Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Wildlife in Oman---more than you'd think

I know people tend to think of Oman like a desert. They think camels, goats, scorpians, and snakes. But Oman is very biologically diverse, and has a wide range of large and small game. Here are some of my favourites. Oman is home to the Arabian Leopard, common to the mountains of Dhofar.
The nearly extinct but slowly reemerging Oryx. You can find them in Al Wusta region. They remind me of unicorns lol, so graceful.
Sandfoxes: I saw one driving home from a festival in Qurayat, it was soooooooooooo cute.
I saw this little guy camping once. Apparently he is called a 'yellow spotted agama'. The very famous endangered sea turtles in Sharqiyah where they sometimes nest.
Since I am a west coast girl this is no biggie for me, but Oman is quite famous for Dolphin and whale watching. Dolphins are here all year but humpback whales migrate through Omani waters so you can spot the gentle giants in the right season (k, they ARE impressive).A desert hare. Verrrrrrrrrrry fast. Yeah, something I TOTALLY didn't expect to see in Oman, but hey, at certain times of the year Oman is pretty rich in flamingoes:)
Camels, because you wanted to see them, not because they are anything you never expected. BTW, the bottom camel pictured with the Shiekh is a prize winning racing one:D My favourite animals in Oman (besides Bin Cats right R????) are the horses.

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