There was a chameleon standing between us and Wadi Hannah. Have you ever seen one cross the road?

It tends to move in slow motion, nodding to and fro between steps, as if unsure which colour to turn before the next move. Turns out a chameleon can run as fast as it switches shades of green. My guide was out of the car in hot pursuit, and they both disappeared into the thick shrubbery between baobabs. He emerged, triumphant, with a bitten finger and a fast-fading captive that we let go a minute later, unhurt if
not a bit ruffled, after shooting it for our cover.

Not all of Dhofars secrets make for an easy grab. Legends like those swirling around Khor Kharfot are inherently vague. You will be disappointed if you are looking for answers, but enchanted if you abandon the agenda and roll with the tide. It is through such wanderings, half deliberate, that we bring you these stories. In the space between places, under leaves of the baobab or the pauses of a chameleon, we hope you find what you are looking for.

Pinaki Chakravarty
pinaki@apexstuff.com