From Canyons To Forgotten Times

We started very early today in order to beat the heat, as we were doing our biggest and probably most impressive hike in all of Oman - the balcony walk over Jebel Shams.

Jebel Shams is a beautiful mountain range and home to Oman's biggest mountain, but also features a breathtaking canyon. The balcony walk essentially leads along the edge of that canyon for about 1-1.5h offering stunning views. That being said, since we knew that the balcony walk was fully exposed to the sun, we started our hike at 7.30am in the morning after a 45 minutes windy drive from our accommodation.

Not long after we began our hike, the canyon unfolded to the right of us as we were following along the path with the mountain wall on the opposite side, rising dramatically up from the canyon underneath. I immediately believed that this was the most spectacular hike in Oman.

Yes, it was rocky, it was hot (but not unbearably yet, luckily) and the cliff drops of at least a couple of hundred meters were really high. And the views just kept getting better and better.

It wasn't a difficult hike to be honest. Some downhill sections were a bit rocky, but otherwise quite straightforward. For my dad, a seasoned hiker after dragging him all through Patagonia, this wasn't strenuous either. My mom - not necessarily a mountain goat - ploughed through impressively with her only issue being that she suffers from vertigo. Not the best features to have when walking up high over a steep canyon. Ah well, she successfully completed the hike and towards the end we were all sitting under a canopy to enjoy the scenery in front of us and congratulated ourselves.

Back at the car park, we also witnessed a funny scene when a few goats climbed someone's car to reach the upper leaves of a tree. One goat almost fell off, but did stabilise itself at the last minute. Would’ve been hilarious!

Anyway, once back in our accommodation, we had a quick shower and then hopped over for some interesting Yemeni lunch. Interesting insofar that it was the first time for all of us to try camel! Am not gonna lie, it tasted really nice. So nice, that I knew I would have it again at some point on this trip. Mom was also intrigued and dad was his usual "yeah, tastes good".

Then it was time for a well-deserved siesta. By this point, it was already 40 degrees or more, so there was no point in doing something exhausting.

By 4-4.30pm, the main heat of the day had subsided a bit, so we decided to go and explore our last mountain village - Misfat al Abriyyin. It is nestled on a mountain side with a sea of palm trees on its lower part. Walking through the little village really felt like being transported into times gone by.

Imagine walking through narrow pathways next to old brown houses made out of clay leading to a sea of green palm trees and intricate waterways. It was a beautiful sight (quite the contrast to the canyon this morning) and we took the opportunity to walk along those waterways to see where they would lead us. At some point, the waterways became too exposed, though, so we turned back.

As the sun started to set, my dad found a very nice rooftop bar. There, we sat down for some drinks while enjoying the view over the old village, another mountain village opposite of a little river, the mountains in the background and the serenity of the moment. It was a picture-perfect finish to an amazing day that had started with dramatic views over a canyon and finished with beautiful views over an old mountain village.

Oman, you keep impressing me and being more diverse as I thought you could be.Weiterlesen