His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said

His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Said (Official Portrait)

Today's post is about one man and the country he built over the past 38 years.

The modern Sultinate of Oman was born in 1970 when the current Sultan, Qaboos bin Said, came to power . At 30 years of age, he overthrew his father, a backward-looking despot, sending him into exile in London for the remainder of his life. When Qaboos bin Saud became Sultan, Oman was little more than a medieval state.

A few statistics:

• Life expectancy in 1970 was 47, while today it is 74.

• Oman had only one hospital in 1970 and now there are 58, plus 897 clinics and dispensaries.

• There were three schools in the whole country in 1970 and now there are 1178, plus several universities. Education is co-educational, with increasing numbers of women as well as men opting for careers in the professions and high tech.

• Today 86% of the country is supplied with electricity and with water, which is mostly piped in, although in the most remote villages water is supplied through truck delivery.

• From only 6 miles of paved road in 1970, a network of highways now links all the major cities and towns within Oman and its neighboring countries, and graded roads reach deep into the interior, linking the smallest villages.

Of course we did not meet or see the Sultan during our trip, but we saw his hand everywhere we went. We saw it especially in the highways stretching across the country, with new sections under construction almost everywhere we went.


The above and next three photos are of As Sultan Qaboos Street, a 4-lane highway that runs through Muscat and out past the airport. The highway is bordered on both sides for much of it's length by esplanades planted with grass, brightly colored flowers, and trees. All are irrigated by water derived from desalination plants.


Not only are these highways beautifully engineered and constructed, but much thought and no little expense was devoted to making them aesthetically pleasing as well, as with this retaining wall for an overpass.


This decorative structure, part of the same overpass as above, was patterned after an historic Omani fort.


Highway construction is not confined to Muscat and the other larger cities. This highway to the ancient Omani capital of Niswa runs along the wadis, or valleys between ranges of mountains.

This rugged stretch of highway leads to the beautiful Shangra La Resort, several miles south of Muscat on the coast.

A highways cuts through hills outside Salalah in the south.

There are well engineered paved roads even to small fishing villages such as Haramil.


We saw the Sultan's hand in the many government-built schools across the country, even in a tiny roadside village like Sarfait, dominated by its beautiful modern school.

We saw his artistic touch in sculptures decorating nearly every roundabout like this one near the University close to Mohammed's farm,

and perhaps his whimsy in this roundabout incense burner in Ruwi,

or this pile of dolphins on the promenade along the Corniche, a harborside street in Mutwah, a popular tourist section of Muscat.

This is the Sultan's yacht in Muscat Harbor, as seen from the Corniche. We were told that he has it because he doesn't like to fly.

An Opera House is under construction in Muscat. Maybe it will be done the next time we are there.

Pictures of the Sultan are everywhere: on the sides of public buildings,


on the roofs of stores,


behind the reservation desks of hotels such as the one where we stayed in Sur,

in a display in the Fort at Niswa,

and even along the highway, as with this display celebrating a meeting of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council, which took place during our stay.

I think that His Majesty Qaboos bin Said is a genius. I can think of no one in our time who has had such a profound impact on the actual physical development his country. He single handedly brought Oman into the modern age while scrupulously preserving his country's rich heritage, culture, and traditions. Furthermore he has done it with a powerful aesthetic sensibility; former U. S. Ambassador to Oman, Frances D. Cook told me that she considers him a Michangelo. He has chosen wisely which aspects of modernism to allow, and which to discourage. (I wish he had kept American fast food franchises out of his country, but that is about the only thing I can fault him for.)

One last statistic: in the Sultinate of Oman, His Majesty Qaboos bin Said is universally loved, which in the final analysis, says it all. rpk

The Grand Mosque and the Sultan's Palace 12/24

The day before Christmas. We were picked up by Mohammed's driver Idriis for a day of exploring Muscat and Mutrah. Once separate and fortified ancient communities, they are now part of greater Muscat.

Above is the modern gate between Muscat and Mutrah.


A strange structure in the form of a gigantic incense burner near the Corniche, a street curving along the harbor in Mutrah.

First we went to visit Sultan Qaboos's Grand Mosque. It is the largest in Oman, and is, in effect, the official mosque of the country.

I had to cover up completely, to my ankles and wrists, and wear a headscarf that threatened to fall off at any moment (scarves designed for western wear are just not large enough to be held securely in place).

The beauty and scale of the mosque is impossible to describe. From the outside there are four minarets at the four corners of a large enclosure with many archways. It is not unlike the Taj Mahal in it's effect.

Here is the Grand Mosque from the entry way.

Above the main hall is a huge dome, with an intricate lattice pattern, which is strikingly beautiful when illuminated at night. That's Idriis, our driver and tour guide, standing wit me in the foreground.

Inside, on the floor of the main hall, is the largest one-piece Persian carpet in the world (the blue cloth is rolled out during visiting hours).


A huge chandelier is suspended in the center of the dome. Gilded designs and calligraphy cover every wall.

