An early start and up at first light to drive up to the upper level of the Saiq plateau. The sun was just rising and the colours were superb as we climbed up above 2500 metres. All of a sudden junipers became the dominant vegetation – Peter Woods would have been delighted. We drove right to the end of the plateau and stopped in a village on the edge of the escarpment looking down several thousand feet and the local headman came running up and invited us to sit down outside his house and join him for dates and coffee. We summoned up as much Arabic as we could muster and sat down with him for the traditional Omani hospitality – the only downside was when he quietly asked for a baksheesh at the end which would never have happened before.
The town of Nizwa and its hotel had always been a favourite haunt of the family and we moved on there and explored the wadis on the edge of the jebel. There had been a huge amount of development but the ruined village of Tanuf and its associated wadi were largely untouched and we wandered up the valley as the cliff sides towered above us. The falaj carrying water down from the hillside was only a third full and we remembered when we had been there when the whole wadi was full of water and the falaj was overflowing into the wadi below – and the photo on our wall at home which had been given to us as we left Oman over twenty years earlier. And there were goats everywhere....
Going back to places is often difficult but for us the last two days have been full of wonderful memories, much to give thanks for, and whilst Oman has changed significantly, for the local people the changes would seem to have been largely positive.
The town of Nizwa and its hotel had always been a favourite haunt of the family and we moved on there and explored the wadis on the edge of the jebel. There had been a huge amount of development but the ruined village of Tanuf and its associated wadi were largely untouched and we wandered up the valley as the cliff sides towered above us. The falaj carrying water down from the hillside was only a third full and we remembered when we had been there when the whole wadi was full of water and the falaj was overflowing into the wadi below – and the photo on our wall at home which had been given to us as we left Oman over twenty years earlier. And there were goats everywhere....
Going back to places is often difficult but for us the last two days have been full of wonderful memories, much to give thanks for, and whilst Oman has changed significantly, for the local people the changes would seem to have been largely positive.
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