Escape to paradise

         Qatar has only 7 days of public holidays in a year, so three day EID Islamic holidays are always well awaited and it’s almost mandatory to leave to country and escape from the desert and overheated city on Doha…at least for few days. This time we wanted to break the rule and stay home kiteboarding, but wind gods were not in our favor, so we had to leave!! And for four days it was easy choice…green mountains and crystal blue wadis of the Sultanate of Oman just an hour flight from Doha!

           We didn’t have much of a plan, but we booked the all mighty 7-seater 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser to get us wherever we wish to go. Luckily we got also a roof rack to put our baggage, because without that we would probably be like sardines in a can! We stocked ourselves with everything important in Muscat airport duty free and nearby Carrefour and off we went into the night. First we chose a safe bet, Wadi Bani Awf and Snake canyon. Deep and colorful wadi in the heart of Jabal Shams mountains with a beautiful village of Bilad Sayd and with the thin and deep Snake gorge was sure fun a next day and a half!

          We woke up in the pass just above the valley and after a breakfast in the sky we descended. We had to admit that all the Arabs have a reason to have at least one Land Cruiser in their car fleet, because the ride down on the super steep, bumpy and rocky dirt road was like in pillows. Pure comfort! First we decided to do a short route of the trek though the bottom of the Snake Gorge.

          In comparison with the long route you don’t need a rope here and was supposed to be easy walk. In actually was, but just because there was hardly any water! I can’t imagine going here if the water is high a flowing as constant stream…that would definitely be more scary, you wouldn’t be able to stop, explore ahead and climb down to the next pool…you would be washed downstream no matter what! But I guess that’s the real spirit of canyoning. But we were more than happy like this J

It took us almost the whole day so after the walk back up the hill, we crashed for the night right where we started. On the way back we wanted to do a quick Via Ferrata above the Snake Gorge and slide couple of tyrolean traverses from one side to another, but it was closed for maintenance :( Next time!

         The next day we took a pleasure hike to village picturesque village of Bilad Sayt and on the way back we did a easy route in La Gorgette, famous Oman climbing area. Unfortunately all the routes were quite difficult for beginners and we didn’t have climbing shoes, so everyone just tried once and we headed back up to the pass and onto the Omani plains down south.

         We stopped in Nizwa for a lunch and continued to Wahiba Sands, the real sandy desert. We reached just after it got dark, so we chose to get a typical Arabic tent in one desert camp we found on after we drove 10k inside. It was a great choice, because we were covered from the wind and had a clean carpet to drink play some cards. And sleeping on soft mattresses was a welcomed change from wadi rocky grounds!

         Obviously nobody woke up to watch the sunrise above the dunes, so we just headed to play in the sand for a while after breakfast. Great experience for those who have seen only the Qatari one! Finally they’ve seen the real one J

         Covered with sand we went straight to Wadi Bani Khalid for a shover. I think I’ve never seen so much fresh water in the whole Middle East. Crystal clear and deep pools were just like a paradise. And locals liked their paradise too, because it was quite packed…who wouldn’t right? J We played, swam, were jumping until we were full, refreshed and ready for some more adventure.

         So then we headed further south to Ras Al-Had to watch sea turtles to lay eggs on the beach. Because it was a breeding season the official tickets were sold out, but we managed to sneak to a one additional tour and got inside the national park. It was amazing to see the turtle land on the beach, slowly crawl up to 100m from the coast, dig a hole, lay eggs, dig another hole next to it to confuse egg hungry predators and crawl back to the sea. It takes up to 1-2 hours for the turtle. But out of those hundreds of small turtles who get born only few percent survives to adulthood…but I guess this is how it is meant to be! After the tour we crashed on the main village beach, and got lucky enough to see one turtle just digging hole 20 meter from our car J

          The last day we stopped in wadi Ash Shab, another beautiful wadi full of water and trees. We hiked up to the end and swam into a cave. We drank our last beers sitting in a sandy pool and unfortunately had to start thinking about heading back. We managed to stop for a minute to see Bimmah sinkhole and Sultan’s palace in Muscat, but that was really it! Short trip, but intense and to remember!

          It takes a while until you relax completely and start to fully enjoy your holidays, but after a day or two you are in the travelling mood. And speaking for myself, I wanted to continue further and more. One day I will ;)