Oman: The Frankincense Road and the Gulf's Most Welcoming Country
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Oman was for centuries the centre of the frankincense trade — the aromatic resin harvested from Boswellia trees growing in the Dhofar region of southern Oman, more valuable per weight than gold in the ancient world, burned in temples from Rome to China and carried by caravan across the Arabian Peninsula and by dhow across the Indian Ocean. The ancient city of Ubar — mentioned in the Quran and called the Atlantis of the Sands by Thesiger — was a frankincense trading hub whose location was disputed for centuries until satellite imagery located it in 1992.
Omani culture is distinguished in the Gulf region by a particular quality of dignified hospitality. Coffee — qahwa, made with cardamom and rosewater, lightly roasted to a golden colour quite different from the dark roasts of Arabia — is served continuously in Omani homes and offices in small handleless cups that are refilled automatically until the guest signals enough by tipping the cup. The gesture is a specific code: if you want more, hold the cup still; if you have had enough, tilt it sideways. The coffee and the code are both expressions of a culture that values the management of social interaction with grace.
The Omani landscape contains almost every terrain on earth within its borders: the Hajar Mountains with dramatic wadis and forts on every strategic cliff, the Empty Quarter desert shared with Saudi Arabia, the dramatic cliffs of the Musandam Peninsula, and the Dhofar monsoon season — the only part of the Arabian Peninsula that receives a reliable summer monsoon, turning the mountains briefly green in a region where green is the rarest colour.
