Back in Dubai: "
Our time in Oman has unfortunately come to an end. Oman is a fantastic country unique in many ways. The Sultanate has modernized in the last 40 years making Oman a new nation and able to learn from mistakes made by other older nations, with respect to the marine environment. I was amazed to see the sheer volume of dolphins, to learn that there may be a unique population of non-migrating humpback whales in the gulf and to see the abundance of fish on the reefs. Unfortunately the sharks are not faring so well, and many species are on the precipice of collapse due to the lucrative shark fin industry. Despite the declining shark catches, inspired research from Dr. Henderson and his team are trying to understand shark population dynamics and provide critical data towards an effective shark management program. The ESO (Environment Society of Oman) and important NGO, that bridges the Oman government with the technical scientific expertise co-ordinated by Mr. Baldwin and his team from Five Oceans Environmental Services is an important initiative and we were privileged to be able to interview not only ESO but Mr. Baldwin as well. The scope and vision towards projects is fantastic and spending time in the field in Oman was an exceptional experience. If we had to comment on those countries where fisheries management has been relatively successful, government involvement and communication between government and environmental NGO’s/initiatives/projects are key. Oman has accomplished this, despite the general complexities in politics Oman is poised to take control of marine resource management, the passion is there, the people are willing and the biology is still observable, so for me, in Oman one can be very positive.
We headed out from Muscat towards the Border scared that we would sit another 9 hour ordeal. Our border crossing into Oman was a nightmare, as the border officials did not understand how to handle a temporary import of a car with a steering wheel on the wrong side (right hand side). So we made ourselves comfortable in the parking lot with our African carved wooden chairs, table and humus sandwiches. Eventually the officials found that we were legal and allowed to drive into Oman, so one quick stamp after 9 hours and we were off, so heading back to the border we hoped things would be easier. 2 minutes at the border and we were through and on our way back to Dubai, the shinny glass built bankrupt city of lost hopes. We are extremely fortunate to our folks who have put us up in a hotel while we organize the shipping of the car, which has been interesting to say the least.
To get the car into a container that is affordable, we needed to loose some height and length off the car. So off to Saeef’s factory where we removed the bumper and winch from the car and let down the tyres to see if we would make the measurements, ultimately saving us US$1200. It appears that we managed, but the final test will be today as once again we say goodbye to our beloved car, to be reunited in a few weeks in Kenya, hopefully pirate and crime free. We have to pack the car up with all our goodies that we can’t fly with, which is a hell of a mission, especially dragging heaps of dirty clothing through the hotel lobby dropping undies on the floor in front of some rather religious muslim individuals. None the less, we have organized all our problems, i.e. got our diving gear serviced (there was sand from all over the world jammed in our regulators, rust in our tanks etc) so we have healthy gear again, yea. It was expensive but underwater there is not cutting costs when safety is concerned. The shipping was a major concern for us as originally from Yemen (where we were advised correctly not to travel though, the shipping would cost US$600 to Djibouti), but instead we have to ship from Dubai, with the minimum cost being US$2500, so a budget killer. Currently we have a little over R60 000 to get home with a month in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, so it is back onto the sardines, which is all good. We woulkd like to thank Linda’s folks, Leon and a collection of Leon’s friends and who have helped us fund the shipping of the vehicle as we were unable to get another sponsor, despite relentless efforts.
Dubai has bee a run around, but we did managed to get our heads underwater on the east coast. We managed to see approximately 10 black tip reef sharks, which was fantastic, but the reef was devoid of much else. Damage to the corals was extensive and the reef just looked overly abused. Our underwater stills camera is not working as I managed to flood the strobe battery, as I was so excited to lump into the water I did not check the o-ring seal had fallen off, bugger a costly mistake. Our battery for the video light on the video camera also is about to explode as due to some problem the gas is not releasing from the unit and is has begun to swell. We have organized a battery to be sent over from the states, what a mission, but vital seen we will be spending some time underwater in east Africa.
So our time to leave the rest of the world and return to Africa is almost upon us, and we are looking forward to it for sure. We say goodbye to the car today but only fly to Kenya to wait for the vehicle on the 24th, so a few days left to finish magazine articles, blogs, Linda is editing the pictures from India, she has managed to finish the next photo book, and i well I am finding myself been a lazy blob, but after some running and getting the blood flowing I hope to pull myself together and finish the website.
We will keep you posted as to how the car fits into the container and our travel plans to Kenya….
Until then
"
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