A total of 55,436 visitors visited the Dimaniyat Islands Nature Reserve in the eight months of this year.
The reserve includes an archipelago of nine islands off the coast of the Wilayats of Seeb in the Governorate of Muscat and Barka in the Governorate of South al Batinah.
It is distinguished by its nature and beautiful scenery as a natural museum due to the islands with physical features between limestone rocks and ancient coral reefs.
Eng. Salem bin Saeed al Maskari, Director of the Environment Department in South Al Batinah Governorate, said the Al Dimaniyat Islands Nature Reserve includes 9 main islands.
He said that the Environment Authority allocated the islands of Jabal al Kabir and Lajoon for overnight and camping for visitors during the period between the beginning of November to the end of April, while during the period from the beginning of May to the end of October, landing is not permitted on any of the beaches of the islands of the reserve, to protect migratory birds whose nests are spread on the beaches and flats of the islands, stressing that the reserve is an incubator for these birds and their young during the nesting season.
He said that in May, an underwater museum was opened near the reserve, the first of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman. It aims to rehabilitate and increase the areas of coral reefs compensate for those lost due to natural and human impacts, and create a new ecosystem that matches natural coral reefs.
|It is expected that this museum will contribute to attracting many marine creatures of various sizes
He pointed out that the museum is an innovative idea to establish an underwater military equipment museum and support eco-tourism by creating a distinctive and innovative tourist attraction for tourists and diving enthusiasts that promotes tourism in the Sultanate of Oman in general, and reduces the density of visitors to the natural coral reef sites in the Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve.
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