Barr al-Hickman is a peninsula abutting the southern edge of the Wahiba Sands. You leave the world of high dunes and desert scrub vegetation and move into an ethereal place where the ocean fights a subtle and insidious battle with the land for each grain of sand. The peninsula is so flat the brain struggles, eyes trying to pick out some defining feature as white sand merges seamlessly with the ocean, which in turn blurs into the sky. The vast tidal flats are home to many birds, and the odd carcass of a rusting 4x4, stuck beyond redemption in the quicksand that lies not far from the marked tracks adds to the slightly unreal atmosphere – Barr al-Hickman is a unique and special place.