Oh Man... Part 1..!
Finally some pics from the OhMän desert action..! What shall I say, one of the best field trips ever (like, with some exceptions, always the last one ;-) !
Directions are given here:
An usual day:
...getting up at early o'clock, maybe doing some basal hygenic stuff, photographing (yes, those two pics are really in-situ!!) and driving all day (here we already had some 3 or 400 km behind us -- and there was still a small hop left to Muscat ^^), a very small amount of relaxing every now and then (those cleaning fish are just great after 2 weeks in hiking boots ;-) ), followed by searching again until late night :-)
Those were our two personal guides, Clever and Smart!
And now for the truckload of pictures...
...tbc
Oh Man... Part 2..! Stop when water is at red.
Well well, on we go! Close to the sea and mountain ranges, one wouldn't believe it, there's a real possibility for floods (like this unbelievable footage shows [the drivers a bit later in the video very likely ignored those signs]; that happened during cat 5 Hurricane Gonu), even if there isn't anything but desert near and far. Uh, and if you get the possibility to sit somewhere in the desert and watch the sunset, the sountrack of you choice is provided by the absolute amazing Anouar Brahem Trio. I likely mentioned it about 3 times the last years, minimum, but it's really that great, you just need to take the time and a quiet place. So.. let's start with a sunset and some sunspots -- and no, that part of the sensor was quite clean ;-)
On the bottom right: Fast and highly unexpected. During clicking the (at that moment alive) gecko, suddenly, out of nowhere, the snake darted towards it, poisoned and constricted it, and then tried to find a place in shadow to have lunch.
Those are animals of two very rare species in Oman (and likely the highlights of the trip), the lizard Omanosaura cyanura (funny name for that little fart) and the viper Pseudocerastes persicus:
Sometimes it's unbelievable how exposed some agamas and geckos are basking during the hottest hours of the day. And they are really sitting or standing exactly like this. Not glued or nailed there, just sitting on the top of the highest stone... or bush if there's no stone.
A short glimpse into the mountains. Left the hanging gardens underneath the Saiq plateau. I think the vertikal extent is about 1km (!). On the right -- no description required ;-) Bottom left -- the arabic version of the night active cat snake. And canyons are always worth a visit!
Also counted as a highlight, even though quite abundant, the Saw-scaled vipers of the genus Echis, left Echis carinatus sochureki (named after an austrian), right Echis khosatzkii. Both of them are as they look, quite venomous.
And finally -- a speciality likely to obtain only in As Seeb, Oman: Fresh Shoes! Oh and yes, there are also some other local funny animals. Like Camel spiders, which aren't actually spiders and also not venomous.
Cheerio!
Uh, and as far as I've been listening to it all evening, another music tipp: Bat for Lashes!
..updates..?
.. jupp, there are still some minor updates missing.. next week, in two weeks, ako bog da..
A small preview -- as nobody would have expected, it will be quite likely about this... ;-)
And yes, this time it's not 100% cold blood but also some feathers and stuff...
... and some specials ...
PS: I think the biggest enlightenment within the last 15 years happened to me last week:
If I would go went there I would....
Autsch...
PPS: I would have never thought that there's even a grammar section on stackexchange.
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