Blog 4 - Sohar and a 'Journey into the Past'

SOHAR - a name with a great past

Over 4000 years ago, Sohar was an important trading city - its wealth was primarily based on copper mining in the vicinity and its export. The mining was discontinued in 1994 for environmental reasons.

Until the end of the 10th century, Sohar was considered the most important and richest port city in the Islamic world, known as the 'Gateway to China and Warehouse of the Orient'. The legendary 'Sinbad the Sailor' from the tales of 1001 Nights is said to have been born in Sohar.

In 971, Sohar was captured by the Persians and thoroughly destroyed, along with the anchored ships, so the city could never regain its former glory. It was only in the last 20 years that Oman has invested heavily in Sohar as the country's first port city, surpassing Mutrah/Muscat.

Today, there is nothing left of its former splendor - the originally Persian fort from the 16th century has (once again) been restored in 2019 and unfortunately has become a very sterile affair - the museum inside is still closed.

From Sohar, we embarked on a journey into the border province of Buraimi, tracing our time in Abu Dhabi from 1983 to 1986. Back then, the border between the Imarat Al Arabija Al Muttachida (UAE) and Buraimi was completely open - Buraimi (Oman) and Al Ain (UAE) were a twin city. We often drove across in our Land Cruiser on weekends, heading into the Omani mountains - we were particularly drawn to the mountain oasis of Khutwa (marked in green on the map) and explored various other areas in the region. Unfortunately and inexplicably, the UAE started building a border fence and customs posts around 2004. Since the Omani border posts were located about 30 to 50 km inland, the Wilayat Buraimi became a bit of an exclusion zone. Coming from Oman, it was not easy to return without crossing into the Emirates and without a multiple entry visa. Fortunately for us, the successor of Sultan Qaboos - His Majesty Sultan Haitham ibn Tariq - ordered the relocation of the border posts to the actual border in November 2021, so after almost 40 years, we were able to revisit our 'old hunting grounds' coming from Oman.

In the oasis of Khutwa, thanks to strong support from the Sultanate's government, the old irrigation systems 'Falaj' are not only in operation but are also being expanded. Often, these labor-intensive systems are being replaced by simple plastic hoses. These systems were first mentioned in historical sources in the 6th century BC. More about this when we reach the Wilayat Sharqiyya south of the Jabal.

Sohar was a very rich and famous city in ancient times. After being destroyed by the Persians at the end of the 10th century, it could never recover until the current government started to invest there in the last 20 years. Today, you will not find any signs of this time.

From Sohar, we started towards Buraimi. This region was one of our favorite weekend spots during our time in Abu Dhabi from 1983 to 1986. Recently, the border situation allows us (after nearly 40 years) to visit our favorite oasis Khutwa (marked in green on the map) as well as the surrounding region we liked to explore with our 4WD LandCruiser at that time.