The frankincense trees
Knotty boughs and papery bark.
Dr. Thomas Liptak — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Armatus1995 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mauro Raffaelli — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mauro Raffaelli — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Akkbula — CC BY-SA 4.0
Wadi Dawkah is a dry valley on the desert side of the Dhofar mountains where the frankincense tree, Boswellia sacra, still grows and is tapped for resin. Since 2000 it has been the only natural site among the four making up UNESCO's Land of Frankincense; some 5,000 of its trees have been mapped by GPS. The 2000 evaluation for UNESCO traces the region's frankincense trade with Mesopotamia and Egypt to the late third millennium BC, and the growing grounds Ptolemy described in the 2nd century AD match the Dhofar areas where the tree survives. As the natural groves thinned, thousands of saplings were planted here. Under a 2022 agreement with the heritage ministry, the Omani perfume house Amouage manages the site; it began harvesting in 2023 and in 2025 won the Arabian Peninsula's first FairWild certification for sustainable wild sourcing. Low, knotty trees with papery, peeling bark dot the flat wadi bed, while acacias hold the harsher high ground. Harvesters cut shallow nicks in the bark, and the milky sap hardens into tears gathered by hand. Above the valley, Ayn Dawkah, a circular visitor centre with a frankincense distillery behind glass, is due to open in 2027. The park lies in the wilayat of Thumrait, off the main Salalah–Thumrait road, 36 km north of central Salalah as the crow flies and about 40 minutes' drive from the airport. Stop on the way to Shisr and the Empty Quarter, or pair it with Al Baleed Archaeological Park, the medieval frankincense port 37 km south, and its Museum of the Frankincense Land.
Knotty boughs and papery bark.
Milky sap that hardens into tears.
Young trees by the entrance.
Wilayat of Thumrait, off the Salalah–Thumrait road, about 36 km north of Salalah
From the end of the khareef, in September or October, until June, according to the site's managers; April to June, when the trees are most productive, is the best time to see harvesters at work. Each tree is tapped about every 24 days, then left to rest through the summer monsoon.
Its mist and rain barely do: the wadi lies on the dry northern side of the Dhofar mountains, so it stays mostly dry while cloud covers Salalah from about late June to September. Strong monsoon winds do reach it, though, and the trees are then resting from tapping.