Salalah Trip 2018

Razan
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Thank you [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for the amazing trip and for the great lead as always. I joined the Salalah trip as a passenger and yet I enjoyed every second. You took us to breathtaking places, I couldn't believe such beauty exists in the GCC 😍.. I can't thank you enough!
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Rashidjass
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Straight Roads Do Not Make Skillful Drivers yuush
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As I was browsing through RashidJass`s YouTube channel in April I came across the Salalah 2017 trip & thoroughly enjoyed watching it .
I consider myself lucky to be able to register for this trip early June as when I`d started driving with Almost 4x4 the trip was already full!
At that point I told myself I would do it next year.
I was thrilled & overjoyed as I somehow succeeded the registration later (I was probably one of the last ones to make it) & made all the necessary trip arrangements.
I decided to take along my 2 Nephews from AUH .
For unaccompanied minors the parents need to cross the border along with their kids, so sister & husband decided to spend the weekend discovering Muscat & visit family & friends.

The drive to Salalah was longer than any drive I have done before, but was a breeze in anticipation for what lies ahead , plus I had rested sufficiently.
We had adequate stops to refuel & have a brief stretch & we also got a couple of hours shut eye early morning before we started the second leg to Salalah.
Once we reached the Dhofar mountains we were welcomed by dense fog & rain which was very refreshing.
Our first stop in Salalah was for lunch where we had delicious juicy grilled chicken Dhofari style ( cooked on hot wadi rocks).
After a belly full some of us decided to move on to our respective hotels - those who continued were treated to our 1st off-road drive of the trip which was very exciting.
We went to a beach with a breath-taking view from the chill out spot along the cliff edge.

In addition to the attractions there was a different off road experience daily, 1 day in mud, another in rocks & another in sand & a mixture of all three, a true off-road spa!
We had a trek almost every day during the trip, at the end of which was either a beautiful waterfall or a pristine pool where we enjoyed a swim.

The Salalah Adventure in Khareef with Almost 4X4 is nothing short of Incredible!

A big thank you to the best off-roading club for organising this experience for us - the entire journey from start to finish was painstakingly planned & executed & we had tons of fun along the way!
A special note of thanks to Shamsi, Booy , Rashidjass & Ahmed Al shamsi for holding it all together.
Looking forward to Salalah 2019. have a nice day

Below is a trip report from my nephew Tristan:

Day 0
The long run from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Salalah, Oman took us almost 14 hours well that included stopping for gas and food along the way and we did sneak a tiny nap in during that time.
Upon reaching Salalah it went from blazing hot sun to this extremely light but dense sort of mist which drastically changed the temperature and cooled us off.
We had done this bonus drive where we had gone to this cliff area and the view from there was amazing so we set up our chairs and just enjoyed the breeze.
We then reached our hotel for a good night’s rest all packed for the actual day 1.

Day 1 (actual day 1)
For today the main purpose was Springs so we had a look at a few of them .
The first time we went off-road and this was like rocks not just dirt.
Having to go into a lower gear for the car to maneuver all I could hear was the engine revving and the screeching of the tires as we climbed up the rocks.
Upon reaching our destination (well not yet at least) it was still another say 2 km walk to the waterfall which we were hoping to see.
The route was tough but manageable. When we reached the spring we decided to take a dip in the nice cool water .....well to cool of basically.
Then made the climb back down to where our cars were parked. End of day 1

Day 2
This was the day we were actually meant to go swimming but things went south pretty quickly. Anyway we started off by climbing up this mountain, they call it the great canyon of Salalah.
I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful with the wind just blowing past you and the amazing view up from the canyon.
Then we went back downhill and this was where we were supposed to "swim" so to say.
Most of us had already changed into their trunks/swimwear to go for a swim but quickly changed their minds on seeing the color of the water.
I too had doubts on what could be there but after seeing people do it I went too not thinking about some croc who could come kill me in an instant.
After that we headed off to the Al Naft waterfall where we saw .....well a waterfall basically.
We also did this anti-gravity point where it looked like the hill was going upwards but when you put the car in neutral it too went upwards.. a great experience. End of day 2

