Cent of a Nation

| travel OMAN | cent of a nation For millennia, frankincense was one of the world’s most valuable trade goods, and Oman’s Dhofar region was renowned as the source of some of the finest frankincense around. Even today, this aromatic resin plays a central role in SOmani culture, and it’s now proving to be a valuable asset for its tourism industry. Olivia Edward reports y guide takes his knife and And tastes a bit like it, too, but with an just over the hills where the rains don’t draws it sharply across the added tinge of tongue-numbing antisep- quite make it. M bark of a frankincense tree. tic and a smell like concentrated pine oil. Here, where we are, the jade vegeta- Within seconds, a rather We’re standing in a wadi (valley) in tion and duvet of grey mist are replaced toxic-looking white substance has bub- the Dhofar region in Oman’s south- by fierce winds, persistent camels and bled to the surface, like beads of blood western corner. Whereas most of Oman groves of thick-skinned frankincense S GE surging up along a paper cut. is subject to the sand-baking heat of trees, spritzed by the early-morning A ‘Taste it, taste it,’ says guide Abdullah the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, a mists that spill over the dusty hilltops. Subah. I’m not sure that I want to. It small part of Dhofar is lush and green, The locals have been harvesting the /GETTY IM S looks pretty noxious, but Subah insists moistened annually by the monsoon wild Boswellia sacra’s precious resin it’s perfectly harmless, so I scoop up a lit- rains that rise up of out the Arabian here for centuries, these days mostly CK (2); NIL (2); CK O T tle with my finger. It feels a bit like the Sea. Some frankincense grows down for its incense-like odour, but also to S white glue children use at playgroups. there by the sea, but the best grows make the most of its various health HUTTER S (5); (5); D OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: a frankincense seller at one of the most popular stalls in Salalah’s old souk; ‘tears’ of frankincense resin – formed after a tree has R A W been cut with a knife; frankincense burners for sale in Salalah’s old souk; dried lumps of frankincense resin; South Arabian inscriptions found carved onto the walls of D E Sumhuram, a fortified town that traded frankincense around the beginning of the first millennium; a shopkeeper in Salalah’s old souk holds a type of burner used at A LIVI weddings; an Omani woman sorts frankincense in Salalah’s old souk; Dhofar is green during the khareef or monsoon season; CENTRE: burning lumps of frankincense O 54 www.geographical.co.uk MARCH 2011 MARCH 2011 www.geographical.co.uk 55 | travel OMAN | OPPOSITE: a frankincense tree growing in the Dhofar region; ABOVE: a frankincense harvester slices a lump of bark off a frankincense tree. In about two weeks’ time, he will return to collect the hardened lumps of resin that will have formed above the wound. During the harvest season, each tree will yield up to ten kilograms of frankincense. Harvesting doesn’t affect the health of the trees, unless they are scored more than three times, in which case the germination rates of their seeds may begin to decrease benefits. Talk to nearly any NATIONAL SMELL Omani and they’ll reel off a long The traditional aroma of The traditional aroma of frank- list of them: fly repeller, stomach frankincense pervades almost incense pervades almost every soother, cough remover, blood part of Omani life; if the country thinner, cold drier, wound every part of Omani life; had a national smell, this would cleaner, joint oiler. if the country had a national surely be it. Since ousting his Further up the empty valley, father in a coup in 1970, Sultan we meet a small group of smell, this would be it Qaboos, the ruler of Oman, has Bedouin who’ve brought their endeavoured to tie the country’s camels down from the mountains to septuagenarian with pure-white hair, national identity with frankincense, protect them from the monsoon. The creamy walnut-coloured skin, sea-blue and Oman’s tourism industry has contemplative beasts are corralled in eyes and teeth that would be the envy also been working to exploit this rusty-iron-fenced enclosures, shaded of a Hollywood A-lister. ‘We would dis- ancient association. RY A R from the sun by garish Arabian carpets. solve the frankincense in hot water and We visit Salalah’s old souk in the B LI O O Inside a nearby tent, an uncle, his smooth it over the animal’s skin. We evening and find that they’re doing