Division of the territory
As big as Poland or Italy, and twice the size of Greece, the Sultanate of Oman is divided into eleven governorates or mouhafaza: Muscat, Dhofar, Musandam, Ad-Dākhilīyah, Al-Buraimi, Al-Wusta, Adh-Dhahira, Northern Al-Batina, Southern Al-Batina, Southern Ach-Sharqiya, Northern Ach-Sharqiya. Interestingly, the Arabic toponyms in use have geographical or anatomical connotations. Dhofar means "the south", Musandam "the north", Muscat "the head", Batinah "the belly", Dhahirah "the back", Dhakhiliya "the interior", Wusta "the center", Sharqiya "the east". Two portions of the territory are exclaves on Emirati soil, the small Madha and the immense Musandam, guardian of the Strait of Hormuz, 45 km from the Iranian coast and at the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Geology
Of the world's 150 or so landscapes shaped by obduction - the overriding of the Earth's crust by the "sea floor" - Oman is the most spectacular. Over a period of 20 million years, oceanic rocks were transported in the open air, creating the stratified massifs and serpentine patterns we see in Muscat and far inland. Here, we often walk on marine lithosphere unearthed 90 million years ago, an outcrop considered the best preserved and longest on the planet. Characteristic of these rugged layers, ophiolites contain metamorphic rocks such as serpentinite, lizardite and chrysotile.
Mountainous terrain to the north and south
The sultanate offers a contrasting landscape of jagged or sandy coasts, mountains, plains, wadis and dunes. Around 80% of the territory is covered by sandy desert and rocky plateaus, 17% by mountains and only 3% by fertile plains. While the north of the country is arid, the south, which benefits from the monsoons from June to September, is much more lush.
Oman's main mountain range, the Hajar, stretches from the northern tip of Musandam to the easternmost tip of the territory, at Ras al-Hadd. It is referred to as the Western Hajar as far as the Sumail Gap to the west of Muscat, and the Eastern Hajar on the seaward side. The Western Hajar forms the backbone of the country, culminating at 3,020 m (Jebel Akhdar). It is the source of the orographic rains that give rise to the oases and wadis. In this part of the country, the relief is extremely steep and abrupt, and the stone is generally dark, even black. In the far north, the Musandam region is made up of gigantic fjords that plunge into the sea. This area is almost exclusively accessible on foot or by boat, while the part of the Hajar bordering the Batinah region has a few trails leading to the peaks. The range is also criss-crossed by more or less lush wadis, which are the subject of numerous excursions, such as the Bani Awf, Bani Khalid, Tiwi and Shab wadis, embellished by deep gorges, villages clinging to the sides of the walls and natural basins ideal for bathing.
In the south of Oman, near the border with Yemen, the topography is once again marked by a mountainous relief, much less arid since, from June to September, the region is drenched by monsoon rains delivered by south-westerly winds. The Dhofar djebel forms a continuous belt that never exceeds 23 km in width, but is 400 km long, encompassing the Samhan djebel to the east (culminating at 1,812 meters) and the Qamar djebel to the west.
The desert
In between, the desert occupies 80% of the territory, stretching from the east coast to the border with Saudi Arabia, offering formal and chromatic variations. The Sharqiya Sands, 190 km from Muscat on a new expressway, offer the intoxicating prospect of a parade of mamelons, a desert of ochre, yellow, white and brown sand, with dunes sometimes reaching a hundred metres in height. Formed in the Quaternary, it is the product of the opposing winds of the Shamal (the north-east trade wind) and the south-west monsoon, and is bounded by the river systems of the Andam and Batha wadis. The region is thus dotted with north-south-trending mega-dunes, blown by the monsoon and embedded there since the last regional glaciation. Further south, the sand sometimes gives way to expanses of stones and pebbles that lend a hostile atmosphere to certain parts of the desert of deserts, the Rub al-Khali. This legendary "Empty Quarter" runs its giant reddish barkhanes, interspersed with plains of gypsum and gravel, in the southern corner of the Yemeni-Saudi border.
From the border with the United Arab Emirates to the capital Muscat, a long, fairly fertile coastal plain stretches out. Then the Hajar takes over as far as Sur, lining the coast with rocky cliffs and coves. The desert, once again, falls into the sea at Ghalat along the southern Sharqiya sands, giving way to immense beaches and salt pans as far as the Yemen border. Around Salalah, coconut palms and banana trees add a deliciously tropical touch to the bangs of the "Land of Incense".
And islands
In Dhofar, the Khuriya Muriya, handed back by the British in 1967, are a group of five islands known in ancient times as the Zenobii. The main one, Hallaniyah, covers 56 km² and has less than a hundred residents. In the Batinah region (coastal side), off Barka and Sawadi, the Damaniyat archipelago is made up of 9 flat islands set in translucent waters and fringed by coral reefs, forming a nature reserve ideal for diving and turtle-watching. Then there's the great Masirah, some 20 km off the coast on the edge of Sharqiya and Wusta, with 12,000 inhabitants on 650 km², the divine beaches of Ras Al Ya on the east coast, the world's highest density of loggerhead turtles, a handful of pleasant hotels where you can find white sheets after kitesurfing, all in a lunar setting sculpted by grey-green ophiolites.
