Page 33 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

Chapter One
shoreline along the so-called Lower Gulf, constituting more than a
third of the Arabian Coast of the Gulf. This shore is reached from the
Indian Ocean after navigating the length of the Gulf of Oman and
rounding the tip of the long and narrow Musandam Peninsula
through the 46 kilometre-wide entry to the Gulf, the Straits of
Hormuz, and past the southern shore of the Iranian province of
Baluchistan. The UAE has also direct access to the Indian Ocean on
the 75 kilometres of its eastern shoreline which border on the Gulf of
Oman. Overland communications across the rugged peninsula were,
however, problematic, since the two coasts, forming two sides of the
triangular Musandam Peninsula, are separated by the Hajar Moun­
tain Range. The eastern coast has only recently been made more easy
of access from the major part of the State by the construction of
asphalted roads.

The mountains
The Hajar range rises in nearly vertical cliffs from the fjord-like inlets
of the Straits of Hormuz, and reaches within the triangle of the
Peninsula a height of over 2,000 metres in the Ru’us al Jibal. The
range extends to the south-east as far as Ra’s al Hadd in Oman,
where the Gulf of Oman merges with the Indian Ocean at the most
easterly point of the Arabian Peninsula. The barren igneous and
limestone peaks, tumbling cliffs and steep intersecting valleys give to
this range the character of a natural fortress towering astride the
entrance to the Gulf. With the exception of the over 3,000 metre-high
extensive plateau of the Jabal al Akhdar in Inner Oman, the
mountains are almost devoid of topsoil. There are no perennial rivers
which reach the sea from the interior of the range. Since South-East
Arabia is affected by the fringes of the winter monsoon, a limited
rainfall can be expected throughout the whole area; during the
summer occasional torrential storms break over the mountains. The
average rainfall in the areas away from the mountains is, however, a
scanty 107 millimetres a year.3 Agricultural activities are possible in
some of the valleys and in certain narrow tracts of land on either side
of the mountains where the annually replenished water table is high
and where flash floods have deposited fertile sediments.
This mountain range has been a major factor in determining the
quality of life in South-eastern Arabia throughout the ages. It is
responsible for some of the regional climatic conditions, since it bars
the rainclouds forming over the Indian Ocean from travelling freely
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