Michael Spies

Musandam is on the tip of the Arabian peninsula 90km from Iran, forming the strait of Hormuz. The peninsula basically consists of 1600m high rocks and not much more, no rivers, no green anywhere. One can only access it by sea or from the Emirates. One track goes through it which is blocked in the mountains by a large military area. The rocks drop steep into the sea creating large fjords, there are hardly beaches and only one small town, Kahsab accesible by land, all the others only by sea. What it does have is lots of warm seas with lots of fishes and dolphins.
As we approached Kahsab in the morning, we noticed more than 50 speedboats, relatively close to each other, racing toward Kahsab and wondered what it was. Later we heard that each morning, Iranian speedboats cross the strait of Hormuz transporting sheep and goats to be sold for hard currency and transported to the Emirates. In the Souk they then use the money to buy American cigarrettes and electronics, all packed in waterproof bags. Then they race back to Iran. The principle is that the Iranian customs boats can only stop one or two of them. The others get through. The fines are split up through the group.
What a crazy story!
The sad side is that the crossing with currents and large waves is so brutal that people standing in the boats can break their legs, many of the animals just die.
Walking through Khassab we came across a whole truck full of dead sheep and goats. Horrifying!Read more