Yesterday was a very eventful day. It began at the Grand Mosque of Muscat, then to Nizwa, before ending our evening at Jebel Shams. After a good night’s sleep, I awoke to a chilly morning.
We checked out of Jebel Shams Resort after a quick breakfastWe were back on the highway, and it gave me an opportunity to take in the sights I missed on the way up (because I was asleep on the ride up yesterday)Dried up river?We reached a security crossing en route to Jebel Al Akhdar. The check was mostly to see if our vehicles were fit enough for the next uphill rideBecause it was one heck of an uphill climb!And then downhill… and up againThis is the view of Jebel al Akdhar we came for
We drove uphill to get to MisfahWe parked and then went by footWe walked through some village homesWe were going to the edge of this hillWe had 30 minutes to explore Misfah village, which is a settlement by the edge of the mountainsMisfah is a centuries old villageI didn’t see many villagers at their homes thoughThey had a neatly done water collection and distribution system throughout the villageThe canals flow through some of the gardens and small farms hereI broke off from Manjulika and Aseem and ventured further down on my ownI walked down the mountain to see where this path would leadIt was a mystery to meI was curious to know what was out there in the distance, but at the same time, I was worried I would wander too far off making it late for me to get backI wondered was what in this cave… but didn’t have the time to exploreAside from me, there was only this family for company. But neither of us dared to venture any further because we really didn’t know just how much farther the path was.I walked back. The 30 minutes allotted to us was nearly up.There were other tourist groups touring the village, but I couldn’t spot Aseem and Manjulika. Pretty certain they had already gone back.
I huffed and puffed as I rushed back to the jeep. As predicted, they were all waiting for me. I apologized for making them wait. Majjid then drove us to a view point from where we could get a full view of where we had just came from.
That’s Al Hamra village. Misfah is high up among those mountains.Here’s a panorama
We set off for our final destination of the day — Jebel Shams. I don’t remember too much about the journey… because I fell asleep. I guess I was really tired by all the climbing up and down back at Misfah.
By the time my eyes were awoken, it was to gasps and “wows” heard from my co-passengers
We were up high. Really high.We had reached Jebel Shams — the highest mountain in OmanI doubt this photo will invoke the sheer scale of what I was looking at — but I triedJebel Shams is part of the Al Hajar mountain rangeMaybe a stream flows through during rainy season?I took this on my phone , the Sony Xperia Z1There seemed to be a town or village far in the distanceWhere I was standing was actually not the highest point of Jebel Shams. We were on the south summit. The highest point is there — the 3000 metre high North summit. It’s a restricted area, only occupied by Oman Army.I asked someone to take a photo of me. Jebel Shams really was the best thing I saw today!Just this fence prevent you from falling down below. So be careful, it’s a looooooooong way down.As you can imagine, not a whole lot of people up hereBut these goats were cuteIt was now time to check in to our resortA short drive from where we took photos is Jebel Shams Resort, one of only two resorts at the top of Jebel Shams (at the moment). The other being Sunrise Resort.We all got individual cabins. This is the ‘Sunset Chalet’ at Jebel Shams Resort.Each cabin leads out to the open area from where you can watch the sun set and sun riseLike soThis was around 6pmThere was a ladder which allowed me to climb atop my villa. Those are the tents, which are the other room options here.Not a huge resort but up here, it’s good enoughI just hoped it wouldn’t rainDarkness was near
We had just one night at the resort, so I used the free time we had before dinner to re-charge all my equipment and freshen up. Although Jebel Shams Resort has wi-fi, the internet signal was virtually non-existent and we all struggled to get connected.
There’s just one restaurant at Jebel Shams Resort, and this is itIt was a buffet dinnerI made sure I was going get my fix of pita bread and Arabian dips before leaving the countryIt was freezing cold, so none of us felt like going in for a dipWhen everybody else had gone to bed, I instead went outside my room and set up my tripod and camera to take some long exposure photosI figured being up here, the skies would be clear enough to catch the starsUnfortunately my shots were ruined by a car that switched on its headlights when I tried to capture star trails and two airplanes in the sky (the lines)
I didn’t stay out for too long as I was feeling really cold. I called it a night because we had to be up early tomorrow. From the mountains, we were going to spend tomorrow night in the desert sands.
We began our tour for today by first visiting the Sultan Qaboos mosque before leaving Muscat.
Now we were cruising along the highway to our next destination: the town of NizwaThis was our driver-slash-guide, Majid, who was pretty laid back and fun 🙂Oman’s mountainous landscape is quite a sightIn fact, by evening we would be even higher up the mountainsAn hour later, we had reached Nizwa souqI believe there is an fee of 500 baisa (₹82/$2.6/€1) to enter Nizwa Fort but Majid took care of that for usThere is the souq part (souq = ‘market’ in Arabic)We headed straight towards the fort
