Salalah, Oman: One of the Strangest Places I've Ever Visited
- Martin Hesp
- Dec 12, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
Salalah, in southern Oman, is one of the strangest places I have ever visited. In a country better known for desert landscapes, the Dhofar region can suddenly turn green and misty during the annual Khareef monsoon, producing waterfalls, rushing streams and cloud-covered mountains just a short drive from the Arabian Sea. When I visited, I discovered a landscape that seemed almost impossible: part Oman, part Exmoor or Dartmoor, and part something entirely its own.
It might be hard to believe, but the two photos above were taken within 20 miles of one another. So were these two images…
And two more contrasting scenes…
The country is Oman. Southern Oman, just inland of the port city of Salalah way down near the Yemeni border - and the words below were part of an travel article I wrote after touring the area a few years ago.
Real travel - the kind of travel that smacks of adventure - is about intrigue. If the promise of whatever it is that lies over the hill or around the corner doesn’t intrigue you, then you may as well stay at home. But it’s a big wide world, so the amount of intrigue you feel concerning a certain place will depend on some hook, promise or hint that’s come your way.
And so it was with me a long time ago when someone said: “There’s a place in Southern Oman that looks like Exmoor or Dartmoor. It is full of bracken covered slopes, big trees and fast flowing rivers - and yet it’s only a few miles from the desert.”
Over the years more hints and clues about Salalah came my way culminating in a visit to Oman 18 months ago ashen local guides in the Akhdar Mountains told me that it was where they went on holiday whenever the chance came their way.
“You must go to Salalah,” they said. “If you like Oman and think it’s beautiful, then the Dhofar region will please you very much.”
Back then I wrote in these pages that the wild and wonderful sultanate was all and more that a traveller could ever imagine the Arabic Middle East to be. Much if it is stunningly beautiful. The scenery can be awesome and dramatic. And the people are fantastically friendly.
A recent visit to Salalah and a tour around the Dhofar region did not disappoint. And it really does have green, waterfall-filled valleys that will remind West Country folk of Exmoor or Dartmoor.
Which is strange, Really, really, strange. Because to reach them you must drive up into the mountains from a fairly arid coastal plain. After 20 minutes you begin to think the whole promise of verdant landscapes must be some kind of illusion like a desert oasis. And then you turn the corner into a valley called Wadi Darbat and you know it’s no illusion.
There was so much cool clear fast flowing water in one stream in that valley when I was there at the end of September, people were plying up and down under the tall green trees in small electric-powered boats. And yet I was to learn that just 20 miles away there was real empty sandy desert.
That’s kind of shocking. So shocking that visitors pour here from all over the Gulf region. People think nothing of driving 2000 miles, just to come and see the greenery.
I learned this when I asked our guide - the wonderful Mussalam whose services you must ask for if you ever go to this land of illusions - why the dead-end road leading into Wadi Darbat was so massive and wide.
“If you’d been here three weeks ago, you wouldn’t have been able to move,” he replied. “People drive here from as far away as Iraq and Kuwait, just to see the greenery. If you spend you life living in a desert country, it is something special.”
Indeed it is. But then, the entire Salalah area is something special. And that is because it has a unique microclimate which has something to do with those coastal mountains and vast tall cliffs - sometimes called “cloud cliffs” which lock the ocean moisture in down on the coastal plain. I took a long long trip up to the top of these cloud cliffs as you can see below - there were moments when you felt you cold just step out onto the tops of the cloud, so thick were they - but you’d have fallen a straight and terribly vertical 2000 feet if you had…
What has happened to Salalah since I visited?
When I visited Salalah, I had the feeling that I was discovering somewhere that was about to become much better known. It seemed extraordinary that a place with such a bizarrely green landscape, waterfalls, misty mountains, desert, beaches and ancient frankincense history was still relatively unfamiliar to many British travellers.
A decade or so on, that prediction looks rather less fanciful.
Salalah and the wider Dhofar region are now being promoted much more actively as a tourism destination, not just during the famous Khareef monsoon but throughout the year. The official Omani tourism authorities describe Dhofar as a year-round destination, with three distinct seasons offering quite different experiences. During Khareef, normally from late June into September, the mountains and plains become green and misty; after the rains, the landscape remains green for a while before the drier seasons return.
And the numbers show just how much interest has grown. During the 2025 Khareef season, more than 1.07 million people visited Dhofar, while visitor spending reached about RO125 million. By 15 August 2026, the number of visitors during that year's Khareef had already reached 881,424, 6.6 per cent higher than during the equivalent period of 2025.
That doesn't mean Salalah has become another Dubai or Muscat — and I hope it never does. What makes the place so unusual is precisely the extraordinary contrast between its landscapes. The official tourism description still reads almost like the place I remember: mountains, green valleys, desert, beaches and the ancient frankincense country all packed into one region.
