So, along with these gorgeous mountains in Oman, its also home to a few Wadi's, which is a valley, channel, or ravine. The Wadi's in Oman are nestled in amongst the mountains and create this amazing network of valleys and caves and pools of water. During the rainy season the wadi's fill up and all over Muscat we could see empty river beds that fill with water and in the Wadi Shab area you could see the lines on the rocks where the water comes up to.
Wadi Shab translates to "the gorge between cliffs" which is the perfect name for it!
We drove through the mountains again and saw a lot more of the country side of Oman. It really is gorgeous. The road we were on was flanked part of the time by the sea, so we each way we looked was gorgeous. We arrived at the Wadi and got into a small boat to head across the little waterway to the other side to start our journey.
In the past decade there have been two huge storms blow through the area and the last one absolutely destroyed a lot of the plant life and they've had to really rebuild a lot from the damage.
We hiked for about forty five minutes, while Mohammed pointed out interesting caves and structures throughout and told us stories and anecdotes about the area. The ground itself was uneven and sometimes challenging, but it was beautiful and so much fun! All along the hike we could see the water system they had built to bring water to the village-it was a simple idea but effective and fascinating to see.
We came to a large pool and took our shoes off and tucked our belongings into a little part of the mountain before getting into the cool, clear water. Although it wasn't terribly hot out, the hike had us warm and ready to cool off so the water was a welcome reprieve! We didn't take our phones or the big camera with us, but we did have the GoPro, so we do have a few shots. I wish we had more, but I'm also glad that we just enjoyed it instead of seeing everything through a lens.
This is a shot under the water. It was SO clear!!!
One part of the swim brought us to an edge we had to climb over to get back into the water. We all jumped in off this cliff! (That's Christopher diving in!) I'm not a great judge of height, but if I had to guess I'd say we were maybe 20 feet in the air? Stella was nervous so I might have chucked her in to her Daddy's arms, but hey, she did it!
We swam some more, taking turns helping Stella out
But she also swam quite a bit by herself!
After a little while we made it to a cave and had to squeeze in through this small passage to get into the cave! It was absolutely incredible and I have no good pictures of it, but it was incredible! It was a tight fit but it opened up into something out of a book. While its obviously no secret, it felt like one! There was a waterfall and places carved out along the wall to climb up or hold on to.
That little opening on the bottom--sort of left of center where that person is, is the entrance to the cave!
Christopher climbed up the waterfall and our guide took him back and around and to the top of the highest cliff point in the cave. It was maybe... 30 or 40 feet in the air? He totally jumped off while Stella and I cheered him on!
Meanwhile, Stella climbed up the walls and kept jumping in the water-- her own little version of cliff diving! She had a blast!
After the guys jumped and swam back to us, Mohammed led us over to the waterfall and showed us a tiny little opening and we all swam through it and ended up behind the water fall! It was as magical as it sounds! Totally one of those "pinch me" moments... well, the whole Wadi experience was pretty much a pinch me moment, if I'm being honest!
We splashed around a bit more and then headed back out of the cave to swim our way back to the hike. Things got a little... dramatic with stella once some vegetation brushed her leg and then a dragonfly had the audacity to fly in her vicinity, so we sort of half swam, half drug a screaming child most of the way back. Not exactly a post card moment, but hey, its real life.
Seriously. These mountains are just amazing!
After we went back through the hike and got to the car, we changed clothes and headed into the village right by the Wadi for some lunch. Its a small village named Tiwi and it was quaint and also like something out of a book. We parked and walked up to this small cafe where they asked us if we wanted chicken, beef, or fish and then headed to the kitchen to prepare our meal. While we were waiting a herd of goats walked past us with their goatherd and we just sort of looked at each other wondering if this was real life (in a good way, of course!).
Tiwi and the Arabian Sea
They brought out our meal and just kept bringing plates! Homemade bread, a giant plate of fragrant rice (not pictured), vegetables, tandoori grilled chicken, a savory, spiced beef dish, and fresh salad. It was all delicious! I have no clue what some of it was, but it was all quite good. Some of the best meals we've ever had have been like this...we just show up and don't see a menu and they bring a spread of food. Its such an awesome experience to eat like that without expectation.
A little side note here... the beef dish was delicious. Absolutely incredible spices and flavors and just... mouthwatering. The beef itself wasn't amazing... some pieces were very tender and some were a bit chewy. Come to find out? It was goat beef. Yeah... goat beef. Like the cute, funny little herd of goats that we had seen crossing the street maybe ten minutes before. Goat. I'll admit, it was a lot more difficult to swallow after I found that out. But then again, I straddle the fence on eating meat as it is. Christopher had no qualms devouring it.
After we finished lunch we climbed back into the car with full bellies and sleepy eyes and headed to the sink hole nearby.
Legend has it that a shooting star fell from the sky and created the sink hole... some scientists have come and disputed this, but, like the older people from the surrounding villages, I'd like to stick to the fallen star story.
The water thats filled the sink hole is from the Arabian sea and it is as clear as any water you've ever seen! They've sent divers down to try and see how deep, but they made it just past 100 meters and decided that was deep enough for them and so they have no clue how deep it truly is.
There are steps leading down into the sinkhole, which people use as a swimming hole, so we walked down the steps and stuck our feet into the water! We'd already changed clothes so we didn't swim (and we saw a water snake, so that kept my butt firmly out of the water, to be honest!) but we sat down there a few minutes and just watched the swimmers and relaxed a few minutes (it was prayer time and Mohammed had opted out of trekking down the stairs and was taking that time to pray).
We climbed back out of the sink hole and headed back to the car, but not before stopping by a swing so Stella could swing. Never mind the beautiful sights and the view of the Arabian Sea... that girl had eyes for the swing only!
We started the trek back to our hotel and a few minutes before we arrived, Mohammed stopped and got us some Omani bread and tea and coffee to try! The bread was sort of like a crepe and it was filled with a creamy cheese and honey. It was absolutely divine!!! Christopher had coffee with milk and spices and I had tea with spices and saffron and it was, like my souk tea, incredible! The Omani's can definitely do tea!
The view of the mountains on the drive back. The highest peaks actually get snow in the winter!
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