In Salalah, city of incense and dromedaries

Salalah, capital of Oman's southernmost province, Dhofar, is the cradle of incense. It was from here, precisely from the port of Khor Rori Sumhuram, a pre-Islamic settlement devoted to the Moon Goddess called Sin, inhabited already a millennium ago, that ships loaded with what was considered white gold sailed out: this fortified archaeological site, still surrounded by its original walls, stands on a lagoon connected by two natural outlets to the Indian Ocean. And around it graze the camels descended from those that were used to bring down from the top of the trading citadel the cargo of this very precious resin for healing and cosmetic purposes. Reaching Wadi Dawkah, a Unesco-protected garden, one can walk along paths traced inside the only remaining plantation of incense trees in the entire Arabian Peninsula.