03Cities and regions

The desert

Sharqiya Sands and Wadi Bani Khalid

The Sharqiya Sands, long known as the Wahiba Sands after the Bani Wahiba tribe, are a dune desert in the Eastern Region measuring 180 kilometres from north to south and 80 kilometres across, a total of 12,500 square kilometres. They were shaped by the monsoon winds and the northern shamal together, and in the north the dunes rise up to 100 metres in long ridges running north to south. The sands are far from empty: a scientific expedition in 1986 recorded 16,000 kinds of invertebrates, around 200 species of other wildlife and 150 native plants. Between June and September, Bedouin families gather at the oasis of Al-Huyawah on the edge of the desert to harvest dates. In the province of Wadi Bani Khalid, in the north of the Sharqiyah, the wadi of the same name holds wide pools among huge boulders, springs, aflaj and the Muqal Cave. The sands are at their best just after sunrise and before sunset, when the light softens and the sand cools, so save the wadi for the middle of the day.

0 km²

Area of the sands

0 km

North to south

up to 100 m

Dune height