Oman

The Oman is an arid country, located on the eastern corner of the Arabic peninsula. To the east it is bordered (from north to south) by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, and to the west by the Indian Ocean. The Capital is Muscat, a harbour city at the northern coast.

Today this country is important for its oil deposits. In former centuries its was important for its frankincense. Frankincense is the resin of trees called Boswellia of the family Burseraceae. It contains a volatile oil which was valued in ancient times in worship and as medicine. Despite the mythologic qualities it really is a mild disinfectant.

There are numerous fine caves in the country. Al Hotta Cave has been developed as a show cave and opened in 2006. Visitor numbers of some 75,000 people annually convinced the government to develop more show caves. The most interesting candidate is Majlis Al-Jin, a singe chamber of enormous size with two huge holes in the ceiling where the sun shines in. Another impressive cave, which was discovered in the 1990s is Teyq Cave, which is 250m in depth and said to be 300 million m³ in size. This would make it the largest chamber of the world concerning volume, but it seems the surveying is not completed so far.

The Oman is not a well developed tourist destination.

Sights of Oman

Al Hotta Cave |

Majlis Al-Jin

Additional Information about Oman

Search Google for "Oman"
Depth Chargers by Gregory Crouch, at National Geographic.
Cave Exploration, a general description of caving in Oman by the Ministry of Information, Sultanate of Oman.
Caves in Oman
Changing Moisture Sources Over the Last 330,000 years in Oman (Southern Arabia): Evidence from speleothem fluid inclusions.

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