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Gypsies on the move
  • Michael Spies
  • Michael Spies

Gypsies on the move

To do a long off-road trip has been our dream for years. To have our house with us in the most beautiful places, To discover other cultures, people and nature. Read more
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  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Whew! Made it across the dunes!
    Racing across the hard sandAnd the most beautiful evening as a reward.

    Margot turns into an off-road crack!

    January 14, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We had driven 150 km, the last 30 on the most terrible corrugated track that threatened to dismantle my furniture, to a place called "sugar dunes", only to find tiny, boring white dunes bordering on the sea and covered with plastic rubbish. A great disappointment!
    Driving back was definitely not an attractive solution!
    Then Margot had the idea to cut across the dunes and drive 6 km's on the beach to join another track that would take us inland again.
    The sand was loose and deep!!!!!! But we had had excellent training from MANTOCO and so
    we decided to try. We reduced tyre pressure to 1/3, Margot put in the differential lock, revved up the engine and in a suicidal zig-zagging around stones and mounds raced across the dunes to arrive on the beach at low tide.
    I thought SPRINTI would fall apart!
    Then, followed 6 km of cruising along a hard beach into the sunset like a cowboy riding into the sunset after a terrible shoot-out!!!!!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Oman Maldives
    Track leading through surreal salt landscapeThat is not the sea nor a lake, it's a "fata Morgana"The small bluff closing in the lagoon, we're parked right on the tipDriving along the beach to get thereWhat a reward!Lampa camp" cooked us a beautiful dinnerView from the second floorAnd yet another incredible sunset, the highlight of each day!

    Oman Maldives, in the middle of nowhere

    January 15, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Encouraged by our off-road adventure yesterday, we decided to go for the next level and head for a lagoon called OMAN Maldives!
    But if you want to experience the extraordinary, you first have to go through hell!
    And hell in Oman is 60 km of corrugated track through flat "nothing" covered with salt. There were moments where the track had such deep corrugations that I thought it would tear off the front axle and destroy everything inside the car. We screamed and held our heads.
    Driving out onto a long bluff of a lagoon, we arrived in what truly deserves this name "Maldives"
    We decided to stay here for two days to read and "JUST TO BE".    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Lampa camp
    Endless beach walksOur last evening. Tonight the sun sets with sorrow in our hearts"Said", one of the founders and builders of this incredible placeSaid blocks our path as we want to leave. A beautiful friendship in so short a period

    Some more of this incredible paradise

    January 16, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Lampa camp was built by Said and Salem, two wonderful persons.
    All food and water have to be brought by pick-up across the terrible 60km corrugated Piste we crossed.
    A friend of theirs who was visiting, Omar from Jordan, cooked the most delicious and lovingly presented meals.
    The second day, a small group of British expats living in Muscat, joined us, and, hold tight, brought several cool boxes of sparkling wine, wine and beer with them. I was in sheer paradise!
    Long "wet" evenings with beautiful conversations followed and deep friendships developed. We now have some addresses to visit in Muscat.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Then it heads up this hill (which looks far steeper in reality)It then goes down a long downhill and then a steep second climb out of the valley.

    On the eve of D-Day!

    January 18, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    So this is where it gets really serious!
    Tomorrow we enter the "Wahiba sands" desert and it starts with two really high and quite steep hills, and I am dead scared!
    First we drive through a nomad camp on loose deep sand, then a long stretch uphill with a steeper climb at the end. Then it goes downhill for a long distance and then steep uphill onto a plateau.
    We have never driven such a long distance uphill in the sand. If you loose traction once, you will sink in and then don't ask me what one does then.
    Even with sand tracks, starting on a hill is not the kind of thing you want to do, and in this case driving backwards is also not an option because there is a uphill behind as well!
    This afternoon I walked the 5 km until the second hill to get an idea of the sand quality and which track I will take. Because it will be me driving!
    Everyone, please hold thumbs for us!
    And to be on the safe side, I will pray to Allah, because everyone here tells me he is great!!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    That's where we come from
    And up the hill on the other sideDiscussing which track to takeTha man who walked miles for a camel cigarette (only the older generation will remember this quotatiSo green because the plants absorb dew at nightAn in the middle of tje desert a mosque for the nomads

    We did it!

