In July, while researching an article about the Dhofar Rebellion, I was reminded by a South African source about a 1972 cross-border raid into South Yemen. The incident is listed as having taken place in "Sinau". I had some difficulty finding any reference to Sinau, save for a 1985 article in The Spectator. I was beginning to believe that the incident might have been apocryphal, but ended up finding this site, which matches the description of the raid site and is spelled "سناو" (which apparently shares its name with a site in Oman - ironic!). This was definitely one of those times when knowing how to read Arabic text was of critical importance.
In August, I was reminiscing about my first full day in Oman back in 2012. After taking me to a couple of sites of interest, I asked my taxi driver to take me to see something interesting. He took me to this little village that's fed by one of Oman's famous aflaj, ancient canals. He told me about the hot water, and told me to try to keep my feet in it as long as I could while he went up to the village mosque to pray. I don't think I even made it a full minute, the water was so hot. I knew approximately where it was, but I'd lost track of it, so I went back and tried to find it. I ended up being successful - it's right here, the village of al Hamaam/الحمام. That made me wish that I'd had the forethought to take a few photos while I was there. As it turns out, someone uploaded their own travel photo to Panoramio. Very cool.
My goal of spending 2016 developing my GIS skills ended up being mostly a bust. I have a plan for late 2017 that may end up giving me a chance to play catch-up. Regardless, I'll probably spend plenty of time exploring satellite images in 2017, so stay tuned for more cool discoveries.
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