Strong bonds of friendship have been a hallmark of Sultanate of Oman and Germany relations. A number of German tourists visit the country each year and are swayed by its beauty. Among them are Natascha Plankermann and Michael Bittner, both friends from Düsseldorf who love Oman and have a flair for ships.

Natascha is a freelance journalist who has been regularly visiting Oman since 2015 and acts as Oman’s point of contact in Germany. Recently she was interviewed on WDR Fernsehen, a free-to-air German TV network and radio station and spoke about Oman’s reliance on green hydrogen as Germany looks towards newer energy sources.

Michael, 54, works as an application manager in an IT department of a leasing company in Düsseldorf. He is sailing this weekend on board Dar Mlodziezy, a Polish sail training ship until Antwerp, Belgium. He also travelled to Harlingen, Netherlands where the ships caught up for the biggest free maritime festival, the Tall Ships Races 2022.

Earlier, Natascha drove all the way from her hometown in her Citroën to watch Shabab Oman II anchored about 500 km at Port Kiel last month.

It was an amazing site as she saw two tall ships anchored at the Kiel-Wik naval base with both the German sail training ship Gorch Fock and Shabab Oman II anchored side by side.