ABBA SURVEY 29: SOUTHERN OMAN - NOVEMBER 2001

Turtle nesting Khor Dirif

Frankinsense tree, Wadi Mughsail

(From Phoenix 18)

Dracaena terraces of Jebel Samhan, Oman

The excellent bird sites guide to Oman (Page 10) could not reasonably cover all the places in Oman that are good for birds; at some site birds are just not numerous enough to warrant a visit during a time limited trip and others are just too remote and difficult to get to. In the latter category is Jebel Samhan (UB11 - VA12) the eastern mountain range in Dhofar that rises to over 1800 m and is rarely visited on account of its difficult terrain and lack of tracks. The jebel is for the most part a plateau presenting a south facing stepped escarpment over 1 km high for almost its entire length from north of Mirbat to the coast opposite the Hallaniyat islands (Kuria Murias) some 80 km to the east. One particularly difficult and remote part of that mountain range is the south west face (UB11) of the escarpment which lies some 15-18 km NE of Mirbat.

A camp site I had during ABBA Survey 27 in March 2000 was on the lip of the Jebel Samhan escarpment directly north of Mirbat and I was intrigued to see in the distance through my telescope that a series of terraces fell away from the escarpment and that on the higher terraces there were many large dracaena Dracaena serrulata trees. This was a habitat I had not seen anywhere in Oman before although there are a few small dracaena trees beside the road on Jebel Qamar, which are now much eaten by camels. I resolved to visit this new dracaena site on a future trip. The opportunity came in November 2001 (ABBA Survey 29). I camped with my partner Carol Qirreh in a wadi below the escarpment at 220m on 26 November and we decided to climb up to the upper terraces the next day. We left the camp site at 0630 hrs. At first one walks up a gentle wadi which is flanked on the west side by a large outcrop of sandstone, unique amongst the limestone generality of Oman. (The Mirbat area is interesting geologically as there are also granite outcrops nearby). In the wadi there was much acacia and a few stunted tamarisk. I was surprised to find in the wadi bed many dry specimens of the curious plant Hydnora africana. It looks like a fungus but is actually a root parasite of acacia and lacks leaves and roots. On another trip to the Tihama of Saudi Arabia a botanist I was with got quite excited about finding just one hydnora but here there were groups of 20 together. We clambered up a spur of the escarpment, climbing through a largely ungrazed hillside covered in trees and bushes of acacia, Comifera, frankinsense Lycium, Adenium and several other species. There were lots of Caralluma. The first dracaena trees appeared about 600m at which level many rocks were covered in lichens and hairlike lichen hung on the trees and bushes. Most dracaena are found at 900-1100 m. At 1000m there was a terrace some 100m wide and 300 m long where there were many dracaena and other trees and enough soil for termites hills. The highest point that can be reached from the south is about 1150 m which I reached at 10.45hrs. From that point a sheer cliff rises to the escarpment lip at about 1450 m). It was a hot, arduous climb with only a little relief from a breeze on the spur crest but the climb up and down in one day is possible even for the not especially fit like us. We got back to our camp site at 1615 hrs. There were no stock animals seen at all on the slopes but our visit was during Ramadan and probably animals are not pastured here during that month. I had seen cows on the higher slopes in March 2000 and there was plenty of evidence of cows and donkeys at 1000m. We both picked up ticks and saw several others which is a good indication of the presence of stock animals. It could be that these slopes are reserved for grazing in the spring time. One particularly encouraging point about this site was that there were a number of small young dracaena which is something you do not generally see at other dracaena sites in Arabia. Not one was found on Socotra (Page 17).

Birds we found on our short visit were probably only a small part of those that breed here during the monsoon period and this very undisturbed area warrants a much more thorough examination as it must attract a number of interesting species. Fan-tailed raven Corvus rhipidurus, Tristram's grackle Onychognathus tristramii and Arabian red-legged partridge Alectoris melanocephala could be seen or heard most of the time during the ascent, other common birds present were yellow-vented bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos and south Arabian mourning wheatear Oenanthe lugentoides. There were also a few palm dove Streptopelia senegalensis, desert lark Ammomanes deserti, pale crag martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula, rock dove Columba livia, white breasted white eye Zosterops abyssinica and shining sunbird Nectarinia habessinica. Cinnamon-breasted rock bunting Emberiza tahapisi were strangely absent on the slopes but they are present on the top of the escarpment. Paradise flycatchers Terpsiphone viridis were found in the bushes of the spur and the odd wintering desert wheatear Oenanthe deserti was present all the way up the hill. Raptors were very much in evidence during our visit and there were not many occasions when there was not a raptor of some description to be seen overhead. There were resident pairs of kestrel Falco tinnunculus and Barbary falcon F. pelegrinoides, also long-legged buzzard Buteo rufinus and short-toed eagle Circaetus gallicus were seen and both could be resident. A single Verreaux's eagle Aquila verreauxii passed along the escarpment (a probable was also seen there in March 2000). A roost of some 25 Egyptian vultures Neophron percnopterus assembled each night on the top of the escarpment. Visiting raptors included several steppe A. nipalensis and imperial eagles A. heliaca. A Hume's owl Strix butleri was heard calling at 0600 hours on 28 November from slopes we had climbed. Birds seen in the wadi bottoms but not on the slopes were blackstart Cercomela melanura, Lichtenstein's sandgrouse Pterocles lichtensteinii, Arabian warbler Sylvia leucomelaena and long-billed pipit Anthus similis.

Hyrax are present on the hillside (the classic prey of Verreaux's eagle) and at 1000m there were several diggings with dung beetle larvae balls cracked open, indicating the presence of honey badger. Wolves were heard howling heartily on two nights.

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The south face of Jebel Samhan from 220 m. The easiest route to the dracaena plateau is up the ridge of the spur in the middle of the picture. (The next 6 pictures show the Dracaena trees on the south slope of Jebel Samhan)