Early morning for me to get caught up on the blog posts. It’s been hard to keep up with the photo editing and writing when I’m on the move.
Today we leave Al Abriyyin and make our way up into the mountains, Jebel Shams. I’m slightly apprehensive as when I’ve mentioned that I’m driving myself, the locals are surprised. Is it because I’m female and they think I’m not a good driver? How difficult is this road to conquer really?
We descend from Al Abriyyin back into Al Hamra and after a few false starts thanks to Google being confused, we start heading West through a deep gorge. We’ll be climbing up to 3000 metres today. Jagged mountains rise high above us and a dry riverbed cuts its way through the valley. I imagine how different it must look when there’s a river running. There are small villages here and there, with terraced crops of grass used for animal feed and what appears to be corn, but hard to tell.
The road starts to steeply incline and I gear down to second to slowly creep up the mountain, carefully maneuvering through the numerous switchbacks . A big tanker is ahead of me up in the distance (how is he going to make it up to the top??) and I stop at a level spot to give some space as I don’t want to get stuck behind him.
I hike up a dirt track and the views of the valley below and the road is stunning. The rock formations range from a deep yellow to a grayish-blue colour. Stunted, bushy trees and shrubs dot the landscape. Herds of goats pick their way across the terrain, eating as they go. The temperature has decreased significantly and it’s a balmy 28 degrees with a gusty wind.
The paved road continues to climb steeply and our little car is crawling along despite having the gas pedal pressed to the floor. We come to a graded, dirt road and continue to climb. Coming around an ess turn I see a mosque at the base of a soaring mountain and no other buildings in sight. A couple of vehicles have passed us going the opposite way and the road is quiet.
The dirt road ends and we’re back on pavement for a short distance before reaching our accommodation for the night, Sama Heights Resort. We’ve conquered the road! The lodge is nestled in a little valley with a gorgeous stone reception building, rock gardens and plenty of seating areas throughout the property with brightly coloured cushions and arbours. Patterned clay pots with lightbulbs inside line the stone pathways for evening lighting. There are several options for room styles; sultan tents, stone cabins with patios facing the mountains and smaller stone cabins set in a circular pattern. I had booked the sultan tent, but we’ve been upgraded to a cabin with a view of the mountains.
We settle in before heading to the Canyon Rim Walk which is located near the highest point of Jebel Shams. It’s known as Oman’s Grand Canyon and follows the An Nakhur Gorge. There are numerous treks in the area and I wish I had more time to explore here. The walk along the canyon drops steeply for hundreds of feet on one side and the mountain rising high above us on the other. We don’t have proper footwear for a trek but this portion of the walk is fairly level and we pick our way carefully through the rocks, following the trail. A bench with a palm leaf roof is set into the side of the mountain and we sit to take in the stellar views and quiet. Once again, we’re the only visitors here and count ourselves lucky.
As it’s still early for sunset, I drive back to a coffee shop that we noticed on the side of the road to see if it’s open. It’s in the middle of nowhere and I can’t imagine business is booming but it’s open, with just one other customer and the barrista. He makes me a refreshing lemon iced tea that’s heavenly and I take advantage of the free wifi to post a blog entry and photos.
Before we know it, the sun is descending in a stunning array of colour and I run past Becca towards a viewpoint, yelling “Hurry, or we’ll miss it! The colour changes so quickly and then the sun disappears behind the mountains. Another perfect day.
