Reality check

Over 150 million years ago the "Tethys Ocean" covered a huge part of the planet. Over time, the Atlantic separated and grew, while Tethys shrank ultimately becoming the Persian Gulf. During the process the heavy, basalt sea floor collides with continents and forces up mountains and plateaus. Unusually, in Oman it was by obduction rater than subduction, meaning that the Omani lands were actually the sea floor and limestone islands at one time. This excites Australian geologists as this type of land formation is only found in these 2 countries.
There is some evidence that Homo Erectus settled in the Al-Wustu and Dhofar regions a million years ago, and Homo Sapiens settlements can also be found going back only 100,00 years. People have therefore been witness to the gradual erosion of the higher land into the flat, pebbly desert on which this farm is to be found, near Lisq.
Luckily, there is a large artesian basin underneath which allows irrigation of what passes for soil. Nevertheless, many types of plant are successfully grown without the aid of worms: date and coconut palms, citrus and even frankincense. They just tke several years to grow to maturity and what you can see is the fruit of 7 years labour.Läs mer