"East of Salalah" Hasik by manofletters

If you are in Salalah for a number of days, you must try and include a road trip east....through Taqah, Mirbat, and Sadah, and on towards Hasik. The road is now completely surfaced and offers lots of places to pull over and snap some photos. The coastline is awesome, long isolated beaches alternating with jagged mountain peaks. I have never seen such a mixture of rock formations in my life.....and I have hiked throughout the Rockies and the Alps!

Sadah is a fishing village (between Mirbat and Hasik)- famous for its annual harvest of Abalone ... go to this site for info on this commodity worth more than gold.... http://www.nizwa.net/agr/fisheries/abalone/abalone.html .... The town itself sits in a beautiful protected bay, and is surrounded by miles of hot arid rocky terrain in every direction (the Khareef of Salalah does not reach this far east) There is an historic fort you can tour, and there are many abandoned older villages which were populated before the Portugese destroyed most of the coastal habitations (16th century).

The road ends just passed Hasik. The Jabal mountains are always sqeezing the driver between their impressive slopes, and the Arabian sea. This range is home to the Arabian Leopard Sanctuary.