The great dune sea of Arabia — 12,000km² of Wahiba Sands, star dunes reaching 100m, Bedouin camps, and the Arabian oryx returning to the desert
The Sharqiyah Sands (formerly and still widely known as the Wahiba Sands) is a 12,500km² sea of sand dunes in the Sharqiyah governorate of Oman — one of the finest dune environments in the world, with star dunes (multiple slip faces radiating from a central peak) reaching 100m and a characteristic reddish-orange colour from the iron oxide in the sand. The dunes begin 200km southeast of Muscat and stretch south to the edge of the Empty Quarter (Rub' al-Khali). Unlike the Empty Quarter (inaccessible without serious expedition logistics), the Sharqiyah Sands are easily accessible — the paved roa…
The Wahiba Sands were the territory of the Bani Wahiba Bedouin tribe — nomadic pastoralists who moved livestock seasonally between the sands and the coastal plain. A Royal Geographical Society expedition in 1986 (the 'Wahiba Sands Project') produced the first systematic scientific survey of the dunes' ecology, geology, and human occupation. The project documented 180 species of invertebrates, 16 species of reptiles, and 150 plant species in an environment previously assumed to be biologically inert. The subsequent development of desert camp tourism in the 1990s–2000s has changed the character…