Maps and books on Oman

Maps, books, museums

Maps | Books | Museums

Maps
Once you get to Oman, you'll find small-scale tourist maps easily in the local bookshops and supermarkets. You may also be able to find the Apex publication, Off-road in Oman, which sets out excursions and provides sketch maps and itineraries.

It may not be so easy to get hold of maps while you're overseas. A long-established company called Stanfords in London specializes in selling maps. And now they're online!

Stanfords Ltd
12 - 14 Long Acre
Covent Garden
London WC2E 9LP
Telephone: +(44)(0)20 7240 3611
Fax: +(44)(0)20 7836 0189

In the absence of anything else, I have bought US aeronautical charts in the past for other areas of the world, except you must remember that name-place spellings and delineation of any international boundaries may not be accepted in use or even defined by treaty.

You can buy single copies of tourist maps of Oman at a scale of 1:1.3 million from

Head, National Surveys Authority (NSA)
Ministry of Defence
P.O. Box 113
Muscat, Postal Code 113
Sultanate of Oman

Ask about rates for bulk purchases.

The 1994 edition, which has now been superceded, is available from Omnimap online. This map does indicate main petrol filling stations in the interior of Oman.

Maps at a scale of 1:10,000 or 1:5,000 may be available on application to NSA. You have to show that you need these larger-scale maps for a project.

You can buy Lonely Planet and Geoproject maps on the net from Elstead Maps UK. MapStore also supply a folded small-scale map published originally by Hildebrand, a German company. If you have time, you can take a trip to Yahoo! and burrow down to Businesses>Companies>Retailers>Maps.

Geological maps at scales of 1:250,000, 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 are sold at the Geological Survey department in the basement of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, opposite the Sheraton-Oman hotel in Ruwi. There's also a national geological map at a scale of 1:1,000,000. They all cost R.O.25 (approximately US$65) each. The 1:250,000 series is generally available but some of the larger-scale maps may not be available for security reasons. Go to the geological survey page for a complete listing of maps and reports.

Books
Specialist and picture books of Oman abound on topics such as silverware, forts, natural history and development. These are mostly available in Oman bookshops, as are town plans and gazetteers. Look there too for Geology of Oman (a series of geological excursions), Caving in Oman, Diving in Oman and Climbing in Oman.

A handbook of information, the Muscat Explorer, was published in 1999. It contains a lot of useful information for visitors and residents alike. The title is somewhat misleading, since it covers the rest of the country too, although perhaps not in so much detail. Published by Explorer Publishing, its ISBN is 0-9531647-2-1.

In-country, look for Oman Today which is published bi-monthly by Apex Publishing. This is a handy guide to restaurants, sports and leisure clubs/activities, essential background information and What's on. Short articles highlight day-long walks and outings and features on traditional Oman. In March 2001, it cost US$2.60 a copy.

First Publishing also issue a similar, slimmer guide called Ahlan - What's New, Muscat 2000, without feature articles but including listings of hotels and airlines. The cost was something like 53 US cents in May 2000.

If I had just one picture book with informative content to recommend, it would be Peter Vine's The Heritage of Oman, 1995, Immel Publishing, London, UK, ISBN 1-898162-40-9. It's very comprehensive and beautifully laid out and illustrated.

But neither can you ignore Sir Donald Hawley's authoritative Oman. First published in 1977 by Stacey International, it continues to get re-printed. My edition is dated 1990. Sir Donald was the first British ambassador to Oman following HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said's accession to the throne in 1970. His work is invaluable in that it bridges older Oman with the modern day. The ISBN is 0905743 63 6.

Please do use the amazon.com search facility to look for books about Oman.

Museums
This information was taken from the February/March 2001 edition of Oman Today.

Bait al Zubair 736688 weapons, jewellery, clothing, books, paintings, photos and maps
Children's Museum 605368/605369 science for kids; Sat-Thur: 9a.m.-1p.m. and 4p.m.-6p.m.; Fri 4p.m.-6p.m.
National Museum 701289 jewellery, costume, weapons, pots; Sat-Thur: 9a.m.-1p.m. and 4p.m.-6p.m.; Fri 4p.m.-6p.m.
Natural History Museum 605400 animals including a whale skeleton, plants, shells and environment; Sat-Thur: 9a.m.-1p.m. and 4p.m.-6p.m.; Fri 4p.m.-6p.m.
Oman Museum 600946 Sat-Thur: 9a.m.-1p.m. and 4p.m.-6p.m.; Fri 4p.m.-6p.m.
Omani French Museum 736613 in old Muscat; Sat-Thur: 9a.m.-1p.m. and 4p.m.-6p.m.; Fri 4p.m.-6p.m.
Salalah Museum 294549 in Salalah, Dhofar; local artefacts and costumes; Sat-Wed: 7.30a.m.-2.30p.m.
Sultan's Armed Forces Museum 312648 Sun, Mon, Wed and Thur: 8a.m.-1.30p.m.

Bait Muzna Gallery 739204 fine art, framing, antiques and gifts Sat-Thur: 9.30a.m.-1.30p.m. and 4.30p.m.-8p.m.

You may need a permit from the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture (next to the Natural History Museum) to enter one of Oman's many forts. You are more likely to be able to visit a fort during government working hours (7.30a.m.-2.30p.m.) from Saturday to Wednesday.

The Muscat Gate House Museum, housed in a fort-like building across a road leading out of old Muscat, opened in January 2001. Displays cover Oman's history from Neolithic times to the present. There is a special exhibit on Muscat's water springs, ancient wells, underground channels, souqs, houses, mosques, harbours and forts.

Gifts
In case you can't get to Oman, why not visit SoukofOman to see what gifts are on offer.

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