67, A Reflection on Spies Salad.

Dearly Beloved,

Don't you find that life is full of difficult questions? What is really going on? Which novel describes anarchist spies and someone eating a cake whilst crumbling it to find microfilm?

Dhofar in the south of Oman in summer is an unusual area of grassland and shrubs with a unique fauna and flora that can be dated back to the Miocene. That has been sustained over millennia by the constancy of the south-west monsoon which causes cold water upwelling in the Indian Ocean which cools and moistens the wind blowing onto the coast which turns to mist, fog and drizzle thus sustaining the animals and woodlands of Dhofar for no more than ten miles inland before the desert begins.

Salalah is effectively the capital of Dhofar and it has a busy market, the Sultan's other palace, and when I was there in 1977 it still had a leper hospital and lepers could be seen in the streets. It also had a restaurant which was completely walled with mirrors from ceiling to floor. If one seated oneself correctly, one could see oneself retreating and eating into infinity in infinite reflections. Equally mysterious was the item on the extensive menu, entitled: “Spies Salad”. Was it the equivalent of a mobile, edible, dead letter drop? Did spies order the salad to find a coded message within it from one of their agents? Surely that restaurant was all steam and mirrors.

My work in Oman concerned wildlife and we managed a new wildlife reserve in the mountains of northern Oman to conserve a rare goat Al wa'al (Arabitragus jayakari). It was in a valley amongst mountainous terrain with only one entrance guarded by locally recruited Mushrafyn. Soon after it was set up an international no-fly zone was imposed upon it, such as is normally reserved for Royal Palaces or secret installations. This had an immediate impact, which helped the training of the Mushrafyn. 

There was a sudden spate of visitors. They were mostly spies from various embassies who disguise themselves under diplomatic cover. I would meet people socially who would ask “What is really going on that wildlife reserve?” Well it seemed to me excellent that such status should be given to wildlife conservation and the animals would not be disturbed by low flying aircraft. I met one acquaintance who, with a diplomatic friend, had at first driven to the entrance of the reserve and had been politely turned away. Whereupon they had driven off a short distance and then attempted to enter the area on foot by climbing along a cliff. They were soon spotted and told to leave by the Mushrafyn who had learnt to be both firm but courteous as they dealt with these James Bonds. My acquaintance was visibly upset because I could only repeat that it was a wildlife reserve.

Well, the answer to the mystery of the flight restrictions, was that in about 1974 the brother of the Shah of Iran had visited. He was a trophy hunter and Iran was a good ally of Oman supporting the country against the Communist revolt in Dhofar. He arrived in a helicopter with a lot of servants and camping equipment on a mountain top where there was very good vegetation because it was kept as a reserve for local people to be used in time of drought. After only three hours he had located and shot a wa'al and the body of the unfortunate creature was loaded into the helicopter together with the camping equipment and the servants and they all set off back to Iran. So I suspect that to discourage further adventures by wildlife trophy hunters in the new reserve someone had requested the new wildlife reserve be designated a no-fly zone.

I think the book with the crumbling cake was Graham Green's The Ministry of Fear. As for the Spies Salad, it seems the most likely explanation is that it was a misspelling of “Spiced Salad”. But can one really be sure?

Peace,

Paul.

Photo: Paul Munton.

Gatehouse at Trinity College Cambridge which was attended by four of the Cambridge Five spies (Anthony Blunt, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Guy Burgess), the fifth Donald Maclean was at Trinity Hall.


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