Gary investigating the socotrana species of frankincense on the island of Socotra
I have been in Oman 15 times over 15 years. I have built two distilleries in Salalah and have walked the mountains from the eastern Dhofar Mountains east of Hasik to the border of Yemen, harvesting frankincense resin. While exploring and conducting research in Oman with my film crew, Don Muirhead and John Whetten, we found the legendary Wadi Andhur Treasury House that was said by the Minister of Antiquities and the Minister of History and Museums to no longer exist. We were excited to make this great discovery and be the first people to film it.
I have walked the mountains in the Hadhramaut in the interior of Yemen, harvested frankincense, brought the resin home, and distilled it so that I would know without question what species it is. Yemeni frankincense is similar to the Boswellia sacra but matches closer to the Boswellia carteri. I combed the mountains on Socotra Island from the Homhil Plateau to the western shores of Qalansiya.
I do not make statements without facts, without going there to see for myself. But there is a price to pay to get the truth and an even higher price to pay to get pure essential oils. Traveling to these areas and backpacking up and down and around the mountains in difficult terrain challenges the hearty, which is why there is so much misinformation and untruths written and published in books.
Very few individuals are willing to pay the price, since it is easier to copy other people’s information, claim someone else’s stories as their own, or just make it up when they simply don’t know what they are taking about.
To be continued . . .
