Wadi Ash Shab and Sinkhole

 Andres gave me today a childless day and I joined his other 3 colleagues to Wadi Ash Shab. Actually there were some other reasons why we could not go there all together. First of all the 3000-kilometre limit of our rental car is full, that means it is not wise to take long trips with it any more (we have to pay extra then) until we rent a new car in January. But also because we could read from the descriptions that one has to walk 5 kilometres at Wadi Ash Shab and even if our boys are good at walking we decided to not take the risk (and it was a right decision, I can tell now). So Andres spent a day with the boys while I discovered more of Oman.

We left the villa around 9am and about 1,5 hours later we arrived at Wadi Ash Shab (“Wadi” means riverbed or valley). First we had some difficulties to find a right point but the kind locals showed us the way with their car and we parked the car under the bridge. Then there was a river we needed to cross. There are also locals providing boat transportation to the other side but we could hop on a 4WD car together with some Germans and the car took us to the other side. Actually the river was not deep at all and on the way back we just walked through it. Then there was about an hour walking in front of us, starting with pretty nice path but later we also needed to climb some rocks and play with the balance. When we were about in the “destination” we also had to go into the water. “The destination” of the hike is to reach a cave with waterfall but since one has to dive a bit to reach there I did not make it to the very end (I cannot dive and I do not like to put my head under water, I am a lousy at swimming). So while the others went to the cave I was just swimming, sitting and admiring the nature around me. Along the whole path there are steep rocks on both sides, here and there are green and crystal clear water pools – lots of stunning views! The path was not very challenging and even if we saw quite many kids (youngest could be well at Märt's age) it would have been complicated with the kids at some points. On the way back we met a group of tourists (otherwise there were some single tourists), so we were actually lucky starting quite early. When we left Wadi Ash Shab we were really hungry and so we drove on to Sur, a town about 2-hours drive from Muscat. We were lucky to find some restaurants that were open (at day time most of restaurants (at least in smaller towns but even here in Muscat) are closed, actually most of the town was rather quiet on daytime when it is hottest outside) and we had lunch at one with a nice view over the sea and lighthouse. There had been more to do and see in Sur but we rather decided to find a Bamah Sinkhole before it got dark, so after lunch and some driving in Sur we headed to Muscat again. We had seen brown (you know, the one that means some sightseeing point) Sinkhole sign on the way to Sur but of course the sign was not in opposite direction and we had to take some small roads twice and almost giving up... Then we decided to check out another brown sign and voilà! there it was – the Sinkhole. It is a grand hole with green and crystal clear water and with underwater tunnel to the sea. The hole has been created naturally by some upper layers falling down. Impressive sight! By then it was already dark, so we drove back to Muscat.

Actually Andres and me (and the boys) plan to go to Sur, maybe already next weekend and if possible make it to two-days trip. There is more to discover on the way to Sur but then I also want to show them part of Wadi Ash Shab and the Sinkhole – impressive sights that one should not miss!

More photos are uploaded to the web gallery.