch, big windows). The only thing is that their walls are from thick canvas, this gives a special touch for the feeling. The turtle museum is interactive and informative. We are fully educated about turtle species, nesting process and turtles' mythological relevance.
For more details clickhere to check out the reserve's website:
http://www.rasaljinz-turtlereserve.com
After a pleasant dinner we waited in the lobby with a busfull of cheerful schoolgirls for the guided tour to begin. Honestly I did not really thought it through how we are to see turtles on a dark beach, how its all going. We went to the beach in groups of 20 and it took a 10-minute walk to get there. There were two turtles nesting. The high season for nesting starts in summer and lasts all summer long, but there is activity all year round.
Now some information:
There are 7 sea turtle species on the world. Turtles evolved as land animals 200 million years ago. 150 million years ago some of them decided to go back to the sea. But since they lay eggs - which is not feasible in the sea - they come back to the land for reproduction purposes only.
Sea turtles go back to lay eggs exactly to the same beach where they hatched (they feel the magnetic field of Earth, or so). In Oman there are two turtle species nesting, one of which is the green turtle. They lay eggs between the age of 39 and 55. During that period they nest two-three times a year, occasionally they lay 150-200 soft shelled eggs. After laying the eggs they go back to the sea and never meet their hatchlings. It is a fact that only one little turtle from 3000 makes it till adulthood (till the age of 24) when he/she finally gets endangered only by humans.
Boy or girl? Whether the turtle is going to have all boys, all girls or mixed hatchlings depends on the temperature of the sand the eggs are layed in. Close to the water-cooler sand: boys, farther from water - warmer sand: girls. Inbetween: mixed.
So we went there and we actually saw a turtle in the middle of her labour. I felt very much compassionate with her. At one hand I felt thankful for the gift of nature that I can see a wild animal in actual reproduction but at the same time I imagined having 60 visitors in the labour room during my deliveries - and it did not really felt comfortable.
We were due to have a dawn beach tour, there we were at 4:00 AM at the meeting point but this time there was no activity on the beach. Luckily Laszlo and Misi could go back to sleep so much that we needed to hurry up to catch breakfast time.
On the way back we made a photo stop at the Sur bay bridge and we got a reward again: a turtle swimming beneath us in the bay!
Again spontaneously we hit upon Bibi Miriam's tomb at Qalhat. The place was once a flourishing harbour town, but the Portugese invasion completely destroyed it in the early 16th century. Now the site is under reconstruction by an international team of archeologists. Still it is easy to "enter" and take some nice shots especially of the only intact remained building, a tomb eracted by the King of Hormuz in honour of his wife.
We droppen in for a coffee to the recently opened Wadi Shab Resort, a cosy restplace inbetween Muscat and Sur.
By that time we started to head into late afternoon and almost felt not to make Wadi Shab, but in the end it still came together. Mom was blessed by a guide minding all her steps on the way to and from, so without swimming into the cave we made the trekking part within less than two hours! The boys start to feel trekking as their own coherent activity. While trekking they liven up and enjoy the exercise and adventure.
We got home exhausted but so very much pleased with all those beautiful memories and moments of happiness.
Our first stop was the Sink Hole. That deep big hole was created by an asteroid. At school Misi heard of it, he ended up telling a whole long story about it and even analyse the tiniest stones on site. We saw two cliffdivers jumping from the top rim.
We arrived to Sur at siesta time. We easily found the boatyard, where they build the traditional Omani sailing boats, called dhows. They are made almost entirely by handwork and without any plans, all from memory. The knowledge has been going down from head to head generation after generation.
Sur is a pleasant and peaceful seashore town. Its has a cornish and a brand new bay bridge.
Quite surprisingly Sur also has a fort (actually each town or even townlet in Oman boast an immaculately renovated fort). On our last visit to Nizwa the kids had a fantastic soldier role game at the fort, plus Mom is also fond of forts, so we spontaneously inserted it to our route. It was well worth it. As we arrived there it was closed. After walking around it we decided to have a tea break at our trunk-tea/coffee-bar which brought us the arrival of the keeper. Off the game begun and the camera shooted and Mom finally had a smile of utter happiness on her face! The greatest reward of all.
