The Al Hajar Mountains, meaning The Rocky Mountains in Arabic, also known as Oman Mountains, is the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian peninsula. The range is a continuation of the Zagros Mountains and extends for about 440 km from the Musandam Peninsula to the easternmost tip of Oman. Jebel Akhdar, meaning
Being a keen mountain lover, one of the principal reasons that urged me to come to Oman was to trek the Al Hajar Mountains. Jebel Akhdar was the destination I, after all, chose for my trekking trip in Oman. I had already been stationed for 3 days in Seeb, in the wider area of Oman’s capital city: Muscat. Throughout all of these days, I was peeking excitedly at the rugged desert mountain range taking off in the distance, in earnest anticipation of exploring it.
Originally I was intent on departing a day earlier. However, I was compelled to postpone my trip for one day, due to an urgent extraction of one of my wisdom teeth I had to undergo. The following day, with my lower jaw gum being somewhat lighter and my cheek a good deal swollen, I shouldered my backpack and left my accommodation heading for the wilderness.
Day #1: Leaving Muscat and making it to some random place
Public transport in Oman is far from practical. The best way I found to get to the mountains was to catch a bus to Nizwa and hitchhike from there further to Al Hamra. I had yesterday checked the Mwasalat buses schedule and found a bus departing at noontime.
It took a 5-km walk to reach the place where I thought the bus would depart from and realize that I only thought so. What went wrong was that I mistakenly pinned on the map a bus stop for city routes heading to the bus station. The actual bus station was located 5 km away in the exact opposite direction from my starting point. The city bus took ages to come and, of course, I missed my bus.
Perhaps it was for the better. I walked into the Mwasalat office and inquired about how to get directly to Al Hamra, instead of going to Nizwa first. They told me there was a bus going directly there leaving in the afternoon. I purchased the ticket and sat to lunch at a nearby Pakistani coffee shop.
The bus was cool and comfy. The trip lasted for about 3 hours; though it was not complete. We drove past Nizwa, and at that
I was a good 15 km away from Al Hamra and it was already dusk. I had no desire to make it there today. I supplied myself with foodstuff from a little shop by the junction and made for a craggy hill nearby to settle for the day.
It was already night by the time I found and cleared up a decently flat spot to pitch my tent; and it was a beautiful Arabian night. It was the night preceding the full-moon night. Silver moonlight was cast upon rugged mountaintops and the imam’s devout voice reverberated faintly from the distance.
I felt very privileged to be situated up there, all alone, far from the world, indulging in the magic of this exquisite night, where no one could distract me… until I got distracted. I noted a strong flashlight being pointed to the hill opposite mine, evidently searching for something. The light then vanished briefly, until it reappeared pointing to my very hill this time, beaming out of a pickup slowly moving along the hill foot below.
While scanning the slope, the beam eventually met and rested upon my very location. I was spotted. I wondered whether it was I who was meant to be spotted. I thought about the police, though they aren’t supposed to mind someone camping in the wild in this country. Some seconds later the flashlight was turned off and the car got silently enveloped by the darkness.
I put my knife in my pocket – just in case – and waited to see whether there is a visitor I’m bound to receive. Sure
I stood on a rock, turned my torch on facing the approaching silhouette, and greeted: “salaam alaikum” – “Alaikum salaam,” retorted the silhouette in a bewildered voice and kept on moving towards my part.
It turned out he was an elder local shepherd looking for some goats that went astray. “Sorry, mate, I didn’t run into any goats around here,” I let him know. We chatted for a while, wished each other good night and good luck, and he took his way back down to continue his search. I crawled into my tent and zonked out.
Day #2: Reaching Al Hamra and climbing to the ridge of Jebel Akhdar overnight via W9 trail
It was a pretty chilly night. I welcomed contentedly the advent of the morning sun over the ridge to the east. The place started to warm up. I packed quickly and headed straight down to the desert floor. It’d got already hot as hell when I soon after reached there and started ambling through the flat desolation.
A km or two later, I met the paved road leading to Al Hamra via the southeast peripheral villages. I kept walking at the right edge of the road, my left arm stretched out, thumb raised.
The second car pulled over. It was a young dude named Mohamed from a nearby village. Very kind of him, he drove me all the way to the centre of Al Hamra, way after his home.