Day 3
Today was all about clouds so we went climbing the mountains once again but this time in the other direction.
The temperature outside cooled down immediately.
We reached this spot where we were actually over the clouds.
We then went to the beach and saw the waves bashing against the rocks and shore spraying sea water in the air which made my nose runny due to the salt content of the water.
We also went to see another waterfall which was called Al Hotaa waterfall.
In fact this whole area where the clouds beach and waterfall were was called Hotaa. End of day 3

Day 4
We had gone in search of this cave, leading the pack Maaz and I went through this narrow passage in hope of finding it.
There were thousands of holes which looked like they had thousands of snakes in them too.
Don’t forget those spiders …they were small but a hell lot of them.
The amount of mosquitoes was crazy too biting us from all directions.
We ended up reaching this place with lots of trees and it was getting late by then so we decided to turn around.
Knowing that we had to go back another km , 4 of us just decided to scale the wall up which was not easy as it was like a 70 degree slant upwards but we made it and this saved us a lot of time. Unfortunately we could not go to Jabal Samhan which is the tallest peak in Oman as this trek had eaten a lot of time.
So we went on to the Baobab Forest and saw this huge tree which people had written their names over, meaning this was a popular point.
We did also run into some camels over there as we waited for them to clear our path so we could head back. End of day 4

Day 5
This started off with us heading to Mugsail Beach where the waves were amazing as the wind, on the drive to the beach… just so refreshing.
Then went on to the view from heaven which they say has the best off road thrill till now and they were not kidding.
It was a steep climb & all managed to get up there, however it was all fogged up so we could not get a proper view.
We then headed off to Shaat view point where we had this lovely view of the Salalah coastline. Throughout the trip we reached some high places but not as high as this.
We then went to the same place when we first arrived in Salalah where the cliffs were and we sat there again and enjoyed the view & company of each other. End of day 5

Day 6
The long drive back to Abu Dhabi. The earlier night we packed our bags & bought supplies. In the morning we had our breakfast and headed off to the meeting point. From there we started our long 12 hour drive back to Abu Dhabi.

This trip was really amazing as its climate was completely different to that off Abu Dhabi in a nice way and it really tested us to what we could do while trekking out in the wild and it was truly a great experience.

Big thanks to Almost 4x4 for making this happen. have a nice day
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maazjass
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First of all, I would love to thank all the marshals and Special Thanks to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for creating this amazing trip, I am grateful to be a part of the group in this trip, it was truly one of my best trips, All the people were friendly, And it was an amazing atmosphere,

It was my first time visiting Salalah, and witnessing those sceneries was the experience of a lifetime for me,

Day 0:- The drive to Salalah was really long but I was really excited to visit a place like Salalah, because my dad showed the pictures of last year’s trip, so I was really eager to visit the places and see it by my self, on the way to Salalah I was quite sleepy the whole drive, but suddenly when we reached the army check-post of Salalah and saw the glimpse of Salalah, all my sleepiness faded, and I was fully awake, then we visited the restaurant as I was really hungry, so enjoyed the food, after the lunch Bu Salem gave us a bonus with a place, and omg it was amazing, after staying at the place, we headed to our hotel and slept.

Day 1:- Early morning woke up, and got ready for the first day, was really excited to visit a bunch of beautiful places, we arrive at the meeting point near Hilton, it was nice meeting the members, then we headed to our first point, we reached Dhofar and stopped and got ready for hiking, after jumping through all the big rocks and reached a small waterfall which had a big pond in it, and obviously we won’t be missing that chance to swim there, after swimming we head back to our cars and left Dhofar, to our next point Salhoot spring, it was a cool place to visit, as the time was passing by it was getting darker and darker we were going to our last point Darbat feeder wadi, it was quite a challenge to reach the cave, after taking pictures. and we went back to the hotel as it was the end of day 1.