    January 19, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Last night, hardly anyone slept, so worried were we with what would await us today.
    80 Km's of soft sand going down one dune and up the next.
    We were all sure that we would spend half the day digging our cars out, if at all possible!
    The most likely outcome seemed a car rusting in the dunes after years of wind and salt with two skeletons leaning against it with shovels in their hands.
    We started shortly after sunrise to use the dew, which wettens the dunes at night and makes them firmer.
    The first leg was 5km's ending on top of a dune. Then down hill and up an even steeper one, and so on.
    The miracle is that no one got stuck except, hold tight, our instructor Tommy!
    Everyone was mega concentrated, drove calmly and never stopped.
    It worked!
    And then in the.middle of the desert, a mosque for the nomads that used to come through here on their camels only a few years back.
    That is where we are spending the night with a nice sand storm by courtesy of the wind, our eternal friend.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Wind turbulence dug a ditch around our wheels
    Our track todayAnd a track goes through itWe just came down that hill! Hairy!

    And on through Wahiba sands

    January 20, 2023 in Oman ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Today we traversed the rest of Wahiba sands and are now spending the night on its perimeter, where we head off into the mountains tomorrow.
    All night the sand storm had been blowing and shaking our car, but one sound we couldn't decipher, every now and then our whole car would shudder and seemed to drop a bit. The next morning we discovered why, the turbulence around the wheels had dug a hole resulting in the car successively slipping deeper into the sand. That's how sand eats up whole buildings in the desert!Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    An Egyptian vulture doing his morning flight in the upwinds.

    An absolute breathtaking off-road day

    January 21, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Oh my god what an off-road day!
    On gravel and sand paths through the most rugged mountains at 2000 meters, going up over one ridge, down into the next valley and then up the next ridge, and again!
    All day!
    Driving at 20 kph in second gear with reduction gear engaged up hills so steep that the tires were at their grip limit. The same downhill.
    Pure excitement!
    And at the end of the day total exhaustion from the non stop concentration.

    Late in the afternoon thick fog came up and we parked off for the night at 5 degrees centigrade wrapped up in everything warm we had with us, because as always in life, when you need it most, the heating doesn't work!!!!!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Sur at sunset
    Beautiful Dhows parked on the beaches along the riverMorning fishing boats heading outAnd Michael at the barber! My whole face was foamed to improve my skin, he told meThe keel of a new DhowThe ribs of the same dhowBeautiful KaftansStrong Zanzibar influence in SUR

    SUR the home of Omani dhow building

    January 22, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    SUR used to be the center of Arabian shipbuilding with the Arabs building fast, and flexible ships that could sail into the wind, long before the Portuguese started discovering the seas.
    Oman thus traded with places as far away as Goa in India, Zanzibar, and Mombasa in Kenia bringing back exotic goods to Oman which were then transported on camels through the desert Rub Al Kahli desert to Europe on the Frankinsense route.Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    And through the banana plantation
    Village perched on the steep slopesThe Levada disapears under a huge rock and comes out on the other side.

    Wadi Tiwi

    January 23, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    An off-road track leads 15 kms into the Wadi Tiwi on roads so narrow that sprinti hardly fitted through and so steep that the wheels were spinning. Absolutely hairy!
    Especially when a local Toyota pick-up comes the other way.
    We were advised not to try, we did try and after 5 km's asked ourselves why we are doing this.
    We parked the car and carried on by foot at first along a track in the walls of the Wadi and then came back walking on the walls of the levadas. (Levada is a channel built along the contour, sometimes hanging precariously on the cliffs to bring water from the spring to other places where it is needed)    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    1

    Wadi Al Shab

    January 24, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We had an incredible day today:
    We hiked up into a wadi/ canyon called Wadi al Shab, along the canyon floor at first and then higher and higher up the slopes along a goat track until we were about 100m above the valley floor with another 700 meters of rock walls above us. Absolutely breathtaking!

