From a Camel's Point of View......

Where else in the world would you see a camel traveling down the highway in the back of a Toyota pick-up? (except maybe another desert country!) Don and I were traveling to Nizwa, an old city about an hour and a half into the interior of Oman. There is an old fort from the Ottoman times that they have restored and it displays many artifacts and information about Oman's history and culture. On the way there, we just happened upon this sight:

Makes you wonder what the camel is thinking!

He was a bit camera-shy when we got close enough to get a really good picture, and of course, the battery on my camera died just as it finally turned around to look at us. Just to give you an idea of how we took these pictures, I had to roll down the window (ate a lot of sand that day), Don drove alongside of him as much as we could, the wind was coming in so hard the car started to vibrate, and we were calling to the camel to get it to look towards us! I'm sure we made a pretty funny picture ourselves--at least that's what our children said when they saw these pictures!

He tried to ignore us, but finally started turning around (shot 4) after we called out at him!

Well, we did see more camels on Thursday, but didn't have the camera out! I'll know better next time we go back. On the to rest of the trip......


The mountains we drove through are stark, hard rock, yet as you live with them every day, you begin to see nuances of color, light, and life. The views as we drove through the mountain range were so amazing that no description is really necessary. What continues to astound us is that the mountains change color all day long. The slant of the sun, the haze, the number of clouds, the amount of sand in the air, and how low the clouds are make these mountains change their color. We have also noticed a great variance in the color of the rock as well. They are truly a monument of God's creation! So, without further ado, here are some of the sights out of our car window as we made our way to Nizwa:

House and grounds for a date plantation on the side of the road

More palm trees in a date plantation. I'm learning that
not all palm trees are created equal!

See how the rock is turning darker now?

When we first arrived, the small green plants you see like the one in this picture reminded me of the dried up, old dead tumbleweeds I remember from days as a child in Kansas. The cooler weather combined with rainfall has brought life back to the desert.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down the Nizwa highway! More on the fort in another post!