| abdulla_driver.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Abdulla was my personal driver ferrying me from Dubai to Khasab, and then back again. Highly charming as he was, you could describe his driving as a little hair-raising. |
|
| bukhafort_from_southwest.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Bukha Fort has been restored. Plaster now coats the underlying stonework. The southwest round tower was built to withstand cannonballs fired from the sea. |
|
| bukhafort_roundtower.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
An empty moat surrounds Bukha Fort on 3 sides. The main road skirts the northern side. |
|
| bukha_boat.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
An old, rotting dhow lies at the end of the beach where Wadi Bukha enters the sea. Towering cliffs surround this small town, once the capital of Musandam. In the distance, you can see the fort and old mosque. |
|
| bukha_cemetery.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Islam requires that the dead are buried before sunset on the day that they die. Graves are marked with rough-hewn slabs of stone - a reminder that all are mortal, and all are the same in death. |
|
| bukha_grandmosque.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
The Great Mosque of Bukha stands isolated on the plain Harat al-Sharqiyah near to the fort. It has become surrounded to east and west by extensive cemeteries. The sheikh's house, which used to stand nearby, has been demolished. |
|
| bukha_harbour.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Bukha bay is fairly sheltered, but a harbour has been built for smaller boats. Dust has made the atmosphere very hazy in this shot. |
|
| bukha_harbour_entrance.jpg |
|
|
|
|
|
| bukha_oldmosque.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
A view looking southeast from the fort. A flat roof covers the inside of the mosque and the forecourt. Inside, the mosque is formed by four aisles parallel to the qibla. See Musandam, by Paolo M Costa. |
|
| coast_road.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
The road from Khasab to Dubai snakes round the edge of the cliffs. It has only been built within the last ten years. Formerly, access to Dubai would have been by boat and maybe by donkey. |
|
| deserted_beach.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Deserted, golden beaches border aquamarine seas on the road from Ras al Khaimah to Khasab. No-one in sight, but the tyre tracks reveal that the local sport could be racing 4wheel-drives in the sand. |
|
| fishing.jpg |
|
|
|
|
Description:
Fishing was the principal economic activity in Musandam, and is probably still the biggest money earner other than the smuggling or working in the Omani civil service. |
|
