Salalah – Square Circle Route Update
I returned to Salalah in September of 2024 as a guide through my Arabian Cities and Sands business. I drove this route to investigate some points that the company that hired me might like to use for their event. I’m happy to report that the route remains good and the details here are as useful as they were in 2012.
Salalah in the Winter
There are many amazing places to drive in Salalah, and this is my favourite route. It is a circular route totalling 348kms from downtown Salalah. We recommend a 4×4 or an AWD as 75kms of gatch is hard on the suspension, and also there is a climb out of a wadi which we found hard going until we engaged 4wd. You can access the blowholes and the coastal sites in a sedan car. We based part of this trail on the “In Thesiger’s Footsteps” route to be found in the Off-Road in the Sultanate of Oman book (see below), but only did a small part of it, back to front, with add-ons at the start and end.
Salah Route Four Information
Road –dual carriageway to Thumrait, blacktop to Mudhai, good gatch heading southwards to meet up with the coast road to Yemen, blacktop back to Salalah.
Places to see – Part of the frankincense trail, wadi, religious site, mountains, fossils, seaside, sinkhole, blowholes.
Caution required if low cloud in Salalah to Thumrait and along the coast road. High mountain road with hairpin bends on the coast road – crash barriers in place.
The temperature inland will be 38-42C in summer, so take enough water, food and shelter for 24 hours in case of breakdown.
Salalah Route Four – The Details
My friend Sheena flew down from Muscat to join us for a couple of days, and in hindsight it seems ironic that having promised her a break from the hot weather we then took her inland where we experienced desert temperatures!
From Salalah, drive to Thumrait on Road number 31. On the way, take a detour to see a Frankincense forest (FRANK FOREST – N17 20.379 E54 04.529) which is part of the UNESCO Frankincense trail. At Thumrait, there is a good shell station (GAS STATION – N17 36.637 E54 02.134) here with ice, drinks, snacks, toilets and of course petrol – fill up here, it will be about 200kms til you are near a service station again.
There is an old tomb rumoured to be that of a Prophet, and I also read in the excellent book by Jenny Walker and Sam Owen that “according to tradition, this is the spot where Moses struck the rock for water”.
Moving on, you will soon be driving through what can only be described as a moonscape, but if you look, you will see there is beauty everywhere in everything. From time to time, there is a patch of green and it seems strange to see Yucca plants growing in the wild, only seen them as houseplants in Scotland before!
Park up at ( LEOPARD – N17 14.785 E53 19.379) and walk 100m into a wadi, where we found Arabian leopard tracks (13th Jul 2012). Just to the north of there, there are a series of interesting ancient graves just 20 metres from the roadside.
While it’s most unlikely that in 2025 you still find those prints, the area is home to the Arabian Leopard. Follow this link to get a short video on these magnificent cats. Wild Arabia
Further on, there are many ravines worthy of photographs, and it’s worth stopping now and then.
It was while we were at this point ( FOSSILS – N17 12.100 E53 20.342), recording the vista for posterity, that we looked down at our feet and found many amazing large fossils – at 800m above sea level!
Route can be downloaded here
Other Blogs in this series on Salalah –
Picture blog: Camels and Coos
Picture blog: birds and beasties
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