Last day

Have finished my last meeting and now just typing up notes before going to the airport and home. Hoping that British Airways strikes and volcanic ash don't disrupt our plans.
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Sultan Qaboos

Qaboos bin Said al Said is the Sultan of Oman. He came to power in 1970 - some say he overthrew his father, others that his father abdicated. He went to school in England. When he came to power the country changed its name from Muscat and Oman to the Sultanate of Oman. The political system he established is one of absolute monarchy. He has no children so someone else from the royal family will take over when he dies.

Muttrah

Muttrah is a city in the province of Muscat in Oman. Before the discovery of oil in Oman, Muttrah was the centre of commerce for the country. It has many old buildings. It is still a commercial centre and has one of the largest ports in the region. The Muttrah Souk is found here.

Sultan Qaboos University

Sultan Qaboos University (or SQU as they call it) is the only public university in Oman.http://www.squ.edu.om/ . It opened in 1986. Schools in Oman were only build from 1970 onwards. When it opened there were only 500 students - now the university has over 10,000 students.

The main mosque

In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country of Oman should have a grand mosque. There was a competition for it's design. Work started in 1995 and it took 6 years to build.

Oil in Oman

Oil was discovered in Oman in 1967 and it has been producing lots of it ever since. Petroleum Development Oman is the main exploration and production company in Oman. It is owned by the government (60%) and by three oil companies - Shell, Total and Partex. Because the government own a large share, some money from the oil stays in Oman. Lots of other oil and gas companies work in Oman.

Oman Old Souk

Souk means traditional market. The main souk in Oman is in Muttrah, part of Muscat (the capital). You can buy many things here inlcuding traditional clothes and furniture, frankinsense and spices, jewellery and toys.

A swim in the sea

After a very long day of meetings, our guest house host, Faisal Lamki invited us to the opd clubhouse. We swam in the sea and had a lovely dinner

picture of Omani life

A place mat from a local restaurant

Growing the plants

The aim of the Oman Botanic Gardens is to have all of the different kinds of plants which grow all over Oman in one place. They are learning how to grow them all from seeds and cuttings.

Oman Botanic Gardens

We had a great opportunity to meet Aliya and Sarah from the Oman Botanic Gardens. It's a huge project which they hope will be completed in the next 2 years. Despite being in portocabins they already have a visitors centre and have school groups visiting. They build 8 huege glasshouses to start growing plants in and they are now filling up with plants they have grown from seeds or cuttings.

Here's Aliya showing us the model of the plan for the site of the Botanic Gardens.

Faisal's guest house

muscat through the car window

Taking a break from meetings

Sat 15th May - let the meetings begin

First day and lots of meetings. We met with the British Council www.britishcouncil.org/me-oman.htm the Ministry of Education, Oman LNG and had a drink with the British Ambassador. A full day with lots to talk about.

arrived

Sarah and Caroline left London Heathrow airport early in the morning on Friday 14th May. We arrived in Oman after a long flight via Abu Dabi. The temperature at 10.30 at night was 38 degrees! This is the hottest time of the year in Oman and sometimes the temperatures can reach more than 50 degrees.
It was dark when we arrivred but very busy with people coming and going. Roderic Dutton, who is the Earthwatch representative in Oman met us at the airport and brought us to our guest house.

Oman is in the Middle East

Where is Oman?

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