Mountains and Jabreen Fort

Our last full weekend before returning to Estonia was spent by driving around in the mountains. We had a visitor, so we thought to take him to somewhere where we had already been and not experiment with new routes! First day we drove around in Jabal Akhdar. It was pleasantly cooler there in the height of around 2km, it was around 27C while "on the ground" it was around 40C. We also saw a long (1,5m?) snake in the mountains that made us quickly to pack our picnic stuff and drive on. Again, we drove to Ar Ruus village, place that we like to call for "end of the world". It was for the 3rd time in this village, so some locals already recognized us, invited us for dates and cafee. We always have a nice chat with them. When I asked one local guy about what they could grow in that village, he invited us to his garden and we returned with a bag full of delicious apricots! Another example how friendly and kind Omani people are! In the evening visited Nizwa souq and we stayed overnight in a nice hotel apartment near Bahla (for the second time). 

Next day we drove around in Jebel Shams. Afterwards we visited Jabreen Fort, where we still had not been before. The castle is quite large and was really interesting to visit.

A room called library in the castle:

Views:

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These were our adventures for last 4,5 months. Once again, we have discovered many new places, met many friendly people and made life-time memories. In some days it is time to travel back to Estonia but we will not say good-bye to Oman for good. In autumn we will be back for another winter!

Wadi Zeht and Sifah beaches

We decided to take it more "easy" this Friday and did not plan any long trip. We still had not discovered the eastern beaches of Sifa, so this was our destination! We drove from Bausher to Al Amirat and followed the Muscat-Sur highway until turn to Yiti. That way one drives to coast direction through a lovely wadi (unfortunately I cannot recall the name any more).

View in the wadi:

There are some very beautiful lagoons on the coast, between Yiti and Sifa.

Before Sifa, we took a drive in Wadi Zeht that we renamed Wadi Donkey because there were lots of donkeys. We did not drive the wadi until the end but when we started to drive back we could count 29 donkeys.
A photo of an angry donkey, it was making a very scary noise when we took a photo of it:

Eastern beaches of Sifa:

Watch out! Sometimes there can be holes middle of the road:

Crabs' highway. The marks on the sand are made by crabs.

Salmah Plateau

Driving off-road got a totally new dimension for us last weekend. We could see how bad it could get, there were moments when it was better not to breathe and finally, we made a right decision to turn back.

We started Salmah plateau route from Fins, the road went up and up and up and it did not look so bad at first because the road even had some edges. It was steep climbing but nothing awful. The views got better and better, the higher we got. The plateau is around on 1,5km height and the view over the surroundings is wonderful: mountains in „front“ and sea in „back“, something totally different than in the mountains that are situated inland. Also, it was pleasantly „cool“ on the plateau, being only around 32C while in Muscat it was 45C (the hottest we have experienced here so far)! On the plateau there is also Mailis Al Jins cave entrance. We got to read that it is the second largest cave in the world but it is impossible to enter without a special equipment. Besides the cave and camels and some villages on the plateau there was also an airstrip. And then, after the nice wide airstrip landscape we continued the road but it became worse and worse. The rain had made the road complicated to drive, there were parts where there were big loose rocks and empty holes between them, so it was difficult to find a good place for car wheels. Then, some parts the road got nice again but after another difficult rocky part when we hoped it was the last one we ended up in wadi (dry river bed) and it got even more difficult, so we returned. It was a right decision, because later we heard that even the locals try to avoid part of this route. By the late afternoon we were back in Fins, where there are beautiful white-sand beaches. We had dark clouds all around us and we saw lighting in the distance but we got only some raindrops, perfect! We had some bbq and we relaxed until dark hours. When it became dark it was time for grab watching. It was oh-so-beautiful evening! When we started to drive back to Muscat our car started to give „engine failure“ notification but fortunately we arrived back safe and sound (next day, Andres took the car to the car rental to get it fixed... for next adventure).

Entrance of Mailis Al Jins cave, around 130m down there is the cave:

Back in Fins:

The boys managed to crab a grab into their bucket:

Wadi Al Arbiyyin and As Suwayh

It was for the 3rd time we tried to complete this route and this time we made it! For the first time we did not have enough time, for the 2nd time rain had destroyed most of the road but this Friday we made it. It was an easy driving route with lovely views on mountains and refreshing pools. It was around 37C and staying outdoors for longer time was quite a challenge!

Some funny hill sculptures on the way:

"Drowning accidents are now popular":

Enjoying some refreshing pools in As Suwayh:

Pools and waterfalls in As Suwayh:

Wadi Al Arbiyyin:

Wadi Bani Awf

After renting a better car we are more free to choose off-road routes for our weekend trips. This Friday we went to Wadi Bani Awf, it is the area where there are Little Snake Canyon and Snake Canyon (the names come not from the numerous snakes but after the canyons' swinging shapes). We did not go hiking in the canyons but enjoyed some real off-road: we crossed many wadis and had a hand-shaking experiences of driving an unpaved road by the high mountain sides. It has been for sure one of the most difficult roads we have taken here in Oman (though, our off-road routes' book described the route as "easy driving" ;)). Yet, usually the scariest means the prettiest views and it was true!

Entrance of Little Snake Canyon:

Of course, we met lots and lots of goats on the way:

Beautiful views:

We did not drive further than this:

Balad Sayt Village down there:

Snake Canyon:

The road goes on the mountain side:

Snake Canyon:

To be a fair-haired kid in Oman

Another day Märt was asking me:
"Mommy, why do everybody always touch me?"
Me: "Because you are different. They do not have any fair-haired kids either kids with green or blue eyes here."
Märt: "Ok. But then, why don't they touch YOU?"
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Our fair-haired kids do get lots of attention here that is both lovely but sometimes also tiring. There is hardly any trip to shop or restaurant or walk in the street when the locals do not come to touch our kids. Very often, we hear the locals pointing at Marie with "Baby! Baby!" and in worse situations they want to grab her to their lap. The problem is Marie is a very shy and she always starts to cry when some stranger takes her to his/her lap. I must admit I have been very rude sometimes and have said "Don't touch!"
Our boys have been to the restaurant's kitchen where they have returned from with candies as thank you for the photos the Indian expat cooks had taken of and with them.

I do not know - maybe this is a cultural thing. In Estonia, when we see a black kid in the street or in the shop we do not go to touch him/her either grab him/her to our lap. But probably we - cold northern people - are just not enough emotional?

Wahiba Sands

One has not visited Oman if one has not been to the desert, especially since 82% of Oman's areal consists of desert. We had planned this trip for several weekends but only this weekend made it real. Andres had read some theory at home about driving in the desert, we had also bought a rope (to be ready for the worse: to get stuck in the sand) and we hit the road. After 3 hours from Muscat (because we took an inland road, it had been faster to drive the coastal road to Sur; next time we know) we were in Wahiba Sands.

This is how it started, desert right ahead of us:

The locals were practicing driving on the sand dunes, we were not brave enough to try it:

Camel's footsteps on the sand:

Wrong way but beautiful views:

Fun in the sand (but it was hot-hot-hot, so shoes had to be on all the time):

We also met some locals :):

When we had driven and looked around for some hours we decided it was time to say good-bye to the desert for this time (to come back next time and maybe do some more adventurous things there) and we headed near to Wadi Bani Khalid to have picnic by the pools and relax.

 It was already dark when we left the wadi and we spotted a scorpion on the wall: