She went up to the North Pole, but now to celebrate Oman’s 50th anniversary of the National Day and the achievements, the explorer is back to adventure — to explore her own land to celebrate the Sultanate’s 50th National Day.
“I went to the farthest part of the world, but felt I have not explored my own country to its finest details as I would like to have. So it is going to be a straight line from the northern most part of Oman — Musandam’s Salama Islands all the way down to Mirbat. The aim is to complete 1,200 km in 50 days, each day to represent each year of Oman’s success’’, Anisa al Raisi, the Omani explorer said excitedly about her journey which was in planning for two years.
The first 100 km is going to be covered kayaking which would be for over five days until Dibba where we will park our kayaks and with the support of the Ministry of Defence as helicopter transports them from Dibba to Hatta and from there they will start their exploration on land — in Wadi Hatta. From then on they are going to be on foot — YallaGo has two adventurers coming together, two women from different cultures for one journey.
Accompanying Anisa on the venture is Major Natalie Taylor from the UK, who is currently in Oman in quarantine, and is excited that she could be in Oman on time to start on November 18. “The message we want to share is strength, resilience and perseverance. We are partnering with young Omanis as much as we can with SMEs. We also want to inspire other women to collaborate with us. We will also be doing some research along the way. Dr Geoffrey Rose has taught us how to recognise archeological sites as we will be going through unexplored areas.
Natalie being a researcher and medic will be doing a body composition and study the effect of the climatic conditions during this expedition on both of us as she is genetically not from this part of the world. I want to challenge not just the youth who come to us at Outward Bound Oman, but challenge myself and be an inspiration to myself to anyone who is keen to listen to my story.”
She wants people to come out of their comfort zone. But the most important message is this, “for 50 years we are receiving and it is time to give back to the country. What can we do as the youth for the country? What can we do together to achieve the goals of Vision-2040? This is where we need you. This journey is about you being inspired.”
During their trek they will walk through Al Buraimi Governorate, Rub al Khali dunes, move past Haima and to Demeet, Wadi Arra and all the way to Jabal Samhan to the tip of Mirbat and from there go down to hit the ocean.
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