Places to give your camera a workout #2: The road to Jebel Shams
Continuing on Day 10 of Omanovember, we head for Jebel Shams. At over 3000m above sea level, it's the highest point in Oman. As one would expect, the scenery along the way is spectacular.
Here, we come across yet another town with its date palm plantations and stunning mountain backdrop:
There's fewer places more spectacular to watch a sunset than over the barren peaks of Oman's Hajjr Mountains. I can't reel off the shots quickly enough, although once again I'm impressed with my new camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ11 that I bought on sale at Harvey Norman for $300).
Looking east, the sun bathes some ancient village ruins in a pink light. Meanwhile, a farmer tends to his crops in the same fields that have fed the townsfolk for over a thousand years.
This, my friends, is contentment. In Oman, isolated farmers such as this man are neither poor nor ignorant – they simply choose to live a humble, quiet life in a traditional way. In the West, where we're all about 'progress', we struggle with this idea. To me, however, it is part of the magic of this country. They lack what C.S. Lewis once described as 'chronological snobbery': the idea that newer is better simply because it is newer. On the contrary, they seem proud to be keeping their history alive. Perhaps this is one reason why they lack the sense of hurriedness that plagues our own culture - they're not looking for contentment over the next elusive horizon.
Continuing on our way, it's almost dark when we reach Jebel Shams. The sun has set, but I manage to grab a couple of grainy shots of the sun's last rays peeking over the horizon:
I watch as the last of the light recedes behind the jagged spurs of the Hajjrs, and realise that for the first time since I left home, I'm actually cold. The altitude means the air is not only thin, but significantly cooler – it's probably around 20 degrees lower than it was in Muscat at around 15 degrees Celsius.
Hot showers follow a long and spectacular day on the road, before a buffet dinner fills our stomachs and leaves us ready for bed. Our guide informs us that sunrise will be at 5:30 if we want to rise to witness the light show from our clear vantage point. --------- A restless night's sleep means I'm already awake before 5am, so I don a jacket and head outside into the chilled mountain air. Watching the sun rise, I believe, has a certain magical quality about it that awakens one's primal instincts – even more so in a wild location such as Jebel Shams. Again, the pictures will struggle to do it justice... but here they are anyway:
I take off on a run up the hill from camp and, momentarily forgetting about the altitude, I'm surprised at how quickly I run out of breath. I realise that at over 3000m, it's probably the highest I've ever been this side of an aircraft. A few more shots with my camera, then I make my way back to camp for a hearty buffet breakfast with the rest of the team. Below is the view from our table (note the ubiquitous mountain goat):
Walking back from the restaurant, daylight provides me with the opportunity for a few photos of our accommodation:
We jump in the Landcruisers and roll out of camp. It's a brief 5 minute journey before we arrive at the beginning of the Balcony Walk, a track which follows the rim of Jebel Shams. The car park for the walk sits adjacent to the home of a local bedouin family, and they come out to make us welcome in customary fashion. The occasion is worthy of a blog in itself (stay tuned for next post).
As we make our way along the narrow path, it's obvious why this place is known as The Grand Canyon of Arabia: sheer cliffs drop into valleys over 500m deep, and the various gorges continue as far as the eye can see. It's rugged and barren, yet undeniably beautiful.Looking back up the track towards the car park:
'Back a little more...':
You'll notice the different attire of the group in the following photo – despite the sunshine, it's still quite cold up here. Incidentally, this is the closest thing to a group photo I've managed all trip... Mona is out of shot, behind the camera.
From left: Megan, Louise, me, Salim, Rob, and Ahmed.
While the Balcony Walk itself continues for another couple of kilometres, time is of the essence so we make our way back up the track to the cars and continue our journey towards Jebel Shams. However, we make one more stop for a couple of incredible photos. Here, you can see evidence of an ancient terraced village perched on the side of a cliff. The village was fed by a spring which is located in the crevice between the rocks on the left of shot (evidenced by the trees around it).
To give you a sense of scale, the first two cliff faces (ie from the plateu down to the village) represent a drop of almost 180m. The obvious question is: why on earth would anyone want to live there? The answer is a little complicated, but relates to warring between tribes during ancient times. Taking refuge on the cliff edge meant that this particular tribe was out of the way of any immediate threat... with the exception of gravity, of course.
One last photo in my attempt to do the breathtaking scenery of this place justice:
If you're planning a visit to Oman, ensure you have an expedition to majestic Jebel Shams on your itinerary – it will definitely rank as one of your trip highlights.
Next post, coming face to face with antiquity in a Bedouin encounter. Then, I'll take you with me to another two of Oman's most treasured locations: Nizwa Fort and Wahiba Sands.