We arrived to Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve in the afternoon hours. We reserved one of the recently built eco tents. Actually they are spacious weekend houses equipped with all comfort (bathroom, AC, king-sized beds, water heater for tea and coffe, porch, big windows). The only thing is that their walls are from thick canvas, this gives a special touch for the feeling. The turtle museum is interactive and informative. We are fully educated about turtle species, nesting process and turtles' mythological relevance.
For more details clickhere to check out the reserve's website:
http://www.rasaljinz-turtlereserve.com
After a pleasant dinner we waited in the lobby with a busfull of cheerful schoolgirls for the guided tour to begin. Honestly I did not really thought it through how we are to see turtles on a dark beach, how its all going. We went to the beach in groups of 20 and it took a 10-minute walk to get there. There were two turtles nesting. The high season for nesting starts in summer and lasts all summer long, but there is activity all year round.
Now some information:
There are 7 sea turtle species on the world. Turtles evolved as land animals 200 million years ago. 150 million years ago some of them decided to go back to the sea. But since they lay eggs - which is not feasible in the sea - they come back to the land for reproduction purposes only.
Sea turtles go back to lay eggs exactly to the same beach where they hatched (they feel the magnetic field of Earth, or so). In Oman there are two turtle species nesting, one of which is the green turtle. They lay eggs between the age of 39 and 55. During that period they nest two-three times a year, occasionally they lay 150-200 soft shelled eggs. After laying the eggs they go back to the sea and never meet their hatchlings. It is a fact that only one little turtle from 3000 makes it till adulthood (till the age of 24) when he/she finally gets endangered only by humans.
Boy or girl? Whether the turtle is going to have all boys, all girls or mixed hatchlings depends on the temperature of the sand the eggs are layed in. Close to the water-cooler sand: boys, farther from water - warmer sand: girls. Inbetween: mixed.
So we went there and we actually saw a turtle in the middle of her labour. I felt very much compassionate with her. At one hand I felt thankful for the gift of nature that I can see a wild animal in actual reproduction but at the same time I imagined having 60 visitors in the labour room during my deliveries - and it did not really felt comfortable.
We were due to have a dawn beach tour, there we were at 4:00 AM at the meeting point but this time there was no activity on the beach. Luckily Laszlo and Misi could go back to sleep so much that we needed to hurry up to catch breakfast time.
On the way back we made a photo stop at the Sur bay bridge and we got a reward again: a turtle swimming beneath us in the bay!
Again spontaneously we hit upon Bibi Miriam's tomb at Qalhat. The place was once a flourishing harbour town, but the Portugese invasion completely destroyed it in the early 16th century. Now the site is under reconstruction by an international team of archeologists. Still it is easy to "enter" and take some nice shots especially of the only intact remained building, a tomb eracted by the King of Hormuz in honour of his wife.
We droppen in for a coffee to the recently opened Wadi Shab Resort, a cosy restplace inbetween Muscat and Sur.
By that time we started to head into late afternoon and almost felt not to make Wadi Shab, but in the end it still came together. Mom was blessed by a guide minding all her steps on the way to and from, so without swimming into the cave we made the trekking part within less than two hours! The boys start to feel trekking as their own coherent activity. While trekking they liven up and enjoy the exercise and adventure.
We got home exhausted but so very much pleased with all those beautiful memories and moments of happiness.
Cliff diving into the Sink Hole
From me by Misi
Misi sharing all his Sink Hole knowledge
Boatyard craftsman crafting a model boat
Raw material and almost ready final product
Under construction
What I see is what I reflect
Wood storage
Contamporary tool from the kit
Just do it - in your own pace - eventually it will bring result
A technological mind processing
Utter fascination - absorb in its fulness - touch, smell, construction, function, everything
Pleasant wrecking
Sur Fort courtyard -to the link
Sur Fort courtyard - to the right
I adore that smile
Khangar
Ras AL Jinz eco tents
Sur Bridge
Sur Bay
Bibi Miriam Tomb
Joy of life
Happy trekkers
Wadi Shab
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