Greater Flamingos.

Qurum beach is a respite during the hot summers.
On and off we are there during the weekends.













Qurum beach by dusk.












As we drove past the beach we were plesently
surprised to spot Flamingos on the opposite
side.

Flamingos live in mudflats and shallow coastal

lagoons with salt water.They need lots of quiet

and privacy. From the road you can only see

bits of pink in the distance without binoculars.

A gray flamingo is a young one. The young

flamingos aren't as jitterish as the adults.
Males and females look alike, although the

male is a little larger.

When an area no longer provides enough food,

the flamingos will migrate to another location

at night.

Here are some close shots we were able to get

when we were on our trip to Masirah Island in

Nov'08.

Mosaic Monday.

Stopping by hibiscus buds,Kalbu Park.

Thank you Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday.
Do check out more mosaics at Little Red House
Enjoy and have a great Monday!

Painted Ladies at Kalbu Park.

Kalbu Park is where we usually spend our evenings.
The park has quite a few date trees(which is very

common here).Its the season for dates(fruit) to
ripen and are ready to be eaten.The Arabian sea

nearly surrounds the park and overlooks the Muscat

Port,making it very pleasant in the evenings.

As the sun sets, this is what we witness.

At times,as the sun starts to set in the west

we also see the moon peeping from behind a

mountain ,as if to say"now it's my turn".

As dusk settles this is what Kalbu Park looks like.



















The other day we were pleasantly surprised when
we spotted quite a few beautiful Painted Ladies

in the park inspite of the heat.What a joy it was to

see Diya(our little daughter)trying to catch them.
We managed to get a few shots as they flew from
lantana to lantana and sometimes rested on the grass.

Mosaic Monday-Lantanas

Thank you Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday.

Do check out more mosaics at Little Red House

Enjoy and have a great Monday!

Wahiba Sands.

Wahiba Sands (in Oman) is about three hours drive from Muscat. Traditional home of the Bedouin, this region is named after the Wahiba tribe. It is usual to camp overnight and indulge in dune bashing, Quad bike rides, Camel rides or simply laze around.

After quick refreshments we were on our 4WD

vehicle warming up for action......We visited a
nearby animal shelter. This is what we saw...

Maternal bliss ...A week old calf

"Sands are so boring".....Yawn ! But not for us

The camera bugs started clicking..... With the

golden sands glow...life seemed out of the

world(sand).

The ever-changing patterns of dunes are indeed

a photographer’s delight!

Then came the most exciting part...Dune Bashing

(racing up and down the sand dunes).Driver told

us to put on our seatbelts and suddenly we took

off and found ourselves swaying from side to side,

with the nose of our vehicle pointing towards the

heavens,with our hearts in our mouth. Then we

zoomed down the sand dune and up again and

this went on for about 10minutes.One of our

friends was literally chanting "Oh my God!!! "

throughout.It was an experience we will always

remember.Nothing less then a heart attack.

We then witnessed the amazing desert sunset

from the top of a dune.

As night fell we enjoyed the tranquility of the
desert and the clear sky above us.

Mosaic Monday.

Thank you Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday.
To check out more mosaics do visit Mary
at Little Red House

Enjoy and have a great Monday!