Salalah

[Deanna Witmer]

Salalah



The Darbat waterfalls during the Khareef.

[Deanna Witmer]

Salalah (Arabic: صلالة; transliterated Şalālah‎), is the capital and seat of the governor or Wali of the southern Omani province of Dhofar. The population of Salalah is 197,169 as of 2009.[1]

Salalah is the second largest city in the Sultanate of Oman, and the largest city in the Dhofar Provence. The coastal city of Salalah is a traditional stronghold and birthplace of the Sultan, Qaboos bin Said. The Sultan traditionally lives in Salalah rather than in Muscat, the capital and largest city in Oman; Qaboos has bucked this trend, and has lived in Muscat since he ascended to the throne in 1970. He does however visit Salalah fairly regularly to meet with influential tribal and local leaders; his last visit was in 2006 and before that he visited in 2002. In mid-2009 the massive Sultan Qaboos Mosque was opened in Salalah, 39 years after he had taken the throne.

In 2010 during the 40th anniversary of Sultan Qaboos taking the throne, he decided to spend his time in Salalah. The 40th anniversary celebrations consisted of a massive parade[1][2][3][4][5] from the Sultan Qaboos Mosque until his palace in Al-Haffa. The parade lasted several hours and had an estimated 100,000 attenders.

[Deanna Witmer]

Transport in Salalah
Salalah has an airport, mainly catering to domestic flights from Muscat and some regional cities such as Kuwait, Dubai and Doha. Seasonal flights, some from as far away as Sweden, operate during the Khareef, which is the peak tourism season. Salalah Airport (IATA:SLL, ICAO:OOSA) is the Sultanate of Oman's second gateway.It is located on the Salalah coastal plain, 5.5 kilometers northeast of Salalah's city centre. Oman Air operates five flights daily to Salalah Airport from Muscat. Air India Express operates three flights a week to Kerala, India: to Kozhikode via Kochi on Wednesdays and Sundays and to Thiruvananthapuram via Kochi on Fridays. Felix Airways operates flights to Aden, Al Ghaydah, Al Mukalla. Jazeera Airways operates seasonal flights to Salalah from Dubai and Kuwait.

Salalah does not have a public transportation system within the city limits. However long distance air-conditioned luxury coaches are operated daily from Salalah to Haima, Muscat, Nizwa, Buraimi, Dubai, Al-Ain, Al-Ghaydah, Al-Mukalla, Seiyun and PDO locations like Marmul.

Other forms of other public transport popular in Salalah like taxis and micro buses. They are locally called as "Baiza" buses, so named for the lower denomination of the Omani Rial, the baiza (an adaptation of the Indian and Pakistani lower denomination paisa). These are relatively inexpensive and service all major roadways, as well as a wide and loose network of smaller byways connecting smaller towns in Dhofar Governorate with Salalah city. These are mostly Toyota Hiace or Nissan Urvan. They operate from City Centre, locally called Chowk to places like Dhalkut, Rakhyut, Shahb As'eeb, Sarfait, Shaleem, Shuwamiyah, Sharbithat, Marmul, Al-Mazyounah, Mirbat, Taqah, Sadah, Tawi Ateer, Hasik, Hadbin, Thumrait etc.

Taxis are color-coded orange and white and provide semi-personal transportation in the form of both individual hire and the same opportunistic roadway service as Baiza buses. Baiza buses, also colour-coded orange and white, and like taxis are unmetered after several government initiatives to introduce meters were rejected. The fare is set by way of negotiation, although drivers usually adhere to certain unwritten rules for fares within the city. One should always find out the normally accepted fare for one's journey from one's hotel or host before looking for a taxi.

[Deanna Witmer]

Demographics
The city, like many other other Persian Gulf States' cities has a relatively large expatriate community, mainly from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as a Pakistani and an Indian community school in the Dahariz district.

99.9% of the Omani population in Salalah is Muslim. Like the majority of the Middle East, most people in Salalah follow the Sunni sect of Islam, unlike the majority of Omanis in Muscat which mostly follow the Ibadhi sect. There is also a significant amount of Hindus, along with a small population of Christians and Sikhs practiced by the Indian and Sri Lankian community.

The unofficial, unwritten, second most spoken language in Salalah, is Shehri, mostly known as Jeballi. As of 1993 there were 25,000 speakers of Shehri[2], and the numbers have more than doubled ever since.[citation needed] In Salalah it is very typical to see people speak Shehri to each other whether it be in the market place or the restaurant. In fact, Sultan Qaboos's mother, Mazoon Al-Mashani, was a native speaker of the Shehri language.