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Oman Self Drive Tours : the travel agency
Who are we ?
Paul
I am your contact for the planning of your trip. I am French. I am the founder and the manager of the Oman Self Drive Tours travel agency.
In a previous life, I was an exploration geologist and this gave me the taste for travel. After several years living in Africa and South America and a career change to tourism, I settled with his family in the Sultanate of Oman in 2012.
First, I worked 4 years as a guide with the Oman Trekking Guides travel agency, roaming by car and by foot the mountains, the deserts, the beaches and the wadis.
Then, armed with a deep knowledge of the country, I set up my own tour operator, Oman Self Drive Tours, in 2016. I was then a pioneer of the self-drive tours in Oman, at a time when almost all the tours were guided. I stopped travelling with my clients but I kept refining my knowledge of the country by carrying out reconnaissance trips and by testing new sites and services with my family and friends. In this regard, I made good use of the covid-19 period, to which my Omani agency survived despite the borders being closed for one and a half year, developing the trip catalogue and improving the offered services.
After 9 years managing all the operations of the agency in Oman, I transferred my activity to France to accompany my daughter in her schooling. Today, Oman Self Drive Tours is a French travel agency (company name: Cerdagne Evasion SARL), which keeps offering the exact same self-drive tour services in Oman. And to make sure my clients keep receiving flawless assistance on site, I set up a partnership with the Omani agency Colors of Oman.
I am your contact for the planning of your trip. I am French. I am the founder and the manager of the Oman Self Drive Tours travel agency.
In a previous life, I was an exploration geologist and this gave me the taste for travel. After several years living in Africa and South America and a career change to tourism, I settled with his family in the Sultanate of Oman in 2012.
First, I worked 4 years as a guide with the Oman Trekking Guides travel agency, roaming by car and by foot the mountains, the deserts, the beaches and the wadis.
Then, armed with a deep knowledge of the country, I set up my own tour operator, Oman Self Drive Tours, in 2016. I was then a pioneer of the self-drive tours in Oman, at a time when almost all the tours were guided. I stopped travelling with my clients but I kept refining my knowledge of the country by carrying out reconnaissance trips and by testing new sites and services with my family and friends. In this regard, I made good use of the covid-19 period, to which my Omani agency survived despite the borders being closed for one and a half year, developing the trip catalogue and improving the offered services.
After 9 years managing all the operations of the agency in Oman, I transferred my activity to France to accompany my daughter in her schooling. Today, Oman Self Drive Tours is a French travel agency (company name: Cerdagne Evasion SARL), which keeps offering the exact same self-drive tour services in Oman. And to make sure my clients keep receiving flawless assistance on site, I set up a partnership with the Omani agency Colors of Oman.
Sophie and Hussain
On site, they take care of you. This Omani-French couple are the partner of Oman Self Drive Tours through their local agency Colors of Oman. They organise the briefings at the start of the tours, hand over the rental cars and the travel equipment and assist you by phone all along your stay.
With their children, they share their time between the capital Muscat and the fishermen’s village of Fins, where they own a bed and breakfast. Arrived in Oman in 2010 to work as a trekking guide, Sophie decided to settle there permanently and set up Colors of Oman with her colleague Corinne in 2013. Hussain, a guide too, joined them shortly after. Their agency services include guided tours.
On site, they take care of you. This Omani-French couple are the partner of Oman Self Drive Tours through their local agency Colors of Oman. They organise the briefings at the start of the tours, hand over the rental cars and the travel equipment and assist you by phone all along your stay.
With their children, they share their time between the capital Muscat and the fishermen’s village of Fins, where they own a bed and breakfast. Arrived in Oman in 2010 to work as a trekking guide, Sophie decided to settle there permanently and set up Colors of Oman with her colleague Corinne in 2013. Hussain, a guide too, joined them shortly after. Their agency services include guided tours.
A small specialised agency, for a high-quality personalised follow-up
“Paul is absolutely meticulous” - MartinWakeling, Tripadvisor / “Paul was first class” - jane r, Tripadvisor
Paul is the manager and the only employee of the Oman Self Drive Tours agency: he is the one who imagines the programmes of your tours, selects the service providers, exchanges with you and send you tailor-made itineraries. Before your trip, he also organises an online meeting to prepare your stay and to answer all your questions. Once you are in Oman, the local agency Colors of Oman takes the reins but, of course, you can still contact Paul if needed.
Paul is the manager and the only employee of the Oman Self Drive Tours agency: he is the one who imagines the programmes of your tours, selects the service providers, exchanges with you and send you tailor-made itineraries. Before your trip, he also organises an online meeting to prepare your stay and to answer all your questions. Once you are in Oman, the local agency Colors of Oman takes the reins but, of course, you can still contact Paul if needed.
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Despite the agency success, growing is not on the agenda of Oman Self Drive Tours. Focusing on quality over quantity, we chose on the contrary to limit the number of clients per season so as to give the most to each of them. And although being now based in France, Paul keeps doing what he knows best: the agency offers exclusively the destination Oman and only via self-drive tours.
