As the oil revenue declines The Gulf sultanate of Oman is looking to carve itself a new niche in ecotourism by opening up a sanctuary for one of the desert’s most fabled creatures—the Arabian oryx. They hope that it can boost their economy.
Once extinct in the wild, the rare member of the antelope family famed for its elegant horns has been dragged back from the precipice in a sprawling reserve fenced off for decades from the public. That changed last month when authorities for the first time officially opened the sanctuary to visitors—part of a broader bid by Oman to boost tourism as oil revenues decline.
The story of the Arabian oryx—sometimes referred to as the Arabian “unicorn” due to its distinctive profile—is one of miraculous survival. Hunted prolifically, the last wild member of the species was killed in Oman by suspected poachers in 1972.
The species only clung to existence thanks to a programme to breed them in captivity and in the early 1980s a batch of 10 were released into Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary. Since then, regenerating the oryx has been an often precarious process
The Omani sanctuary sprawls over 2,824 square kilometre of diverse terrain—fromflat plains to rocky slopes and sandy dunes. Its own fate has been nearly as tortured as that of the oryx it houses. In 2007, the sanctuary became the first place ever to be removed from UNESCO’s World Heritage list as the government of Oman turned most of it over to oil drilling.
In addition to the animals, there are 12 species of trees that provide a habitat for diverse birds. Oman has been on a push to transform itself into a tourist draw—pitching its beach resorts to luxury travellers and desert wilderness to the more adventurous
Those working at the oryx sanctuary hope that it can help play a lead role in luring visitors to the country. But there are also fears that hunters might return.
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