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No checkpoints and no visas to check out this lovely little Omani picnic spot near Fujairah. We take a Ram truck!

By Shahzad Sheikh

Regular readers might remember our last road trip in a Ram Truck, which didn’t quite go to plan and nearly ended with Team MME being either possessed by spirits, abducted by aliens or turned into zombies! Read that here.

Perhaps somewhat foolhardily, two and half years on, I decided to take a Ram back in that direction, but this time in the day time, and on this occasion I even took my kids with me for a day out!

Thankfully it turns out things are very different during the day, and we instead found a great picnic spot and some spectacular views – all in a little Omani enclave called Madha, just a few minutes drive from Murbah – which is between Fujairah and Khor Fakkan.

It’s getting warm now, so this might just be the last day trip before it really starts to get hot, but it’s definitely well worth heading out there this weekend if you’re looking for something to do.

Turns out you don’t need a Ram or even a 4×4 to get there though, nonetheless going anywhere in a 2014 Ram is cool. This remains one of our favourite trucks and still provides incredible levels of space and comfort with a cosseting ride and enough storage and toys to keep everyone happy inside.

Plus it has the torque and power to get you out of any situation and if you are going to go adventuring, it doesn’t hurt to go in something as invincible as this – certainly kept us safe from the ghouls last time!

If you have GPS, stick in these coordinates 25.268485, 56.301053, if not it’s still very simple: get into Fujairah and head up towards Khor Fakkan, about 19km later (or 7km before Khor Fakkan) you turn left towards Madha and drive for 7.2km.

Note that after just 1km you’re technically actually in Oman – part of the Musandam Governorate (but not connected) that’s a 75km square isolated enclave within the UAE. But there is no checkpoint and you don’t need a visa (though it would probably be wise to keep IDs and passports handy with you just in case. You also need to have car insurance for Oman – though most UAE insurance policies include that now as standard anyway (check your documents).

Funnily enough, there is another enclave within this enclave that is actually part of the Emirate of Sharjah! It’s called Nahwa and there’s about forty families living there. Unlike our previous excursion however, and at the time of this visit there a couple of months back, you could no longer continue through after Nahwa towards Masafi.

So to get to this picnic spot, having entered ‘Oman’ from Murbah, you go past the actual village of Madha until you come up on a rise that veers off to the left, with a fork off to the right directly ahead of you. This is just before a (presently) dried up lake bed and large dam, about a kilometre before Nahwa.

I fully intend to go back later this year to see if there’s ever water in this lake, because there’s a spectacular viewing point on a hillock that promises a very picturesque view indeed if there’s an actual lake here.

Meanwhile you descend a tight road with a u-bend that certainly would give a Ram driver a little pause for thought but in the end didn’t prove a challenge, and come upon a picnic area complete with toilets, children’s play areas, huts and a great view of the mountains and the valley heading back towards Madha.

There are no shops, cafe or restaurants here however, so I’d recommend stocking up with food and especially water and drinks back in Fujairah before heading out here. Later on you can take a little drive through the valley itself if you’re in something as capable as the Ram, but prudently we decided to head back home as soon as the first signs of dusk presented themselves!

If you happen to go visit Madha Oman, let us know how you got on in the comments section below.