Learn more about our self-drive tour concept. Partly thanks to these choices, the agency won, in 2024 and 2025, the Tripadvisor prize rewarding the best experiences in the world (the top 10% according to the travellers’ ratings). |
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The anchoring of a local agency and the guarantees of a European tour operator
When travelling with Oman Self Drive Tours, you make the most not only of our great experience in road trips in Oman but also of the advantages offered by a European company:
- French phone number: easy and cheap communication from Europe,
- French bank account: no exchange cost for payments from a euro account and no fee for card payments from the European Economic Area (EU + Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein),
- Card payment secured and allowing you to be covered by the insurances and assistances coming with your card,
- Professional liability insurance of 1 500 000 €,
- Financial guarantee with the APST, No. 1 guarantor of the French agencies for 60 years.
Our ethics : responsible tourism
Tourism is of course a source of revenue for the host country and its inhabitants, but, if uncontrolled, it can also be a source of great environmental, social and cultural pressures. The travellers themselves can sometimes bear the cost of this mercantile management too.
We are fully engaged in offering you a responsible tourism approach:
We are fully engaged in offering you a responsible tourism approach:
Carbon offsetting and environmental responsibility
Globally, tourism generates a lot of CO2. Through the emissions released by aircraft of course, but also by road transports. In Oman where environmental consciousness is low (like the price of petrol), cars use much more fuel than in Europe. The 4x4 you will drive may burn 15 litres per 100 km...
We therefore decided that all our tours would be "carbon offset". At the end of your road trip, we compute your total consumption and buy an equivalent carbon credit from our partner myclimate. This non-profit organisation then finances greenhouse gases reduction projects in Asia, Africa and South America. During the three tourist seasons 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, we offset this way all the 374,000 km driven by our clients through donations amounting to more than 6,300 USD. If you wish to go further, you can also offset your flight emissions through the same organisation (or another one!). |
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Additionally, our bank account is in Crédit Coopératif, the "greenest" traditional French bank, so our (your) money does not finance fossil fuel or deforestation.
Clash of cultures !
Oman is a country with strong traditions and a high respect for the principles of Islam, notably in the small villages and remote areas that travellers like to visit. This does not prevent Omanis from being very tolerant and hospitable to foreigners. Rather uncommon in this part of the world (and maybe in the world in general), Oman succeeds in maintaining a climate of peace and stability. The many nationalities (about half the population are foreigners) and religious beliefs (Ibadi, Sunni and Shia Islam, Christianity and Indian religions) get along well together, even in harmony.
We believe that the respect of local traditions contributes to maintaining this fragile balance. This involves knowing and understanding these habits and customs. Before you start your tour, we provide you with detailed information and advice so as to avoid your making a blunder or shocking unintentionally. No worry, these are quite simple things - such as saluting with your right hand - but yet you have to know them! No Omani will blame you if you salute him with your left hand, but showing respect can lead to unforgettable encounters…
As you may have guessed, in this country, wearing appropriate clothes is a mark of respect. There too, no worry, Oman is not Saudi Arabia, wearing a veil is not at all mandatory! And it is admitted, for male and female tourists, to dress in long shorts and short sleeves. All this will of course be detailed in your travel documents and we will indicate you places where you can dress more lightly, especially for bathing.
We believe that the respect of local traditions contributes to maintaining this fragile balance. This involves knowing and understanding these habits and customs. Before you start your tour, we provide you with detailed information and advice so as to avoid your making a blunder or shocking unintentionally. No worry, these are quite simple things - such as saluting with your right hand - but yet you have to know them! No Omani will blame you if you salute him with your left hand, but showing respect can lead to unforgettable encounters…
As you may have guessed, in this country, wearing appropriate clothes is a mark of respect. There too, no worry, Oman is not Saudi Arabia, wearing a veil is not at all mandatory! And it is admitted, for male and female tourists, to dress in long shorts and short sleeves. All this will of course be detailed in your travel documents and we will indicate you places where you can dress more lightly, especially for bathing.
Responsibility towards our local service providers
We treat our service providers, particularly local guides, fairly and offer them equitable remunerations. Our aim is to set up long-term partnerships with them, as this is key to quality services.
We also endeavour to raise our local partners’ awareness of the principles of responsible tourism.
We also endeavour to raise our local partners’ awareness of the principles of responsible tourism.
Respect for travellers
In our mind, you are not mere clients but guests to whom we intend to offer the best possible experience.
We listen to your wishes and adapt, as far as possible, to meet your requirements and design a tour that really works for you. And while you are on tour, we are available at all times to assist you if necessary.
You are our best ambassadors and it is in all of our interest to make you want to come back!
We listen to your wishes and adapt, as far as possible, to meet your requirements and design a tour that really works for you. And while you are on tour, we are available at all times to assist you if necessary.
You are our best ambassadors and it is in all of our interest to make you want to come back!
