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All Oman Jazirat al Maqlab (Telegraph Island)

Jazirat al Maqlab (Telegraph Island)

This remote British Imperial telegraph relay outpost drove men insane.

Oman

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Tre
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Jazirat al Maqlab (Telegraph Island)   Bob McCaffrey / CC BY-SA 3.0
Jazirat al Maqlab (Telegraph Island)   shankar s. / CC BY 2.0
Telegraph Island   http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4155427
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanderson/24...
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The expression "going around the bend" is not just an idle phrase. For a handful of British soldiers in the mid-1800s, being stationed "around the bend" was the worst place you could possibly be, a lonely island outpost where soldiers slowly lost their minds in the desert heat.

From 1864 to 1869, Jazirat al Maqlab, or "Telegraph Island," was an active telegraph outpost crucial to communication between India and Britain. For five years after the telegraphy was decommissioned, British soldiers continued to man the isolated outpost. Reportedly, every single man stationed at the outpost "around the bend" of the Musandam peninsula completely lost his mind from the monotony and heat. Stuck for months on the football-field sized island, cut off from the outside world, and subject to intense desert heat, the solders were slowly driven mad.

Today the island is a ghostly remnant of the once-great British Empire. The outpost was abandoned in the mid-1870s, and the buildings have crumbled. The island now serves as a snorkeling and fishing destination rather than a strategic communication hub, but the oppressive heat and the lonely atmosphere that helped drive the soldiers "around the bend" remains.

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Islands Ruins

Know Before You Go

The Bullet Ferry runs from the mainland to the island daily. -or- Hire a Dhow (traditional fishing boat) to take you to the island for exploration and snorkeling or fishing.

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Added By

Tre

Edited By

aribrown, Michelle Cassidy

  • aribrown
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

November 6, 2009

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Sources
  • Interesting travel article
  • http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/middle-east/good-oman-acquire-a-taste-for-musandam-1685492.html
  • Bullet Ferry:
  • http://www.theweek.co.om/discon.aspx?Cval=934
  • UK Telegraph trip to Musandam
  • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/oman/740399/Quiet-weekend-in-Musandam.html
  • A History of the Telegraph Island and Communication
  • http://atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/TelegraphIsland/index.htm
  • Travel Blog on Telegraph Island
  • http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/suesy6652/dubai_n_beyond/1230385740/tpod.html
Jazirat al Maqlab (Telegraph Island)
Oman
26.201808, 56.347332

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The Desert Fjords of Oman

Khasab, Oman

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Al Jazirah Al Hamra Heritage Village

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oman

Oman

Middle East

Places 17
Stories 1

Nearby Places

The Desert Fjords of Oman

Khasab, Oman

miles away

Al Jazirah Al Hamra Heritage Village

Al Jazeera Al Hamra, United Arab Emirates

miles away

Namakdan Salt Cave

Qeshm, Iran

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Oman

Oman

Middle East

Places 17
Stories 1

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