There are signs, though, of a much more ambitious tourism future. Dhofar is now attracting investment in ecotourism and nature-based projects as well as conventional hotels and urban development. One current proposal, the Botanical Memory Garden at Razat Plain, is intended to combine conservation of rare and endangered Omani plants with scientific research, education and ecotourism.
So perhaps my old prediction was right after all. Salalah was never really a conventional holiday destination waiting to be discovered. Its appeal lies in the fact that it feels like several completely different countries have somehow collided in one corner of southern Oman.
And that, more than anything, is why I still remember it as one of the strangest places I have ever visited.
The strange seasonal weather system really has more to do with the moody monsoons of the Indian Ocean than cliffs. The locals even have a word - and a festival - to celebrate this season which hits the coastal zone between the end of June and the beginning of September: it is called the Khareef.
During that time the area is often blanketed in thick fogs - it even rains - which for anyone living in the Gulf area is an meteorological enigma of almost mythical proportions. And so they flock to Salalah from all over the place to soak up the fog and feel the sensation of rain - to the extent that the handful of top-quality hotels are booked years in advance.
I’m not for a minute suggesting that anyone from the foggy wet UK travels 1000s of miles east to witness and bit of precipitation - that would be the ultimate in the travel industry selling-coals-to-Newcastle. But go there in September or October when the Arab crowds have gone, and you will not only see extraordinary landscapes but you will also have the place more-or-less to yourselves.
Which is worth mentioning because I do not think Salalah will be like that for long. Apart from in the Khareef season, mass tours of the kind known and enjoyed by Europeans is just about unknown. I say “just about” because the Germans have just begun catching on to the fact that this is a special place - and at the moment there’s one direct charter flight a week flying in from Frankfurt. But there will soon be more, that is certain - because Salalah’s tiny regional airport is about to be superseded by a massive terminal larger than our Stansted.
My bet is that within half a dozen years this little known area will become yet another winter sunshine destination printed in the fat brochures of the massive package holiday giants. Outside of the Khareef months you are guaranteed wall-to-wall sunny days and heat - and there are already a handful of very good hotels dotted along the miles and miles of empty ocean front, and due to be more.
Frequently Asked Questions about Salalah, Oman
Why is Salalah so green when most of Oman is desert?
Salalah lies in Dhofar, in the far south of Oman, where the annual Khareef monsoon transforms the landscape between roughly June and September. Moisture from the Arabian Sea brings mist, drizzle and cloud to the Dhofar mountains, turning normally dry valleys and hillsides remarkably green. It is this extraordinary seasonal change that makes Salalah so different from much of the rest of Oman.
What is the Khareef season in Salalah?
Khareef is the name given to the southwest monsoon that reaches Dhofar during the summer. It normally runs from around June until September, although the exact timing varies. During the season, temperatures are relatively mild, the mountains become covered in vegetation and waterfalls and streams appear in places that are dry for much of the year. It is also the busiest period for tourism in Salalah.
Is Salalah worth visiting outside the Khareef season?
Yes. Although the green landscape of Khareef is Salalah's great attraction, Dhofar is increasingly promoted as a year-round destination. Outside the monsoon season there is usually much less greenery and mist, but visitors can enjoy the beaches, wadis, desert landscapes, frankincense heritage and archaeological sites in very different conditions. For anyone wanting to see Salalah at its strangest and greenest, however, Khareef is the season to choose.
What are the best places to see the green landscape around Salalah?
The Dhofar mountains and their wadis are the places to explore during Khareef. Wadi Darbat is particularly well known for its greenery, streams, waterfalls and dramatic mountain scenery. The road into the mountains also provides some extraordinary viewpoints over the coastal plain. Conditions can vary considerably from year to year, though, so photographs of spectacular waterfalls should not be taken as a guarantee of what you will find on a particular visit.
Is Salalah a good place to experience Oman's frankincense heritage?
Absolutely. Dhofar is the historic heartland of frankincense, and the resin from the region's frankincense trees was once one of the most valuable commodities in the ancient world. The area's frankincense heritage is recognised by UNESCO through the Land of Frankincense World Heritage property, which includes archaeological sites and landscapes associated with the ancient trade.
Is Salalah very different from the rest of Oman?
It can feel like another country altogether. The mountains around Salalah can be green and shrouded in mist during Khareef, while the surrounding region includes long beaches, wadis, coconut palms, frankincense trees and vast areas of desert. That extraordinary contrast is what first made Salalah seem so strange to me — and why, even after all these years, it remains one of the most memorable places I have visited in the Middle East.
