Oman trivia: 46 questions and answers

Muscat. Muscat is the capital and largest city, a long ribbon of white buildings between the Gulf of Oman and bare brown mountains.

Omani rial. The Omani rial is divided into 1,000 baisa and is tied to the US dollar.

Qatar. Qatar does not border Oman. Oman's land neighbours are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Jebel Shams. Jebel Shams, in the Hajar Mountains, is about 3,009 m high according to the Ministry of Tourism. Jebel Harim is the highest point of Musandam, at about 2,087 m.

True. True. Water runs through dry valleys called wadis only after rain, and ancient channels called aflaj carry spring water to villages.

False. False. Traffic in Oman drives on the right.

United Arab Emirates. Musandam is an exclave: on land it is surrounded by the United Arab Emirates, and on the sea side it looks out over the Strait of Hormuz.

Portugal. Portugal held Muscat and other towns on the coast from 1507 until the imam's troops drove them out in 1650. The forts Al Jalali and Al Mirani date from their time.

Mombasa. Fort Jesus is in Mombasa, in today's Kenya. Its fall in 1698 made Oman the leading power on the Swahili coast.

Pakistan. Pakistan bought Gwadar on 8 September 1958, after almost two centuries of rule from Muscat.

True. True. His sons quarrelled, and with British arbitration the empire was split into Muscat and Oman and the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

Sultanate of Oman. Qaboos bin Said renamed Muscat and Oman the Sultanate of Oman in 1970, to bring the coast and the interior together.

Shuwa. Shuwa is spiced meat wrapped in leaves and a sack, then buried in a pit of hot coals and cooked slowly, above all for Eid.

Cardamom. Omani kahwa is lightly roasted coffee boiled with plenty of cardamom, sometimes with saffron or rosewater.

True. True. The host keeps refilling the small cup until you shake it gently before handing it back.

A thin omelette. Balaleet is served with a thin omelette on top: the mix of sweet noodles and salty egg surprises many visitors.

Beaten. Madrouba means 'beaten', from the long stirring and beating that turns rice or wheat and chicken or fish into a creamy porridge.

Sur. Sur, on the east coast, built large wooden dhows for the trade with India and East Africa, and some are still built by hand there.

Salalah. In Salalah and the Dhofar hills the Indian Ocean monsoon brings mist and drizzle in summer, so the hills turn green while the rest of Oman is hot and dry.

True. True. Buraimi and Al Ain grew up around the same group of oases on either side of today's border.

Bahla Fort. Bahla Fort, a vast mud-brick fort ringed by old oasis walls, was added to the World Heritage list in 1987.

Turandot. The opera house opened on 12 October 2011 with Puccini's Turandot, conducted by Plácido Domingo.

Green turtles. Green turtles lay their eggs in the sand at Ras al Jinz, and rangers lead small groups to watch them in the dark.

Mountain of the sun. Jebel Shams means 'mountain of the sun', because it is the first place in Oman to catch the morning light. 'Green mountain' is Jebel Akhdar.

True. True. The British ran a repeater station on the island from 1864 to 1868; its ruins can be seen from dhow trips out of Khasab.

False. False. The mosque was completed in 2001. It has room for about 20,000 worshippers and a single carpet of about 70 by 60 m.

1,000. One rial is divided into 1,000 baisa, so a price of 0.500 rial means 500 baisa.

True. True. The rial is pegged at about 2.60 US dollars, which makes it the third most valuable currency unit in the world, after the Kuwaiti and Bahraini dinars.

Arabian Oryx Sanctuary. The Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was removed in 2007 after the government cut its area by about 90%. The other three are still on the list.

A curved dagger (khanjar). A curved dagger (khanjar), the kind Omani men wear on formal occasions, appears on the flag and the national emblem.

True. True. The aflaj carry spring water to villages and palm groves, and five of them are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

False. False. Madha is surrounded by the United Arab Emirates, and inside it lies Nahwa, a village that belongs to the UAE emirate of Sharjah.

Coconut-fibre rope. Like the 9th-century ship it copies, the Jewel of Muscat was sewn together with coconut-fibre rope, without a single nail.

A valley or dry riverbed. A wadi is a valley or dry riverbed that fills with water only after rain.

shukran. Shukran means thank you. Marhaba means hello, afwan means you're welcome and la means no.

good, fine. Zain means good, fine: a word heard all the time in Oman and the Gulf.

Wa alaykum as-salam. The reply is 'Wa alaykum as-salam', 'and upon you be peace'. Ma'a as-salama means goodbye.

Kam hatha?. 'Kam hatha?' means 'how much is this?'. 'Wain al-hammam?' asks where the toilet is.

If God wills. Inshallah means 'if God wills' and is said whenever people talk about plans for the future.

True. True. 'Ramadan kareem' means 'have a generous Ramadan'.

Friday and Saturday. The weekend in Oman is Friday and Saturday. Friday is the day of communal prayer.

9999. The Royal Oman Police, ambulance and fire service are reached on 9999.

October to April. From October to April the weather is warm but pleasant. From May to September most of Oman is extremely hot, except Salalah in the khareef.

False. False. A wadi can fill with a fast, deep flood within minutes, even from rain far away in the mountains. Never drive or walk into moving water.

False. False. As of September 2026 non-Muslim visitors are welcome on mornings from Saturday to Thursday, but not on Fridays.

True. True. Musandam is an exclave, so the road passes through the UAE. You can also fly from Muscat or take the ferry from Shinas.