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Curiosities
Crocs and ostriches

“The males are very aggressive,” says A Ganesan, farm manager of Oman Ostrich Farm in Barka. The Jurassic-looking birds peer over the wire fencing and extend their jet wings in a menacing dance while behind them fawn hens clack their beaks at the ground.

Oman Ostrich Farm, which belongs to Azzan Farms but is managed by Alawi Enterprises, is a curious place, situated just off the Barka roundabout opposite Al Nahda Resort. In addition to 100 acres of carrots and a flock of ostriches, the farm is home to several sleepy crocodiles, but it’s the birds that are the main attraction, and visitors are often able to see young chicks, which at one month old are already strapping, each baby about the size of a goose.

Ostriches are the largest bird species living in the world, flightless but capable of great pace (speeds of up to 70km/h have been recorded). They were once found all over the Arabian peninsular as well as in Iran and Egypt, but today are native only to southern Africa.

Oman Ostrich Farm is open daily, 6.30am–12.30pm and 3–6pm (on national holidays it is open all day). For details, call 26 885535.


Crafts
Glass house
K N Prabhakaran is a fine artist – he trained at Madras Fine Arts College – but his current medium of choice is glass. Al Sharafi Trading Glass D’signers, which opened in 1996, makes stained and etched glass and glass paintings, some of them portraying Arabic calligraphy. Its Tiffany-style lampshades, windows, portraits and panels adorn many buildings in the sultanate, including hotels, ministries, mosques and palaces. The Ministry of National Economy’s auditorium for instance features three-dimensional acid-etched panels depicting Omani hallmarks such as forts, dhows, traditional jewellery and date pots.

Prabhakaran obtains sheets of plain glass from Belgium; his coloured glass and lead-came (the H-section used to articulate the stained-glass picture and hold the glass pieces in position) are from the UK. For stained or etched glass, the first step is to make a design on paper; the glass can then be cut into shape or the design etched on using acid. Prabhakaran works to commission from his office-cum-gallery in Ruwi. For further details, call Glass D’signers on 24 833733, or visit www.glassprabha.com.

Park life
Knot gardens and aquatic fireworks
Located between Seeb International Airport and Muscat City Centre, Sahwa Park is a newish addition to the cityscape that this year also became a venue for Muscat Festival. The festival is now over but the park is still worth a visit, notably for its beautifully designed sunken knot gardens and its sensational fountains.

Sahwa Park is large and deftly planned, the artful landscaping creating welcome elements of surprise and interesting views. But it is the wizardry with water that is the most endearing feature of Sahwa. The main pool, at the centre of the garden, encircles a romantic pavilion surmounted by mosaic-clad domes. The jets in this pool put on a bravura display, world-class aquatic fireworks that arc and twist and shimmer through the air. Another fountain nearby, which is similar to but grander than an example at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, consists of jets that bubble up out of paving stones set intermittently with changing coloured lamps. Children can get as close as they dare to the sporadic jets, which rear up in sequences like a watery Mexican wave.

Sahwa Park is open Saturday to Wednesday, 4–11pm, and at weekends, 9am to midnight.

Mapped out
Charting the map
Silk Route

Kathleen Ferguson-Huntington’s fascination with the Silk Route has taken her on travels round the world. Oman was a particularly enjoyable stopover, so enjoyable in fact that Kathleen was inspired to host a series of workshops for children in Muscat inspired by the Silk Route. The result, ‘Putting Yourself On The Map’, aims to blend art with history and will be held at Bait al Baranda from March 22 to 25.

According to Malik al Hinai, director of the visitors’ centre, the workshops are Kathleen’s gift to Oman. “About 70 children from 11 schools will attend,” he says. “The aim is to teach children to use maps. It’s so easy to use Google Earth and GPS, but we don’t want people to lose the art of map-making.”

Kathleen (pictured left) will be coming to Muscat from her base in Doha, where she works at Virginia Commonwealth University, part of the Qatar Foundation, to host the workshops. PowerPoint illustrated lectures will teach the participants aspects such as trade routes and the goods traded, which ranged from frankincense to lacquer work.

The children will also visit the map-making National Survey Authority, part of the Ministry of Defence. Afterwards, on March 26 and 27, the fruits of the workshops will be displayed at the visitors’ centre in Mutrah. For further details, call 24 714262.


Perfumer
Sweet success
Mahfooda Hamed Said al Amri’s shop in Seeb souq is an intensely, headily perfumed boutique, stocked with jars and bottles of richly scented oud, luban and attar that Mahfooda makes at her house. She has practised her craft, learnt from her mother, since 1986, and currently has shops in Seeb, Barka and Shangri-La’s Barr al Jissah Resort and Spa.


Mahfooda’s products are made from ingredients sourced from Oman, India, Thailand and Dubai. Some of the scent or attar must be kept for 40 or 50 days to develop before it is ready to be applied to the skin or added to incense, which in Arabic is called bukhoor. Various types of bukhoor are available, many of them ready-soaked in attar: luban is a gum; oud is the timber of a tree species that grows only in Assam and Thailand; and dofran is made up of shells. Mahfooda also makes bespoke scents for brides.

In 2006 Mahfooda exhibited her incense in Washington in the States, where she sold US$7,000 worth of bukhoor. Her products are popular with foreigners and Omanis alike – so much so that she is currently applying for a factory to expand her business.

Al Amria Omani Fragrance is open Saturday to Thursday, 9am–1pm and 4.30–10pm, and Friday, 4.30–10pm. For further details, call 24 424336.