When I think of Oman all I can think of is the souq in the middle of muscat with dealers shouting at customers and vice versa. I think of the heat of the desert and the relaxation of the oasis. The grand mosque dwarfing the rest of Muscat and snorkelling in the warm arabian sea.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Muscat. It has a nice beach and pool, tennis courts, good food and large rooms. We lounged around the pool lapping up the sun for around three days which was glorious.

The Grand Mosque in Muscat is of an incredible size and is the one monument in Oman that sticks clearly in my mind. It is a beautiful white building which gleams in the hot sun. The best part of it is the room for the men which is huge. If women choose to visit the mosque they must be respectful and cover up.

The hotel recommended that we take a trip to the Omani Dive Center which is just out of Muscat. It had the most fantastic beach with golden sand and cool blue water. We rented snorkels and we started snorkelling. I saw many fish including a massive sting ray and the sea is quite shallow so that you can stand easily and snorkel. Me and my brother rented out a canoe and we canoed through the lagoon in which the Dive Center is situated. All in all this was a fantastic day out.

The final cultural tour that we undertook was to go to the suq in the middle of Muscat. It is always (we went twice) unbelievably crowded with people rushing everywhere and loud as each market seller is trying to attract you to his store. Always bargain with the sellers as they know you are tourists and will try and sell an item to you for a high price. The things which I would buy is frankincense and myrrh as they are grown in Oman in huge quantities and are therefore cheaper in Oman.

By Ben Lacaille
For more pictures and other destinations visit my blog http://benstravels.com

As soon as I stepped off the Air Namibia flight at Windhoek Airport I knew that we had come somewhere very special. The heat hit us as soon as we were off the over air conditioned flight and into the hard, harsh namibian barren landscape. As we were driving to Windhoek I did not see one other car. Next to the road trees stood as if not one human being had ever touched them and until you came to the occasional village nobody could be seen.

Sossusvlei

After a day of driving along a bumpy road we arrived at the Desert Homestead our oasis in the desert near Sossusvlei. The pool was a blinding blue in the background of dust and sand and almost all the guest were jumping in every ten minutes. The next day we woke up before dawn and went off to the mighty Sossusvlei Dunes. Once we had entered the Naukluft National Park we drove down a road surrounded by orange glowing dunes as tall as mountains. When we got to the end of the road we climbed up one of the fiery dunes. As we were walking up all you could see were more and more dunes like a mountain range only far bigger and grander. As we reached the summit all I could do was sit down in awe at the sight which I saw. After spending some time at the top of the dune we raced down and returned to the Desert Homestead for lunch. In the evening we rode across the semi desert landscape near the Desert Homestead. This was an experience I will never forget because we were so free we could ride where we pleased.

Swakupmund

The next day we drove to the old German town of Swakupmund and to our hotel the Hansa Hotel which was an interesting view of the colonial past of Namibia. In the afternoon we went dune boarding down the dunes near the beach of Swakupmund. The beach near Swakupmund was very pleasant because of the slight breeze although the sea temperature was ice cold.


Another thing we did was a Tommy Tour where Tommy takes you in a huge 4x4 into the desert and finds lizards, snakes and chamoleans he also takes you on a roller coaster ride down the steepest sand dunes. It is an amazing tour because when you look out onto the desert it looks so bare yet to Tommy it is teeming with life which he finds. Tommy does these tours every day and therefore knows where some of the species like to live so you are bound to see chamoleans and side winders. It was truly amazing. This takes up half a day and Tommy will pick you up from your hotel.

On our way to Damaraland we stopped for a night at the Cape Cross Lodge which is really near the seal reserve. This is a great, picturesque lodge right on the beach. The next day we visited the seal reserve where around 200,000 seals live The smell is terrible but it is amazing watching the seals play, fight, hunt and generally make a lot of noise.

Damaraland

We went to the mountainous northern part of Namibia: Damaraland. We stayed at the remote Grootberg Lodge which was teeming full of widlife including lion, zebra, antelope, snakes and amazing birds and looked over the valley. I looked over the valley and gasped in amazement. How could nature ever do something so amazing? The huts were made out of stone and fitted in with the amazingly dry earth. In the night the dinner was amazing local cuisine. I liked Grootberg very much the guides were friendly and always had a story to tell and the whole lodge had a very relaxed feel about it.

Etosha

Etosha National Park is my favourite place in Namibia. It is roughly half the size of Switzerland but the animals are relatively easy to find and see (especially in the dry season) because they normally gather around the water holes. It is a self drive safari which is perfect for families who make a lot of noise on game drives. The animals include lions (300), cheetahs (80), many leopards, giraffe (3000), elephants (2000), many rhinos and other animals. We stayed at Halali lodge for two days and we saw four lions, a leopard and too many elephants and giraffes to count. All the lodges inside Etosha have a waterhole, which is lit at night which is good for seeing nocturnal species i.e leopards and hyenas. The first thing to do when one arrives a Etosha is to buy a map because the map tells you where to go to see lions or cheetahs. The food was rubbish and the accomodation was alright.

Waterberg Plateau

To break the long drive from Etosha to Windhoek we stopped at the Frans Indongo Lodge which is situated near the Waterberg Plateau. The food is amazing and the game drives often find rhinos. Also in the morning after our night in Indongo we visited REST . REST is a vulture protection society and they often feed the vultures. Wait let me get this straight the vultures are totally wild they live on the Waterberg Plateau however REST often throw out old carcasses and then the vultures come. It is an amazing sight seeing around a hundred vultures swoop down near the carcasse.

By Ben Lacaille

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http://benstravels.com