Thanks to the Prophets birthday happening on Feb 5, Janelle was given a 4 day long weekend by PDO. We had already been busy (and quite worn out) from sailing on the weekend but having picked up our new wheels we were anxious to take a road trip outside of Muscat and try out the camping and hiking that everyone had been raving about.
Our friends Tom and Donna had been planning a trip to the old capital of Oman, Nizwa and to Wadi Tanuf to camp and hike. Again being very unprepared for camping Tom and Donna lent us sleeping bags and a tent so off we went in our Subaru Forester. It's a 2006 and has just over 100,000 km on it. What really sold us was it was bought new in 2006 by an expat that we had met earlier from Canada and as such was very well maintained and in very good condition. There were some concerns about it not being an SUV or having 4wd but the previous owner assured us the AWD would take us everywhere that the Prado's could go.
Janelle and I left earlier in the day to spend some time in Nizwa as it is home of a very old fort and castle used in the 1600s and was recommended to see. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Nizwa on excellent roads, the only strange thing was anytime we went over 125 kph the car started to beep. Unsure what this was we kept it just under 125 (keep in mind the speed limit is 120 so we were getting passed by everyone). Nizwa turned out to be a very neat old town. Old is the best way to describe it as there are large parts that haven't changed much with the old buildings and original walls can still be seen. The fort/castle were very interesting to walk through, hard to describe so I'll leave it to the pictures. The souq was also attached to the fort and was one of the first walled souqs in the middle east. Since we were there on a holiday Saturday the souq was closed and the town in general was very quiet.
After touring Nizwa we left for Tanuf and the entrance to the wadi. Leaving town we met up with Tom and Donna in their Prado and their friends Pam and Paul in their Pajero (both SUVs). We got into the wadi and the road was indeed rough but nothing outrageous. Lots of stones and some larger rocks but the Subaru kept right up with the other 2. First impressions driving into Wadi Tanuf were incredible, unbelievable views and nearly sheer cliffs rising straight up on both sides. Driving for about 4 km we arrived at the end of the wadi and the start of the hike. Because the hike is listed as a 10 hr roundtrip we decided to camp the night before to give us an early start. We weren't planning on doing the entire hike the next day but rather a 4 hr hike (2 in 2 out). Camping that night was really neat, they are no campsites or rules, you pitch a tent in a flat spot and make a fire with scrap wood found through the wadi. The only concern is rain, apparently the wadi's turn into a raging river when it rains (even if it's raining far away) so you have to be aware of the weather and parking and camping in a higher area. Sleeping under the stars, not being cold (even when you walk away from the campfire) and having it be so quiet (minus the goats) was awesome. Can't wait to go camping again.
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| Our new car |
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| Fort Nizwa Tower |
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| Inside the Nizwa Tower |
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| The trees are all date palms |
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| Trekking in Wadi Tanuf, all the rocks and wadi walls were very smooth |
The next morning all 6 of us were up early to pack up camp and start the hike. The only map and directions we had were very limited in giving details but we managed to find the start of the hike and realized that it was straight up. For the next 2 hrs we scrambled up some of the steepest and gnarliest hiking we've ever done. There were times looking down when you realized one slip and you would slide a long way. The group did really well considering 3 of the 6 had varying levels of a fear of heights. After 2 hrs we still hadn't reached to top edge of the wadi and began to get concerned with how long it would take us if we did make it to the top and how long it would take getting back down. Majority rules and we decided to turn around and head down which was not much easier (and in some parts harder) than going up. About an 1 hr later we were all safely at the bottom and I even managed to find the "better" path going down which looked a little more worn and avoided a couple of the more hazardous spots we climbed on the way up. At the bottom we checked our elevations and figured we had climbed 600 ft, not too bad. Having made good time going down we decided to start the hike in reverse and walk through the village that is situated near the end of the hike. This was quite the place, built on the edge of the wadi it has an amazing irrigation system that uses gravity to bring water to terraces that have been built into the side of the wadi. Going through you're also very popular with the children who point you in the right direction (sometimes). Leaving the village through the gate with a 6 ft drop (see the picture) we walked into the wadi towards the water source for the village, again we were greeted by more amazing scenery. By noon we were pretty whipped and decided to head back to Muscat, determined to tackle this climb again.
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