Our daughter Caitlyn is visiting us from the States. We decided to trek out to Al Jabal Al Akhdar last Saturday and check it out. Jabal means "mountain" in Arabic, so you guessed it--we traveled up into the mountains, high enough to make our ears pop! The views along the way were spectacular, and of course there were the requisite date plantations and watch towers.
The entrance to the Jabal Ahkdar area is guarded by the military. Much of the area is part of a military base. In fact, there is an interesting story on the history of the area. During the coup around 1970, much of the fighting took place in this rocky area. Because the area was unnavigable by conventional military vehicles, supplies and men were transported by donkeys. Donkeys still in the area today are descendants of the ones used at that time. We were lucky enough to capture a picture of these donkeys outside one of the bases.
The base of the area is monitored by military personnel, and cars are stopped, license plates are recorded, and no vehicles without 4-wheel drive are not allowed in. You can see why as we continue on our journey up into the mountains.
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| Waiting in line for our turn to get in. |
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| A small village has popped up around the entrance. |
We begin our ascent...the views are somewhat marred by the heavy amount of haze/sand in the air, which seems to be a regular occurrence these days.
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| View of a mountain village surrounded by terraced gardens |
As we reached the top of the road we came to a hotel where we had lunch. Lunch was very good, a typical Arabic menu. We ate out on the terrace; the temperature in the mountains is much more pleasant than the temperature close to the sea where we live, and since it was hazy, we had a pleasant lunch outside.
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| Looking back from the terrace to the hotel. |
The views from the edge of the terrace were awesome--and I mean that as in awe-struck as you can tell from the photos below!
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| Caitlyn dubbed this the "Grand Canyon of Oman." |
Leaving the hotel, I couldn't resist taking these pictures in the lobby. The coffee table is made from an old door with ancient artifacts displayed on it, and there are hand-made, native artifacts displayed around the tree trunk.
We toured the area by visiting three terraced villages. I wish I could insert more than just pictures--a chorus of bleating goats, the squawk of the chickens, the gurgling of the water running through the falaj (their name for the irrigation system), the earthy smell of the gardens and old stone.
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| Don and Caitlyn at the entrance to the first village. |
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| This small goat was particularly enthralled by us! |
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| Walking through a tunnel, underneath housing, to reach the gardens. |
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| Falaj: irrigation channel. Note the canal blocks of stone (above) and cloth (below). |
Views on our way to the second village:
I don't think the 2 pictures below conveyed just how steep this one-lane road was! We made it down fine, but weren't really sure we were going to make it out!
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| The view was definitely worth the climb in and out of this village! |
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| Yummy pomegranates coming soon! |
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| Running water through the falaj. |
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| This falaj was running full blast today! |
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| New built over old... |
The village at the end of the road, also the largest, was Saiq. We captured some great images while there.
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| Traditional, typical Omani dress when out in the country |
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| Watching life go by |
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| Again, the old mixed in with the new |
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| Typical housing architecture |
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| Overlooking the village from the highest road |
Hope you enjoyed this tour through Jabal Akhdar. Next time we go back, we intend to really get off road and explore the old, abandoned villages in this wilderness area!
