And one of the first things I found out was that there are no mountains, no rocks and no boulders to hike or climb. And a life without some high points to conquer, look from or just see them on the horizon is simply…different!! I have never lived in such a flat country (Qatari highest point is 103m high limestone hill in the middle of the peninsula) and soon I started to feel a bit desperate.
So similarly to temptations of Magic tournaments in UAE I succumbed to an allurement of a weekend Oman trip organized by my Dubai friends. Idea of camping in 2000m above sea level in nice 25°C under the stars again and with an opportunity to drive my Tiguan to some off-road again was revitalizing and I didn’t spend even a minute with buying a ticket to Dubai.
Everything started on Friday at 7am when I loaded Kaupo, Kamil and Monika and we rushed to catch up with the others at Al Ain borderpost. All six car crews united almost exactly on agreed time and place under the mountains in Tanuf and after a short break at drowned up dam, we headed up to the mountain tops following a winding dirt track.
That was exactly what I needed. Entertaining driving, beautiful mountain sceneries, Pilsner beer and good friends to have a chat and fun with. Flawless J
After two hours of climbing uphill we finally arrived to the top village. To our surprise there was a group of brand new houses for the local shepherds built by the government. Good for them, but bad for us, because we lost the best campground which was now under the foundation!!
Never mind…there was plenty of space for everybody, so we made a typical Dubai style camp with camping chairs, tables, charcoal grills, cool boxes, music…and started enjoying the perfect temperature. Somebody stayed and relaxed and somebody, including me, we choose a short hike to nearby peak around 200m above us. Easy and refreshing trek gave me even more taste for beef sausage, covered with beef ham and filled with cheese…aaaahhh...delicious J
But on the way back we passed by a small dirt football pitch, so we had to have a game with the few locals. For them it was a match of the year and because for them there is nothing else to do, they were decent opponents and we deservedly lost after tough fight with them, bumpy pitch and our physical J All the more we enjoyed cold beers and camp fire later!!
Next day we packed up around 9am and started driving the same off-road way to the other side of the mountains towards Snake Canyon. All those narrow dirt tracks were super scenic, winding between deep gorges, stunning slopes and dry wadi beds. Real pleasure to drive through and breathe the atmosphere.
Only small problem that what looks 10 kilometers on the map is in reality 30 and with average speed of 20 kilometers per hour, our transition took much longer than expected, so we didn’t have time for the main attraction of the Big Snake canyon, where you jump and swim down through a cascade of pool and waterfalls in a deep valley…pity, but next time we will be prepared better. I will be prepared better, because I naively thought the others would know, but they of course we interested more in sitting comfortably in the car or a water pool next to the road, so they knew nothing.
But at least we stopped at the Small Snake Canyon and walked through and back. Only three of us made it to the far end though, where was a thin deep pass with chilling clear water and cliffs to jump of…paradise and nice point after chilled out weekend J
After that only another 1.5 hour back to the road though the wadi, crossing several time the river flowing inside. And with splashing water on the windshield we said good bye to Omani mountains and floored it for last 400 kilometers back to Dubai.
When I was flying back my usual 2:20am flight to Doha, I was already planning to come back in August and organize an expedition to the Big Snake Canyon for adventurous souls, because that place is just asking to be visited and explored much much more!!
