My last Omani Adventure

Off to my last adventure in Oman today. From the Oman Off Road Book I wanted to explore the area of Western Hajar, a mountain range about 200 km southwest of Muscat. The major city to get to was Nizwa and from there it was back roads.

All of Nizwa is being rebuilt at the moment and it's a single construction site. I tried to drive around the town only to find out that the road I took was blocked off after about 10 km. Instead of turning back I tried to find my way back to the main road through a lot of ancient little alleys, which proofed challenging with the Pathfinder and no map. The alleys were just like you imagine them to be, with little places and date palms scattered between the Arabian houses, goats, dogs and chickens running around between them. In the end I ended up on the road I came from again and followed it back to the main road where I also got some lunch at a place where women weren't allowed to have lunch.

From Nizwa it was only 80 km until got to my intended location. Wadi Damm is another dried river out river bed with some pools to swim in but the sun was already setting so it was imperative to quickly find a nice spot to camp (or park and sleep in the car).

It also started raining a little bit which was quite an event and usually means you shouldn't be crossing any Wadis. So when I got to the to the Wadi which needed to be crossed I sat there for a while to watch the others go across (I hadn't ever driven through the water before). Also an Omani confirmed it was safe even after the rain and I went though the little creek (maybe 20 m wide) and got out on the other side. It was pretty cool and I had another couple of these wadis ahead of me before getting to proper solid ground again.

Now off to find a spot and I thought up the hill was going to be good, so I followed the curvy dirt track up the hill and found a nice little niche to park the car. Looking back at the valley, I saw the sun set behind the mosque in the little town surrounded by green date palms.

There was no point in setting up the tent and it was dark already, so I stayed in the car and fed off Doritos and Salsa. To contact home I actually had to walk back a kilometre or so to get a signal. During the night it kept raining a bit and I was glad I was on higher ground than the wadi.