Day 2:- as usual woke up, had breakfast, and then head towards our meeting point, usual meet and greet. After the briefing, we started moving to the first point which was the tomb of prophet Imran. The next point was the great beach. On the way to the great beach, we saw mountains with beautiful crests dripping water which made it a small waterfall. After we had a break near the beach for prayer, after the prayers we started heading our way to the great canyon, and the top view was beautiful. On our way back we went to a lake near the great canyon, as everyone decided to take a break me [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] [mention]Lenny[/mention] and Tristan decided to go on an adventure, and we went hiking on the mountain sideways and found the way to beach and the great view of the lake, it was really fun hiking there. After returning back to our car, sadly I realized it was the end of day 2.

Day 3:- the usual schedule of waking up, doing the breakfast and meeting everyone. On our way to Aranoot we saw a beautiful scenery of the split piece of mountain, it was a quick stop for 15 minutes, and let me tell you, we don’t miss random sceneries in Almost4x4, we make the trip even better, we were heading to Hoota beach, after crossing the Hoota gate , we saw that the road was broken, but guess what? We are almosters we find our own ways to reach the destination, after visiting the beach, we made our way to Wadi Sayq and obviously, we don’t miss an opportunity to swim. After the swimming we had a break, then packed up and left for the next point which indeed hiking, my favorite thing to do. we had to hike around 1-2 km to see the waterfall, but half of the group split and I, Bu Salem and the crew ended up finding the secret pond. On the way back it was fun hiking with Razan and Tobi, it was really a tough way to go through, slippery rocks, water, spider webs and the sharp branches and we reached back safely. And thanks bu baker for the watermelons at the end. Then the day ends.

Day 4:- it was a cloudy day in the morning, once again the meet and greet. As we were heading towards Madinat al Haq, there was a great view on top the of the mountain, where we could all the clouds below us. As our first point was Tayq cave, it was hiking and I was really excited about it, after reaching there, we started our journey to the cave and the rocks were really slippery and there was a lot of fog, me and Tristan took over the convey and lead them to the cave, was definitely a scary pathway to there a lot of spider webs, and big holes, I saw over 3 snakes on the way to the cave, as we were the leaders the path was leading to a dead end, sadly we never found the cave but the experience was really fun. As it was really foggy and dangerous so we had to skip some points for safety reasons. We went to baobab forest and saw huge trees, it was my first time seeing these type of trees and it was definitely a great experience. We all thought that was the end of the day, but bu Salem gave us a bonus with a beautiful waterfall point we spent around 30-40 minutes out there, it was really a beautiful point to stay in, with that day 4 ends.

Day 5:- the day I never wanted day, e, the last day, I was really sad that this was the last day in Salalah, but at the same really excited to see new places, after the briefing, we started our way to our first point Muqhsail beach, it was a great point to visit, after that we went our way to the Rakhyut cave, we stopped there for a while took some pictures and then started moving towards our next point. Our next point was way to heaven, it was crazy driving up to get there, after reaching there we had a break for everybody to freshen up, and sadly I got injured. So on our way back we went back to the beach viewpoint we visited on day 0, we decided to chill there for a while and then move to our hotels,

Day 6:- it was the basically a very long drive back home, it was an amazing trip. Once again thanks to Almost4x4 for this trip. I would love to be a part of this trip again next year in sha Allah.

Thanks to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] @Bu rashid [mention]Booy[/mention] My Dad @Rashidjass

For an amazing trip thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup

See y’all next year
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giorgio
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Hi to all,

As many others it was unfortunate that i could not join the trip but i was following the action from my desktop. One thing though that I've noticed is that so many of you shared pictures and videos via telegram but none has uploaded anything in our gallery. It will be nice if you guys do that so we can have them available and on record

looking forward to see your postings
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Petr
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giorgio wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:25 pm none has uploaded anything in our gallery. It will be nice if you guys do that so we can have them available and on record
I would love to but when I click on the gallery link, I get this
Information
Parameter "album_id" for route "phpbbgallery_core_album" must match "\d+" ("" given) to generate a corresponding URL.

I know that [mention]JockJKU[/mention] has the same issue, so there may be others too.

Maybe [mention]admin[/mention] can help?
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