The Sultanate of Oman lies on the south east corner of the Arabian Peninsula between latitudes 16˚40' and 26˚-20' north and longitudes 51˚50', and 59˚40' east. Its coast runs to a distance of 1,700 km from the Strait of Hormuz in the north to the borders of the Republic of Yemen, thus overlooking three seas, the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
It is bordered to the west by the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to South by the Republic of Yemen, the Strait of I Hormuz to the North and the Arabian Sea to the East.
The Sultanate occupies a total area of about (309,500) square kms and includes different terrains that vary front plain, to highlands and mountains. The coastal plain overlooking the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea forms the most important plain of Oman, the area of which amounts to 3% of the total landmass while the mountain make up 15% or the total area, paramount among which are two ranges: Al Hajr mountains which stretches in the form of an are from Ras Musandam in the north to Ras Al Had. The second is Al Qara mountain range situated in the far side of south west of Oman. Sand and desert cover the greatest area as they represent approximately 82% of the total area: most of it is the Empty Quarter.
The Sultanate's climate varies from one area to another. In the coastal areas we find a hot and humid weather in summer while it is hot and dry in the interior, except for some high areas as the weather is moderate over the whole year. In the southern area the weather is more moderate. Rain in Oman is scarce and irregular. However, sometimes heavy rainfall is also reported. Governorate of Dhofar is an exception, where heavy and regular rain is registered from June to October due to monsoon.
The Sultanate is divided administratively into Four governorates, Muscat, Dhofar, Musandam and Al Buraimi and five regions, Al Batinah, Adh Dhahirah, Ad Dakhliyah, Ash Sharqiyah and Al Wusta. These governorates and regions consist of' Wilayats amounting to 61 in number. Each region has one or more regional center. The total regional centers amount to 12.
Majlis Al Jinn is the second largest cave chamber in the world. The three openings in its towering roof, the only ways in or out, resulted from cave-ins of the karst limestone rock forming the ceiling of the chamber, and the two largest of these have left rubble and boulders piled on the floor of two corners of the chamber, too far down to be seen from above. The third opening is a small fracture in the limestone roof of the cave forming a chimney about 5-6 meters across and 15 meters deep. From the top of the chimney, the chamber plunges 178 meters through awesome spaciousness to the dusty floor below.
