Oman is a state in Southwest Asia, in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula. Shared borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The capital is Muscat. Currency – Omani rial. The official language is Arabic. Religion – Islam.
The Sultanate of Oman is located between 16*40′ and 26*20′ north latitude and 51*50′ and 59*40′ east longitude. It is washed by the waters of the Persian and Oman Gulfs and the Arabian Sea. The land border runs along Saudi Arabia in the west, the United Arab Emirates in the northwest, and the Republic of Yemen in the south.
The northern and eastern borders run along the seas: in the north, the Strait of Hormuz, in the east – the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The length of the coastline is 1,700 km.
According to Shoefrantics.com, Oman is the third largest Arabian state with an area of 309 thousand 500 square kilometers. About 82% of the country’s territory is occupied by deserts. The most densely populated areas are located along the coast. One of the largest caves in the world is located in Oman – its depth is 250 m, and the volume is 300 million cubic meters. Oman also owns several islands, the largest of which, Masirah, is located in the southeast of the country and has not only sea but also air communication with the mainland.
Climate – tropical, hot. The temperature all year round is not lower than +20*С. The main season is from October to May, the average temperature during this period is from +20*C to +38*C during the day and from +15*C to +20*C at night.
Vegetation is poor, and the animal world is diverse. The state religion is Ibadism. The population is about 2.8 million people, mostly Omanis (Arabs of Oman). Up to 700 thousand foreigners live and work in the country (mainly citizens of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines), who are not citizens of Oman.
Oman – another country of the Persian Gulf, where you may get the impression that there is nothing around except the desert. However, crowds of tourists come here. What is it that attracts them so much? For starters, this is a rather picturesque region with its own special nature: mountains, savannahs, waterfalls, tropics. It is an oasis in the middle of the desert. Also, Oman is the only Middle Eastern country that miraculously managed to maintain its identity without succumbing to the influence of modern civilization.
The ancient lands of this country once belonged to the Queen of Sheba, legendary for her intelligence and beauty. Today’s Oman, which has preserved all its unique traditions, attracts tourists with its wild mountains and waterfalls, untouched deserts and fresh green oases, the unique beauty of which guarantees the best vacation. Also, fans of oriental beauty will enjoy a rest with benefit. After all, it is in Oman that the complex of hot healing springs is located.
Sultanate of Oman located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders on the United Arab Emirates in the north, Saudi Arabia in the northwest, and Yemen in the west. In the north, Oman is washed by the Gulf of Oman, in the east and south – by the Arabian Sea. The total area is about 212.5 thousand km2. (the borders in the west run through deserts and are not clearly marked). The northern part of the country is mountainous (the highest point of the country is the city of Jebel Shams, 3353 m) and is rather strongly dissected. Between the mountains and the Gulf of Oman stretches a narrow strip of the coastal lowland of El-Batin. The southern coast of Oman, washed by the Arabian Sea, is more flat and occupied by the rocky-sandy deserts of the outskirts of Rub al-Khali.
A tourist visa is issued within 5 working days, for 3 weeks.
Secrets of the rainforest of Oman
An unusual tropical forest has been discovered in Oman.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the east of the Arabian Peninsula, in Oman, encountered a unique rainforest. The trees in this relict forest have learned to extract water from low-lying clouds on their own.
According to the researchers, the trees were able to survive in the desert on the Dhofar Plateau precisely because of this ability – to collect water drop by drop from cloud masses and fog.
Water seeps into the ground and subsequently helps the trees to endure a period without precipitation. The forest actually receives more moisture from contact with clouds than it does from rain, say Al-Fatih al-Tahir and Anke Hildebrandt, who studied the forest. Rainforests typically grow in areas of high humidity; it is all the more surprising to find such a forest in an area suffering from chronic drought.
The forest, according to scientists, is a remnant of a strip of wet vegetation that once encircled the entire Arabian Peninsula. Later, the climate changed, and the ancient woody vegetation left – but a small part – the Dofar forest adapted to the new conditions.
The “seasonal rainforest” study, as scientists have called it, has been published in Geophysical Research Letters. At the moment, it is under threat – if the camels continue to intensively eat the foliage, the forest may lose its ability to replenish underground reservoirs.
The point, as Tahir explains, is that while Oman has made a fortune in the oil trade of late, the family’s prestige is still determined by the number of camels it owns. Therefore, camels are becoming more and more.
In wetter ecosystems, trees could probably recover from the damage, but they won’t grow back here: even dense grass doesn’t store enough water. The researchers proposed a series of measures to the Omani government to help save the amazing forest.