    About 3 kms in, we descended to the wadi floor strewn with huge 5m high boulders and worked our way down in direction of the sea to then discover a small tunnel with a water shoot leading down into a huge cave filled with water. (Kindly, someone had connected a rope to decend the slippery shoot safely). At the end of the rope you plomped into this huge pool in the middle of a huge cave dome.
    By chance we had forgotten our camera and so had nothing critical with us, so we just climbed in with clothes and all.
    We then swam out of the cave through a washed out crack where only your head had space above water. After about 15 meters you were out in the open again and in deep rock pools lined by endless high cliffs on all sides.
    After swimming about 100 meters we found solid rock under foot and returned to walking the 2 km out of the Wadi.
    Unfortunately no Fotos are available but I managed to find something in the Web.

    This was the most exciting and incredible day I have had in ages (and to be honest, we havn't really been spared from tingling experiences!
    This evening we are exhausted. (Margot plomped into bed at 18:00 and hasn't woken up since)

    Here is a video I found on you tube:

    https://youtu.be/zDws2UdplXA    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    4000 year old Bee hive graves on a cliff at 2000 metersThe Majis al djinn cave, a 300m wide dome and 120m deepThe second entranceAncient wind blown tree in a landscape where it hardly rainsZoom in and enjoy the rideAnd then the road suddenly disappears , downhillCurving downNomad woman with her goatsOur place for the nightMargots cliff side fireThis car didn't make it down anymore!

    An off into the mountains again

    January 26, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Once Off-road, always off-road!
    I was hooked and insisted that we do another off-road track through the mountains, so, we chose a route and off we went, up at an angle of 45 degrees with hairpin bends like I have never seen before, on a sandy rocky surface with slipping wheels, up to 2000 meters.
    Margot was screaming and my stomach was a lump!!!
    And what a beautiful trip it was!
    The frustration is that it is impossible to show this tension and excitement, neither on photo nor film.
    At 1300m we visited the Majlis al Jin cave. (meeting place of the spirits).
    This cave consists of one huge dome, 120m high and 350m wide and has 3 entrances at the surface.
    People have abseiled into it and some crazy "base divers" jumped into it resulting in the cave being closed to all trafic. So all you see in the photos is a huge black hole in the surface.
    I tried lying down on my stomach and crawling closer to the edge. A screaming Margot and the blackness of that hole persuaded me to stop that endeavor !
    Once again we spent the night perched on a cliff 300m above a wadi, with a fire and in total silence with only the stars above.
    Life is so unbelievably beautiful!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Friday campers on Sifha beach
    Racing jeeps blasting the mornimg peaceOh what a pleasure seing the two cars in this position!I suppose this guy raced until his car went up in flamesMany campers smoking Shisha early in the morningAfter the two cars broke down peace returned to the beachMargot trying to convince donkey that our left over salad leaves are the best!

    Approaching Muscat, Sifha beach

    January 28, 2023 in Oman

    Never go to the beach on a Friday! Because that's the day all Omanis have a free day, and go camping at the beach! Preferably with a Nomad tent and Jeeps to race along the beach.
    We approached Muscat on a Friday, and so it was, the whole city was out there! We fled down the coast until the numbers became less and ended up at Sifha beach just before dark.
    The next morning, two jeeps racing with screaming motors shattered the stillness. It was with the greatest pleasure that I later saw them standing with their hoods open, looking at their engines that no longer worked!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    The Sultans two huge yachts, status symbols that never leave the harbour!
    What makes you think that Omani's love offroad? This was a piece of art.Lunch at the crowne plazaAfter a sleep at the pool

    Muscat

    January 28, 2023 in Oman ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Muscat is the capital city and was made to what it is today by the late Sultan Qaboos.
    Qaboos not only loved the culture of Bavaria, causing him to build a house in Garmish Partenkirchen south of Munich, building an opera with excellent accoustics, giving the Mosques towers like the church towers in Bavaria and building himself a Disney style kitch castle, but also launched an incredible development program for the whole country, uniting warring parties, building roads and telecommunication and amazingly organised that everyone has water via a huge network of blue trucks transporting water to the smallest village in the country, no matter how difficult to get there.

    Before we left on our trip, we decided that we would celebrate "half time" of our trip by visiting the opera in Muscat, so we packed the proper clothing, and transported it 20.000kms.
    Alas, there was no opera program!

