foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member

I am not a fan of the whole Christmas thing (to say the least) but have taken part for the sake of family in the past. Now I no longer have any commitments, I promised myself I would do a trip over the festive season to get as far away from it all as possible. I made the choice of Oman - I knew someone who had been previously and was returning again in November and also got some great help in terms of information and locations from a couple of forum regulars; thank you very much to Paul Chapman and Chris (Scridifer), it was much appreciated.
Flights were booked with Pegasus (through lastminute.com) to Muscat via Istanbul and a 4-WD from Sixt (through Rentalcars). My initial plan had been to book accommodation online as I went along to allow a bit more flexibility in terms of returning to sites or not leaving an area until a good try for targets had been made. This had worked well with motels in California / Nevada a bit over a year ago and it seemed there was plenty of choice around the Muscat area and in Salalah. But outside these areas it seemed unlikely to work out so I decided to book hotels but could not do so until I had arranged a trip with Mirbat Pelagics. Unfortunately, Hatem did not have any trips planned during the window I could be in Dhofar so eventually he offered to do a solo one for me and once the date was agreed I went ahead and booked rooms via Trivago, with the exception of one night.
I purchased a second hand copy of 'Birdwatching Guide to Oman' as a site guide (a bit out of date but never-the-less still somewhat useful), a Reise map for planning and 'Birds of Oman' (Helm) for ID; eBird was good for hot spots. I downloaded the Oman map on MapsMe for use off-line.
Sunday 15th December:
An early drive around the M25 to Stansted to check-in for a mid morning flight to Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen), landing early evening local time. The original booking had only a short transfer time but Pegasus kept changing the flight times and in the end I had over 4 hours before continuing on to Muscat International, landing in the early hours of Monday local time. The hold bag arrived OK and I had soon picked up the car - a Suzuki Grand Vitara - so set off in the dark to find a quiet coastal spot to park up and get a couple of hours sleep before first light.
Flights were booked with Pegasus (through lastminute.com) to Muscat via Istanbul and a 4-WD from Sixt (through Rentalcars). My initial plan had been to book accommodation online as I went along to allow a bit more flexibility in terms of returning to sites or not leaving an area until a good try for targets had been made. This had worked well with motels in California / Nevada a bit over a year ago and it seemed there was plenty of choice around the Muscat area and in Salalah. But outside these areas it seemed unlikely to work out so I decided to book hotels but could not do so until I had arranged a trip with Mirbat Pelagics. Unfortunately, Hatem did not have any trips planned during the window I could be in Dhofar so eventually he offered to do a solo one for me and once the date was agreed I went ahead and booked rooms via Trivago, with the exception of one night.
I purchased a second hand copy of 'Birdwatching Guide to Oman' as a site guide (a bit out of date but never-the-less still somewhat useful), a Reise map for planning and 'Birds of Oman' (Helm) for ID; eBird was good for hot spots. I downloaded the Oman map on MapsMe for use off-line.
Sunday 15th December:
An early drive around the M25 to Stansted to check-in for a mid morning flight to Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen), landing early evening local time. The original booking had only a short transfer time but Pegasus kept changing the flight times and in the end I had over 4 hours before continuing on to Muscat International, landing in the early hours of Monday local time. The hold bag arrived OK and I had soon picked up the car - a Suzuki Grand Vitara - so set off in the dark to find a quiet coastal spot to park up and get a couple of hours sleep before first light.