Multiple nooks on every side hold copies of the Koran to be used during worship. Men and women pray in separate rooms off the main hall, and must wash both hands and feet before entering.

Sultan Qaboos's palace was similarly spectacular, although we couldn't go inside of course.

It was on the scale of Buckingham Palace, with a huge area out front for the pomp and circumstance that accompanies royalty. In the center is the palace itself, which was seen at night in an earlier post.

The palace is surrounded on three sides by mountains, on which are a series of five 16th and 17th century forts and watch towers. Above is Fort Mirani, now home to His Majesty's Royal Guards.

A series of three watch towers on a mountain overlooking the palace grounds.

One of two forts guarding the entrance to the harbor.

Next we went to lunch at the Automatic Restaurant, in Muscat, pictured on the left, above. I imagined little doors with dishes inside, like the old Automats still in New York as late as the early '70s, but alas, it was not to be. Instead we found ourselves in a good Lebanese Restaurant where we had an excellent lunch and take-out for dinner home at the farm.

Down on the Farm

Mohammed's farm, on the outskirts of Muscat, was home base for us during our three weeks in Oman. Now if you are imagining a Vermont, Iowa or Kansas farm, remember that Oman is largely desert, so a farm has to be created on the arid rocky landscape. This means that every fruit tree, row of crops and flower bed has to be planted in imported topsoil and individually watered through a system of hoses from a well that was dug 50 meters down to reach water.

A date palm planted in its own pit filled with top soil and watered by its own small hose.

The farm covers about 8-10 acres and is enclosed by a high wall. The shot above is a view from the roof of the farm house down the lane to the front gate.

The house is quite large with five bedrooms (each with its own bath), a central dining area, a TV room,

a laundry room, maid's room, and a large kitchen. All the rooms have 12 foot ceilings and air conditioning to combat the brutal summer heat which reaches 120 degrees.

A farm manager with his family and four farm workers live on the property.


Above is Hari, the farm manager, his wife, and their two children.


One of the farm workers picking squash early in the morning.


The crops include dates (date palms seen here through the kitchen window), mangoes, papayas, and vegetables such as squash, corn, white radishes, alfalfa for animal feed,

and cucumbers which are grown in three long greenhouses.


Livestock include 120 goats for milk and meat,


three Arabian horses, a gelding, a mare, and an 8 month old filly (Carolyn is petting the mare, and the filly is in the background),


and about 18 Arabian gazelles. These small gazelles are both curious and very shy, and beautiful to watch as they leap back and forth in their large enclosure.


The farm's perimeter road is about 1 mile around which provided a great walk for exercise (and entertainment from the animals) in the morning and evening. cck

The Long, Long Flight to Oman

So far we have crammed a lot into our first four days! It is hard to know where to begin - such big changes in climate, culture, and language.

The first adventure was getting here. What was promised as a 17 hour flight - Oman is 9 hours ahead of Boston - turned out to be 24 hours because of weather-related delays in Boston and one sick passenger who had to be deplaned, delaying our departure four and a half hours (the extra time spent seated on the plane).


Above is a shot Rodger took of our first sunrise somewhere over the Atlantic enroute to Amsterdam.

Missing out connecting flight in Amsterdam meant re-routing through Dubai to Muscat. Our arrival at the farm was 5AM local time without our luggage! Nonetheless, we met some very interesting people enroute from India, Kenya and Iraq. They are all very excited about our new president, Barack Obama.

Rodger brought along 100 4x6 inch prints of his famous photograph of Barack Obama, which were enthusiastically received everywhere we went. Many of those we met seemed to feel that Obama was their president as well as ours.

After a few hours sleep we went to Mohammed's home for lunch with several members of his family. Omanis, like the people of most Arab countries, greatly value the extended family. We felt very privileged to be welcomed so warmly. We ate a delicious meal on the lawn of Mohammed's palatial home. All of the food was exceptionally fresh, both fruit and meats are harvested form the farm - mangoes, cucumbers, dates, goat, chicken and eggs. All except us ate with their hands in traditional fashion.

After lunch we went back to the farm where our luggage was waiting. Finally we could change our clothes and brush our teeth! We had a Chinese dinner and a night tour of Muscat and Mutrah with Mohammed's son, Ahmed and his nephew, Ali.


A night shot of the central structure of the extensive Sultan's Palace, in Muscat.

In the end it all made for a very long day - two days really. But we were finally in Oman, and about to begin three weeks of exploration and high adventure. cck

Rumors Of Our Demise Are Highly Exaggerated

To our loyal Blog Followers:

Happy New Year!

Our sincere apologies for the blog silence of the last three weeks. We were not swallowed up by the desert sands, just confronted with technical problems we couldn't overcome (and it didn't help that there was a cable break somewhere in the Mediterranean).

We are back now from a spectacular three weeks of experiences that far exceeded our expectations. We have our first week in Oman ready for you, so we will post our entries in the next day or two in the order they were written. cck, rpk

Mohammed's farmhouse, our home base for three weeks.