    But we did enjoy a lunch at the "Crowne Plaza" WITH ALCHOHOL!
    Not having drunk for months, the effect was immediate! So we lay down at the pool for a sleep.
    Now, that's luxury!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Fisherman taking us out to the islands to snorkel
    Quite sea, unfortunately, with poor visibilityOur early morning wake up program. At least daddy was pulling his kids in a sledge!

    Ras as Sawadi beach

    February 2, 2023 in Oman

    So far we have not been able to dive in Oman (there are simply too many other things!), so we decided to try snorkelling at Sawadi beach, which has rocky islands near the shore.
    We had done it again! The next day was again Friday, and the Omanis were setting up their camps on the beach half the night!
    A fisherman took us out in his boat, but unfortunately, the storms of the previous day's had churned up the water, reducing visibility.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Sunset at our night spotWaking up in this amazing mountain world, in total silenceThe beauty of the early mornings

    Mountains at last!

    February 2, 2023 in Oman ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Our real soul lives in the mountains and deserts. This is where we breathe out and feel connected with the universe. And if it happens offroad, this is pure adrenalin on top!
    Today, we headed off back into the mountains of northern Oman with aiming at Salmah, Bilad Sayt and a 2000 meter high Plateau as our direction.
    It was exhilarating and flabberghasting from the first minute. Gravel Roads climbing higher and higher over incredibly narrow rocky tracks with steep slopes dropping off; and then suddenly, you have a truck coming down the hill the other way!
    This is the moment of truth when you reverse 100 meters to find a space to let him pass, and then you suddenly feel the ground breaking away under the front left tire.
    Oh my, oh my!
    What a feeling of relief when we drove on!
    But back a few steps.
    We drove to Wadi Bani Awf for 15 kms along the Wadi floor to the snake canyon, which becomes narrower and narrower, cutting deep into the mountains. When it became too narrow, we headed off to the right up a track that has been the steepest yet. "Sprinti" was no longer driving but climbing!
    Night set in along the way, and so we found a small plateau to spend the night in total silence broken by the occasional villager 4x4 climbing past. These crazy people were actually driving this by night! But then I suppose they drive this route several times per week; because there are actually villages in these mountains!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Looking down on snake canyon winding through the mountain surface and over 100 meters deep
    Climbing higher and higherIs there a truck going to come towards us around that bend?Which way do we go now? And then Kahlid calls usBlue= Kahlid's House, purple flag=SalmahZoom into the picture and you might find the home of KahlidKahlid's view down onto Salmah

    Climbing up to Salmah

    February 3, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Salmah is a tiny village at 1000m on a dead-end road in the middle of 2000m High mountains. We were told it is a difficult track, so we decided to try. Again, and again, we are amazed at what slopes "Sprinti" is able to climb. When the wheels start spinning, you stop, put the differential lock in, and then he slowly churns out of the situation.
    Amazing!
    Just before Salmah, Margot stopped to see which direction we should drive when a voice wafted down from the mountain next to us, "come up!"
    We actually had to search the slopes to see the house perched high above.
    Why not?
    So we turned right and climbed up to the home of Kahlid, 300meters higher for a meeting we wouldn't forget.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    This is Kahlid
    Kahlid's place high up in the rocksSo we ate our breakfast on their terraceOne of two springs, totally dry for yearsThe "falaj" channels coming out of the mountainView from the second spring down onto the houseHis family has had this view for centuriesThis is the slope his mother fell down when she was a child collecting feed for the animals.So, this is "yaas", which ground and rubbed into your hair makes them soft and thickRoad down to Salmah

    This is "Kahlid"

    February 3, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This is Kahlid!
    Kahlid is secretary at a school, but in his heart, he is a teacher and researcher.
    His family has lived at this location high up on the slopes for hundreds of years. When we asked how old his father became, he said nobody knows. People were born in the mountains and died in the mountains without anyone knowing they had been there!
    Kahlid was born in this building up here, as were his 2 brothers. Over the centuries, his family built terraces with rocks to plant vegetables and date palms. Water came from two springs in the rock face and was channelled via "falaj" channels down and across the slopes to the individual terraces.
    Then, the springs started to dry up until the family was forced to move into a city.
    But this location is family heritage and holy, so the three brothers hired a man from tibet to look after the terraces, sheep, and chickens. The family comes here on weekends to help him out and bring supplies.
    When Kahlid noticed that we were interested, he offered to take us around the property.
    We'll this tour took us 100m up the rockfall where, he explained, his mother as a girl had climbed up every morning to collect food for the animals. One day she slipped and fell. For two months she lay in a coma with her grandfather giving her water drop by drop and praying to Allah that she survive. She lived to have three sons!
    Then he led us into a hand hewed tunnel leading into the second spring source, which had now slowed from a rush to a trickle, no longer able to support a family plus animals.

