On the last day of this road trip in Oman, we left Jalan Bani Bu Ali and drove north towards Muscat via highway 35. We were scheduled to return to the city by the next day in the afternoon and deliver the car back. Before that, however, we had reserved
Wadi Bani Khalid is one of the most renown canyons of Oman. It maintains a constant flow of water all-year-round. There are many beautiful pools and other picturesque spots all along its many-km-long span to its estuary at the Arabian Sea.
On the way, we picked up an Iranian hitchhiking couple. They were headed for Ibra town. I told them that we drive about half the way to Ibra and I can drop them off there. But if they aren’t in a great hurry, they are welcome to join us on this short hike, and I can drive them all the way to Ibra
They agreed and we became a group of four for the day. We drove past the town of Al Kamil and got on Highway 23, heading further north. We left the main road at 22.3987 / 59.0691 and drove for nearly 10 more km until we parked the car in Al Batin village.
This was a really cute and exceptionally quiet little village with lush date palm groves beside the bed of Wadi Bani Khalid. We got down to the bed and followed the canyon eastwards. The views to the outlandishly formed and colored surrounding mountains were pleasing. Small water pools were scattered all over the canyon bed, many of which were complemented with generator-powered irrigation pumps.
A couple of km later we met the intersection of the main canyon with a smaller gorge descending Tawa mountain at 22.4818 / 59.1313. Up there we headed. It was a really beautiful hike in between tall precipices towering off on either side. A few lonesome trees stood here and there on random spots exhibiting their solitary struggle for survival.
We ended up in a place about halfway to the ridge of the mountain where a lone small house stood. A young man took notice of us and invited us for tea. We gladly accepted the invitation. We squatted in the carpeted living room and were offered tea and dates. All the male members of the household sat with us and paid attention to what was said between us and the young man who had invited us and was the only one who could muster a little English. Two little girls were casting shy, furtive glances inside the room from the yard.
We thanked our hosts and headed back down. This time we took a different trail running higher over the slope. From there we got to marvel at some pretty wide and impressive views of the valley.
Soon we were back in the car driving north. We dropped our Persian friends off at a point near Ibra where they met with their local Couchsurfer. We continued further north.
The sunset found us setting up camp in a random place along the road to Muscat, near a village called
Accommodation and Activities in Oman
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