It was already noon almost. I had my lunch at a Bangladeshi place and went for a short stroll around the town. I found it a very cute one. It consisted of well-kept, picturesque houses surrounded by neat gardens with date palms, orange trees, barley crops, neria, plumerias, and other exotic flowering plants. Bird songs, rooster crows and children laughs melded harmonically and transfused the hot air.
Eventually, early afternoon, I wound up in a nice spot by a dry stream bed right by the foot of the mountain. I pitched my tent under the broad foliage of an acacia and I fell for a sweet siesta.
I woke up at 6 pm, concurrently with the sundown, and started getting ready. I had a
There is a snake road leading up to Misfat Al Abriyeen village from Al Hamra. I rather chose to climb up straight-line. Soon I was in the village. I took a break for a cup of tea and a sandwich in a nice place there. The full moon did then rise gloriously over the jagged mountain ridge. I welcomed it joyously. Two young Arab boys stopped riding their bicycles and got to observe the rising silver ball in silent awe.
With my luminous companion overhead, I stood up and started on my long way. Somewhere by the eastern edge of the village begins the W9 trail leading up to the ridge of Jebel Akhdar. It wasn’t so simple to find it at night. It took me some time trying out the twisting lanes, stairways and arcades of this amazingly picturesque village, all of them leading me to either a dead-end or a women-only passage. At some point, I also halted briefly and had a chat with a German couple who sojourned in the village and were out for a night stroll.
However hard it was to find the trailhead, so easy was it to follow the trail thereafter. Almost all the trail is marked with frequent painted dots and arrows, and the beginning of it with reflective signs as well.
The first part of the trail runs along a small trench conveying water down to the village’s lush gardens. Nightbirds, frogs, snakes and various little creatures kept rushing away in fright upon my going-by.
The village and pretty much anything green soon gave out. I continued hiking through the deep, dark ravine, of which only the upper part of the left wall was illuminated by the moon which was lurking somewhere behind the wall to my right. At some point along the way (23.1514 / 57.3161), about a km after the village, the trail descends to the ravine bed and steeply climbs up the other side.
From there on the trail goes at times down, but never even, and mostly up up up. It was a good idea I didn’t climb in the day. A brilliant moon shone down the entire way after I exited the ravine. I barely needed to use the torch at all, and that was only if I was looking for the trail signs or I was suspicious of snakes roaming about. Despite the fulgent moon, the sky was scattered with clusters of vivid stars. The views of the murky mountain outlines and the distant dazzling towns and roads down in the valley were splendid and awe-inspiring throughout the entire night. A sly cold breeze kept giving sudden bursts causing me to shudder.
It was a pretty long way. A little before meeting the ridge (23.1772 / 57.3762), the trail forks to W8 to the left and W10 to the right. The former leads down the mountain the other side to Bilad Sayt village. I took the latter which continues along the ridge.
I always loved that feeling: when you approach a ridge or purview after a fatiguing ascent, anticipating in earnest curiosity what marvelous spectacles you are to behold at the other side. Well, this was one of the best such moments in my life. The mountain precipitated almost vertically for about 1500
I continued for a few more km along the ridge, till I met a telecommunication antenna and a dirt road leading to it at 23.1696 / 57.4014. I followed the road for about 200
The time was past 4 am. The wind strong and freezing. I had to build an impromptu wall to protect myself from it. It was going to dawn soon. I only had a few hours to rest and I took ample advantage of them.
Day #3: Down to Hatt Village and towards the Snake Canyon
I mustn’t have slept for more than 4 hours when dazzling light forced its way into my tent. It was an excellent morning. The morning views around me were very different than the night ones but as splendid.
I had a leisurely morning. I took my time to enjoy aplenty the majestic views down the abrupt cliff, just as some lonely cypresses hanging perilously at its lip did. I had a good breakfast, packed my stuff up, and resumed the way.
My destination for the day was that narrow valley down to the north and the so-called Snake Canyon which is located there. I had a pretty long way to go down: almost as long as I went up yesterday.
I followed the dirt road and walked past a mountain resort that stands there; it seemed rather deserted. The road down was steep and dusty. I would like to hitch a ride but there wasn’t much traffic to help with this task. Only two cars drove by my direction: one was full, the other was a lone European bloke with a huge jeep who utterly ignored me.
