As mist rolls over the Dhofar mountains and waterfalls cascade down slopes turned emerald by the Khareef, one German author says this annual transformation still takes her breath away, eight years after she made this coastal city her home.
That freedom has translated into a prolific body of work.“The Khareef Dhofar Season, in particular, reminds me every year how extraordinary Salalah is”, said Carmen Storck, a blogger and novelist who left Germany behind in 2018 to settle permanently in southern Dhofar Governorate. “While many people associate Oman mainly with the desert, this region transforms into a lush green landscape filled with mist, waterfalls and vibrant nature. This unique atmosphere continues to inspire me again and again”.
Carmen’s journey to Salalah began almost by accident. In 2015, a single phrase caught her attention on television: “Salalah — the Caribbean of the Orient”. Intrigued by what sounded like a contradiction, she booked a trip on a whim. That first visit changed the course of her life.
“I was deeply impressed not only by its breathtaking landscapes and the remarkable hospitality of its people, but also by the sense of peace and calm I experienced there”, she recalled. “At the time, I had no idea that this journey would change my life”.
“Carmen’s My Life in Oman" is a German-language autobiographical trilogy; English and Arabic editions are due next year. Her first step beyond memoir came with My Life Without Me, set in Salalah, which explores artificial intelligence, identity and emotional dependency. She is now working on her second fictional novel, The Man by the Fire, set in Oman around 80 years in the future.
“What happens if an artificial intelligence uses all of that information to build trust, recognise loneliness and create emotional dependency?” she said of the novel’s premise. “That question eventually became the foundation of my psychological thriller”.
Despite the futuristic subject matter, Carmen insists her creative process remains rooted firmly in the physical world around her — daily walks with her dog, Lucy, through Dhofar’s wadis and coastline. “I don’t need spectacular events to find inspiration”, she said. “Very often, it is the small moments during my daily walks... that later develop into stories”.
Her long-running ‘Salalah Blog — Life in Oman’, which began as a way to keep family in Germany updated, has since grown into a multi-platform presence spanning Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, offering an outsider’s unfiltered view of everyday Omani life. “My goal has never been to promote Oman, but simply to show people what everyday life here really looks like”, she said.
Central to her writing, she said, is a belief that reinvention has no age limit. “I want to show that it is never too late to start over”, she said. “Not every dream comes true immediately. But without taking the first step, no dream will ever come true”.
As this year’s Khareef unfolds across Dhofar, Carmen said she plans to keep documenting the season for her readers while carving out time for her next chapters — both literal and literary. “New ideas often emerge because the landscape and the atmosphere create such a unique mood”, she said.
For a writer who once measured her life in Germany by appointments and deadlines, the misted hills of Salalah have become something closer to home. “Oman has become my home”, she said, “and at the same time it is the source of my stories”.
By 2018, after a transitional period splitting her time between the two countries, she had relocated for good — not to Muscat, but to Salalah specifically, drawn by its rare mix of sea, mountains, desert and calm. “Salalah is large enough to offer everything you need, yet small enough that you never feel overwhelmed by the pace of a big city”, she said. “That sense of calm gives me the freedom to be creative and to focus on my writing”.
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