Amidst the hype and hubbub of green turtles, traditional dhows and Sindbad, Sur’s ‘unique place in the Sun’ has been completely overlooked
If Japan is known as the Land of the Rising Sun, then Sur surely deserves to be called the Land of the Morning Sun. Looking at it from a strictly geographical perspective makes it absolutely clear why this is so true and as plain as daylight.
All you need to do is take a good look at a physical map of the Sultanate of Oman. Here you can see that Sur forms the easternmost tip of the country, facing the Gulf of Oman. This irrefutably points to the fact that the first rays of morning sunlight coming from the east, are the first to kiss this beautiful coastal area, famous for its endless stretches of silvery beaches, the shimmering aquamarine waters of the sea, gently lapping at the shores with its white-capped waves, and the massive, towering brown mountains that stand like silent sentinels.
Indeed, flocking tourists are so enamoured with the boats, the turtles and Sindbad, that hardly anyone ever notices or talks about Sur as the Land of the Morning Sun.
Of course, the beaches of Sur are more famously renowned as the nesting grounds of the green turtles that travel thousands of miles across the sea to lay their eggs and then once again make their long journey back home, leaving their young hatchlings to find their way home all by themselves.
Beyond that and living up to its centuries-old, strong maritime legacy is Sur’s long history as being among the finest boat-builders the world has ever seen. And somewhere alongside all this lives on a legend, immured for posterity in the pages of the Arabian Nights, whom the world has known and loved as the intrepid Sindbad the Sailor. He is believed to have been a native of Sur.
But these very facts that have brought Sur so much fame and acclaim down the years, bringing tourist from around the world, seem to have unwittingly pushed the sunlight into the shadows. Indeed, flocking tourists are so enamoured with the boats, the turtles and Sindbad, that hardly anyone ever notices or talks about Sur as the Land of the Morning Sun.
It is only after kissing the shores of Sur, moving inland to cover the rest of Oman, does the sunlight move into the UAE (United Arab Emirates and then onto Saudi Arabia and beyond.
But it would be interesting to note where the sun rises in Japan, which is traditionally known as the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ that place is actually on the eastern shores of Hokkaido. In the land of the rising sun, dawn comes first to a cape of bizarre terrain whose name – Shiretoko -means the end of the earth.
However, experts are unanimous in their claim that the Land of the Rising Sun is a remote and obscure island in the Pacific called Kiribati. Located to the west of the International Date Line, the Republic of Kiribati is one of the first places on earth to see the first rays of the rising sun. Their time zone is 14 hours ahead of UTC—the farthest forward time zone in the world.
The Republic of Kiribati consists of 33 atolls and low coral islands in the central Pacific Ocean dispersed over 3.5 million sq km of water. The nation comprises of three island groups—Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands, the last of which are located as far as 30° east of the 180° longitude line.
Only as a matter of casual interest, I have also included where the sun shines first in India.
Dong, a small town in the Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh, at 1,240 metres above sea level, is the first place where the sun shines in India. The town is located at the confluence of the rivers Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, and Sati, and lies between China and Myanmar.
In 1999, it was found that Dong experiences the first sunrise in India. That is why it is known as “India’s Land of Rising Sun”.
Tourists come here to this easternmost village in India from all over to trek up a mountain peak at 3 am to have a glimpse of the sun rise. It is not the easternmost place but it is one of the easternmost places accessible by car.
In contrast to all this there are places on this planet where the sun continues to shine for six whole months of the year. After that, for the next six month, these places continuous darkness.
Countries and territories where the midnight sun phenomenon can be witnessed are limited to those crossed by the Arctic Circle: the Canadian Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories; the nations of Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (Greenland), Russia; and the state of Alaska in the United States. The extreme sites are the poles, where the Sun can be continuously visible for half the year. The North Pole has midnight sun for six months, from late March to late September.
The opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the Sun stays below the horizon throughout the day.
Oman is a sovereign country located in the Arabian Peninsula of Western Asia in the northern and eastern hemispheres of the Earth. It shares a northwestern border with United Arab Emirates (UAE); a western border with Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman also shares coastline borders with the Arabian Sea in the south and east, along with the Gulf of Oman in the northeast. The country is strategically situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The country shares its maritime borders with Pakistan and Iran.