Volunteering in Oman: giving a little, getting a lot... (Part III)

Daymaniyat Islands- Cleaning up the beaches

Complimentary hat and t-shirt! 

By far my favourite lot of volunteering was helping to clean up the beaches at the beautiful Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve, off the coast of Muscat.

We arrived early in the morning for supposedly an 8am start, but due to Omanis working on a slightly different concept of time to the very punctual one I'm used to, we started about an hour after that. We were all presented with a free t-shirt and hat, and plenty of water and juices. You know you've done volunteering in Oman when you have a wardrobe full of complimentary t-shirts with the organisations logo on them... We were given coloured ribbons to put on our wrists, which decided which island we would be cleaning. My team were the whites, which sounded strange when I heard 'all the white people on this boat!'. So all of us 'whites' went on to a big police boat, and set out for the islands. Now, I'm not good with boats at all. One time my family and I rented a pedalo boat in Spain, and I had to get out and swim all the way back to shore as I couldn't hack the movement of the waves rocking the small boat... But, actually, the big boat was fine, and I couldn't feel the waves beneath us, so I sat and enjoyed the view without feeling the need to throw myself off-board!

The journey to the island that we'd be cleaning took about 45 minutes, and the view from the boat was breathtaking. There are lots of small islands dotted around, and the water is so blue and crystal clear in some areas that you can see right down to the bottom. As we approached the island, I realised that the boat was far too big to go right up to the shore, and then I saw the small boats that would be taking us from then on. Getting off of the big boat and onto the small one was quite scary and the small boat didn't look the safest, but it was an experience nonetheless! When we finally got to our island we could see why there were so many volunteers needed; the beach was littered with so much rubbish. I couldn't believe that people could just throw away everything and anything onto such a pretty beach, and a nature reserve too!

We were all handed plastic bin liners and told to only pick up certain things for each bag, so that rubbish could be sorted for recycling later on. We spent about an hour picking up bottles, plastic bags, tins, foil, you name it! There was a whole boat full of the rubbish collected and the beach looked great afterwards. It was very satisfying knowing that we'd made a big difference to the reserve, and a difference that visitors can enjoy for a while before more rubbish starts to pile up once more. We were told that they had done a similar volunteering day the year before, which is quite sad considering that people continue to leave behind rubbish year after year...

After we finished with rubbish collecting, it was time for some snorkelling! We had brought along masks in hope of some free time on the islands, and weren't disappointed. We had a long time to swim and see the coral and fish that surround the islands. I now have very strange tan lines from wearing conservative three-quarter length trousers all day out in the sun, but it was worth it.

We were then called back to the beach and it was time for lunch! One Omani guy had volunteered his rather fancy boat for the day to transport volunteers from island to island. He even brought out his sailor hat and put on some music that made us feel like we were on a party boat rather than participating in a day's volunteering. It didn't take us long to get to the other island where lunch would be served, but I was quite sad that our party boat trip had to end.

In true Omani style we all sat on the floor in circles under a large tent and ate from a big communal plate of rice and chicken with our hands. It was the best rice and chicken I have tasted here (and I've eaten a lot of it these past months!!). I'm always a bit weary when eating with my hands because a. I always end up making a mess, and b. I can hear my mum's voice in the back of my head telling me it's rude to eat with your hands. But that's how they do it here, so in order to be culturally immersed, I went along with it!

We went back to the port on the 'party boat', and it was a great end to a great day volunteering! As I've said before, my volunteering experiences in Oman tend to be characterised more by receiving than giving, but at least this time I could physically see a big difference being made, even if it only lasts a short while!