Expedition Oman - for schools and kids
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Here you can find information and a film about Dutch sailor Cornelis Eyks.
He wanted to sail with his ship from Batavia (nowadays Jakarta in Indonesia) to Persia in 1763.
However, his ship wrecked off the coast of Oman and Cornelis had to walk 500 kilometers through the deserts before he was saved.
Perhaps you have been in a desert yourself. You find them in places like Egypt, Australia, and Oman. They can be very hot.
During summer, temperatures can get to 50 degrees Celsius.
There is not much water either, so it is difficult to live there.
That's why not many people could help Cornelis and his friends when they washed ashore.
They had to walk without sun lotion, which did not exist in the 18th century, so all of them got severly burned by the sun.
Here you can find information and a film about Dutch sailor Cornelis Eyks.
He wanted to sail with his ship from Batavia (nowadays Jakarta in Indonesia) to Persia in 1763.
However, his ship wrecked off the coast of Oman and Cornelis had to walk 500 kilometers through the deserts before he was saved.
Perhaps you have been in a desert yourself. You find them in places like Egypt, Australia, and Oman. They can be very hot.
During summer, temperatures can get to 50 degrees Celsius.
There is not much water either, so it is difficult to live there.
That's why not many people could help Cornelis and his friends when they washed ashore.
They had to walk without sun lotion, which did not exist in the 18th century, so all of them got severly burned by the sun.
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How did Cornelis end up in this desert?
Because his ship wrecked on a sandbank and then broke apart because of the high waves.
Being on a sandbank doesn't mean you can easily walk to the beach. In some cases you have to swim, and back in 1763 not many people knew how to do this.
Cornelis survived and when he realised he was in the desert, he knew that it would be very difficult to get back all the way to Indonesia, without water and food.
But he and his friends started to walk anyway. They hoped to reach the capital of Oman, Muscat. There they wanted to find a ship that would bring them back to Batavia
Because his ship wrecked on a sandbank and then broke apart because of the high waves.
Being on a sandbank doesn't mean you can easily walk to the beach. In some cases you have to swim, and back in 1763 not many people knew how to do this.
Cornelis survived and when he realised he was in the desert, he knew that it would be very difficult to get back all the way to Indonesia, without water and food.
But he and his friends started to walk anyway. They hoped to reach the capital of Oman, Muscat. There they wanted to find a ship that would bring them back to Batavia
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Some people however know how to survive in the desert. They are called bedouines. Back then they had camels to move themselves around and they lived in small tents. The tents were not so beautiful as the one in the picture, but at least they provided shelter against the hot and burning sun.
Cornelis and his mates were helped by these bedouines and that's how he finally made it after four weeks of walking. He ended up in a small town called Ras al Hadd, completely exhausted.
From Ras al Hadd, Cornelis sailed to Muscat.
And that's how he survived four weeks in the desert.
If you want to see what happened to Cornelis, watch the video below. Have fun!
Cornelis and his mates were helped by these bedouines and that's how he finally made it after four weeks of walking. He ended up in a small town called Ras al Hadd, completely exhausted.
From Ras al Hadd, Cornelis sailed to Muscat.
And that's how he survived four weeks in the desert.
If you want to see what happened to Cornelis, watch the video below. Have fun!