a T O H P nephew and their Pakistani helper wait don’t now of course – we have medi- brisk trade. Amid stalls selling kufiya – CE N out the noonday heat with lounging cine. But we used it up until the 1980s.’ the head scarves favoured by the late CIE mats and large bottles of mineral water. I ask if he misses those times, and rid- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat – reems CK D/S R A sTo ‘We used to use frankincense as an ing his camels across the desert. ‘No,’ of bold floral-print material and stuffed YW A H antiseptic when the camels cut them- he says with a smile as he points at the birds of prey stuck in awkward, embar- R HUTTER S M selves,’ says the uncle, a handsome 4x4 parked outside the tent. rassed poses are apothecary-like shops 56 www.geographical.co.uk MARCH 2011 MARCH 2011 www.geographical.co.uk 57 | travel OMAN | ABOVE: an archaeological dig at Sumhuram run by the University of Pisa. This fortified frankincense-trading town is thought to have been deserted in about 4 AD. Its ruins were discovered by the Yorkshire archaeologist James Theodore Bent during the last decade of the 19th century. Recent finds at the site have included limestone incense burners, brass jugs, stone anchors, graffiti depicting two-masted ships, and numerous coins, including some blanks– suggesting the town may have had its own mint filled with jars and jars of different yellowish nuggets and ‘contaminated’ obtained from the first tapping is con- types of frankincense. lumps that contain pieces of tree bark. sidered to be of lower quality, as is resin A group of young men rushes into ‘For burning,’ explain the women. gathered from cuts made low down one of the most popular shops, where The quality of the frankincense is on the tree. The highest-grade frankin- they order different types of frankin- dependent on where and when it’s cense, known as hojari, is valued for its cense mixed with other aromatic ingre- harvested, and where on the tree the clear, lemony aroma. It’s harvested dients, such as rosewater, sandalwood cuts were made. Harvesting takes place from trees located just outside the CK O T or cardamom. ‘They’re from the capi- from April to September, during which monsoon regions, scored at the hottest S tal, Muscat,’ explains the shopkeeper as time villagers looking to supplement time of the year. HUTTER he seals each medley in a small metal tin. their incomes head out to the wadis to S M; M; ‘Fulfilling perfume requests for friends score the trees, rights to which are ANCIENT TRADE O RY.C A and wives and sisters and mothers.’ owned by different tribes or families. Much of the resin purchased at the R B LI Away from the fluorescent lights, in Leaving the white gummy resin to market will be burned in ceramic burn- O T O H the souk’s quieter areas, older women bubble up and dry, they return a cou- ers, very similar in design to those P / U with traditional gold rings in their noses ple of weeks later, by which time hard- A RE sort lumps of recently harvested frank- ened lumps of resin known as ‘tears’ incense into different baskets depending have formed above the cuts. SO ÉRIC D on their quality. The best is greenish- After collection, these are FRÉ white, its resin globules looking like given another fortnight hardened lumps of ectoplasm that of drying time before might glow if the lights were switched being sent off for sale. off. Nearby, other trays contain inferior The frankincense 58 www.geographical.co.uk MARCH 2011 | travel OMAN | found at Omani archaeological sites drugs currently available. And person- that date back to before Islam arrived OMAN ally, I think that it will be more helpful during the seventh century. Back then, CO-ORdinates to cancer patients than all current Oman was a wealthy trading nation, anti-cancer drugs,’ says Suhail. ‘It’s a ideally located between India and huge discovery. Nobody has done this Greece. The Greeks referred to the coast before – changed the DNA of cancer as Omana, but the central importance OMAN cells. It could be as revolutionary as the of one commodity to trade in the area area of discovery of penicillin.’ map SAUDI ARABIA led to it being widely known as the OMAN l ī Lin is rather more circumspect but h ā ‘frankincense coast’. K still clearly very optimistic. ‘Based on R u b ’ A l The next day, we travel along this our exploratory experiments, frankin- frankincense coast to the recently cense might be a useful therapeutic excavated ancient city of Sumhuram.

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