    Most amazing, however, was his knowledge of plants, from plants that heal broken bones to, leaves (Yaas) which women grind to powder and rub into their hair to make them thick and soft!
    Herbs is his passion and he is busy putting together a library of information with QR-codes on the plants so that future generations can read what this plant is about.
    What a beautiful encounter!
    Thank you Kahlid.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    This is how you travel through the mountains. Blue flag= Kahlid, purple= Salmah, green = Bilad SaytTerraces of SalmahSalmah village. The steepest track I have ever seen!Invitation to lunch by people who sleep on the floor"You have to take some of our oranges"Another view into snake canyon leading many km's into the mountain rock1Bilad Sayt on a dead-end track, finally

    Salmah and on to Bylad Sayt

    February 3, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After kahlid, we headed on to Salmah, hidden in a valley at 1000m along a dead-end track.
    The road was the steepest we have ever experienced with us engaging the differential locks again and again as we came down the hill, wondering whether it was worth the risk to carry on. Suddenly, a man came out of his house, beckoning to us to come in. Margot and I exchanged looks, and I reversed up the hill into his entrance to be welcomed by his wife and their granddaughter for tea, Dates, and some of their modest meal.
    They only spoke Arabic, but the grand daughter understood basic English; so we worked our way through.
    The two had lived here all their lives, the grand daughter was visiting for the weekend.
    Suddenly, an app on the mobile phone at the wall popped up and started to play the Muezzin calling to prayer. While the women stayed with us, the man disappeared to pray.
    Before we left they insisted on us taking some of the few oranges on their orange tree.
    We continued on to Bilad Sayt, also a dead-end track amidst mountains arriving there just before the sun set to walk around this beautiful age old village consisting of several "falaj" bringing water from springs in the mountains to hundreds of terraces. A miracle amidst this incredibly dry landscape.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    A whole town of mud houses slowly collapsing
    Beautiful doors....and entrancesDecorated ceiling beamsOnly a hand full of houses still inhabitedOne house, that of the village head, has been renovated to a museumA lady showing old crafts of milling corn, baking bread, and making cosmeticsMargot receiving her "facial" made of sandal wood, saffran and rose waterWe parked-off behing Misfa in the hillsAs the sun sets on the other side. Magical

    and down again to Al Hamra and Misfah

    February 5, 2023 in Oman ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Today we descended from 2000m to 450m to visit Alhamra an one of the few villages with intact houses built of bricks made from mud and straw. As mentioned in a previous Blog, in the last 20 years Sultan Quaboos has used the income from oil to catapult Oman from the middle ages to modern times, among other building houses for omanis which has led to Omanis abandoning their villages and houses. Alhamra is such a ghost village with the beautifully made, wonderfully cool mud houses slowly collapsing.Read more

  • Michael SpiesGypsies on the moveMichael Spies
    Bahla fortress
    Jabrin PalaceOur morning visitorOne of the thousands of water trucks bring drinking water to the farthest and most off-road villages

    Bahla Fort, Jabrin palace

    February 6, 2023 in Oman ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Built in the same fashion with mud bricks mixed with straw is Bahla Fort, a huge multi story building dating back to before Islam (600AD) and a unesco heritage site. Absolutely fascinating climbing around the fortress.
    Craziest of all, a huge cellar where dates are stored in palm leaf bags. The date syrup flows out and is used in the kitchen in good times, in times of War it is heated to the boil and poured through special "murder" slits onto the enemy.
    Later we visited Jabrin Palace, the home of the Sultan at the time, also made with mud, but very comfortable whit exception of the jail, holding ten prisoners while space is only for one!    Read more

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