A few km later, I heard another car approaching from behind. I raised my arm. They stopped. It was a family coming from Al Hamra and going to some village somewhere within this intricate mountain range. The father driving, the mother with a newborn in her lap, and four boys in the backseat… they were pretty full but very kind to free up some space for me.
They dropped me off at Hatt village at the bottom of the valley and continued their way. There was a trench coming down from the mountain that supplied this village with scanty portions of freshwater that gave birth to their beautiful gardens amidst this remote, inhospitable environment.
I walked inside the village. There was a mosque, a school, scattered here and there houses… there should be a shop as well. I had started to get disappointed, as I’d walked pretty much every street and couldn’t see any such, when I noticed a young boy calling me from the distance. As if he knew what I was up to, he showed me into his family shop, which didn’t look as such at all from the outside, but had what I needed to keep up with my food provisions.
I settled under the shade of a tree in the middle of the village to have my lunch. All the passers-by, without exception, greeted me politely and invited me to their homes for coffee. I had, though, to turn down those invitations as I should rather get moving soon.
I continued my way northwest through the valley. There was a number of very picturesque little oases throughout, and even a few ponds. It was right by sunset time when I finally reached my destination: the western entry to the snake canyon.
A small and very pleasant lodge was located there. I walked in and startled a small Arab company who nonchalantly drank their tea and ate dates and were the only people present there. I had there my dinner, which was rich and delicious, and bid goodnight. I walked out of the lodge, found a nice spot to pitch my tent, and passed out for the night.
Day #4: Chilling and Hiking in the Snake Canyon
This was an easy day. I woke up late, snoozed a good deal, prepared my breakfast slowly and attentively, meditated, had three cups of tea…
Then, at about noontime, I ventured inside the Snake Canyon. This was absolutely gorgeous. The canyon walls towered vertically and haughtily on either side. The glossy rocks at the bottom testified that large amounts of water have streamed through the canyon. The quiet was profound. There was no other sound to be heard than my own excited whoops echoing back and forth through the canyon.
I then headed back to my tent. I spent an equally leisurely as the morning afternoon, napping and reading Kafka’s Metamorphosis. At dusk, I headed back to the lodge to have my dinner. This time I there met a Swiss and a Dutch couple, the first touring in a car, the second on bicycles. We made a pleasant company until late in the evening, when I made for my tent. I had a long day awaiting me tomorrow.
Day #5: To Bilad Sayt Village and back to Al Hamra via W8 trail
The alarm rang and disrupted the enveloping mountain stillness at 4 am. I snoozed a bit and got up a little before 5. At 5:30 I was packed and gone.
Accompanied by a large blazing moon, I walked back the same way I’d come from until a road leading to Bilad Sayt village forked off to the right. Soon I was circumventing the village while that was getting gradually lit up by the daybreak which progressed over the eastern mountain ridge.
This village was much larger than Hatt. It had a number of mosques and a couple of old towers atop some craggy bluffs. The date palm gardens were picturesque beyond description. Its inhabitants were still fast asleep though. I didn’t see a soul, and that was to remain so until late in the evening.
By the south end of the village begins the W8 trail which I took to get back up to the ridge. I started ascending while the village’s livestock raised a pandemonium of cries in anticipation of the sun’s imminent appearance.
The sunup caught me about halfway up the cliff and diffused the valley beneath with brilliant light. The animal outcries grew in volume and intensity, and remained audible despite the great distance.
The trail was steep and hard and became ever more so the more I approached the top. There were quite a few climbing passages that required complete concentration. The views down to the awakening valley were plainly magnificent.
It was around 11 am when I completed the 1300-metres ascent, lost the view of the valley, and found myself on that alienly beautiful plateau. I stopped under a tree and rewarded myself with a fat lunch and brief nap.
Then I shouldered my backpack again and took down the W9 trail: the same way I’d come up from two nights ago. It was now very interesting to see all this beauty that was concealed from me by the night during my ascent.
I finally was back in Misfat Al Abriyeen shortly before sunset. I took advantage of the remaining light to have a stroll and take some pictures in this quaintly charming village.
I ended up pitching my tent in an idyllic place about a km west of the village, overlooking the densely illuminated valley of Al Hamra. My trekking trip in Jebel Akhdar was just concluded. I had to take a good, reinvigorating sleep to make myself ready to head to Nizwa the day after.
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