We spent another Friday by discovering Oman. This time our destination was Al Jabal Al Akhdar and Sayq Plateau, around 155 km from Muscat. Al Jabal Al Akhdar is also called "Green Mountains". Yes, there were more green bushes and trees than we usually see around here, yet for our Estonian-lots-of-forests background it was grayish mountains with some green bushes ;) Sayq Plateau is also called for high land of Oman because most of the roads go between 2000 and 2400m height.
Before entering the area there is a military checkpoint. I got to read that the area was closed for public until 2004 because it was and part of it still is a military land. The checkpoint is to check one's ID-card and check if the car is good enough to drive in the mountains. It is said only 4WD can drive there, yet some of Andres' colleagues who had 4WD were not allowed further from the checkpoint and they had to rent "a better car" from there (a car with a driver costs for about 70€, yet some were successful with bargaining the price to around 50€). Andres and me were wondering if they were just to make some money but later we experienced a good 4WD was indeed essential. We were allowed to drive our Subaru Forrester but the higher we got the more Andres missed low gear that our car does not have. That's why we could not drive to Diana's Viewpoint (a place that has got its name after Princess Diana's visit), the road there was too steep, so we turned back. It is a place where we would like to go back but then with a car that had low gear as well.
Instead, we took a road on Sayq Plateau to Ar Ruus village. Our guide book said that very few tourists make it as far as this and we were wondering whether it was because of awful (=too steep) road or whether it was too far away. Neither, we would say. The road was drivable (ok, here and there we were keeping quiet from the horror to look down) with spectacular views and it was around 45 km from the military checkpoint. When we arrived at Ar Ruus no other tourists were there (later we met only some British couple) but a friendly local guy who invited us to kind of "watch tower" to take photos from, we had a nice chat with him, and soon some other local guys invited us to dates and kahwa (local coffee with cardamon). Friendly people, breathtaking views and quiet, o-so-quiet place!
Starting the way up:
Donkeys:
Views from Ar Ruus village:
Somewhere up there:
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