Picked up on time in a very clean Land Cruiser, by polite
and friendly tour guide. Asked in transit by our guide if we
would like to go to a Perfume factor, we said no, but still
ended up at the Perfume factory...45min wasted. Thought
that we would then head to Wadi Bani Khalid for swim and
lunch, but headed to the desert! We thought at this point
we would complete our 4 x 4 Sand Dune/of road experience,
but had Dates and Coffee this was lovely in a tent and then
proceeded to head to the Wadi and swum and had our Picnic
lunch, much later than we thought! At this stage we were
getting concerned we would run out of time. After some
gentle persuasion more then once, as our guide didn't seem
to want to go off road we headed back to the desert why 2
trips, drove 50m up one sand dune, stopped and was encourage
to take photos how exciting is that! I noticed at least 6
other vehicles doing amazing things across and up and down
the dunes while we drove at pedestrian pace along a road!
We were left disappointed that we didn't experience the 4 x
4 Sand Dune/of Road adrenalin rush we expected and paid for!
We head pack to Muscat quite confused and disappointed,
arriving home after 7pm.
Summarising. Tour Guide was clearly on different agenda! He
provided minimal local knowledge. He wasn't experienced in
off road driving, or I would not be writing this. The trip
to the Wadi and then back to the Sand Dunes added at least
an hour to our trip total perplexed by that. Not sure why
the Perfume factory was part of the deal. We felt that we
spent our money on being driven to Wadi via the North pole,
when we could have walked there quicker. It was suggested
to us that we could do the 4 x 4 experience next
time....
Signed. Disappointed traveller.