Most of our laundry was dry so we hid what was still damp and then took off up to Jebal Samhan. We had to ask directions because the road we thought we should go on did not have a sign, and the hotel told us it could not be used. The road is under reconstruction in a major way such that more of the mountain has been removed. However, a local guy told David that our Pajero could easily make it through, and we did, climbing about 2,000 feet in the initial ascent. We easily found our way to the 211 meter deep sink hole called Tawi Attair (Well of the birds). The sink hole is about 150 meters in diameter. The guide book mentioned climbing down into it to hear the "bird song" from which the place gets its name. We did not see a clear path to do that safely so decided to continue on to Jebal Samhan. We saw it signposted so kept going straight on a paved road that became a well-graded road. There we're some lovely vantage points off the mountains into the valley and out to the sea. Our end point of the gravel road was a minute military camp base.
The Jebal was made a nature reserve in 1997. There are, nevertheless, herds of camels and cows wandering everywhere including the road just like we had yesterday. We passed four jebali villages with their stone circular enclosures for keeping the herd at night and their basic dwellings some of which have been upgraded to concrete block single story homes. The traditional stone circular houses (stones as the base up till about 1 meter high with bent wooden branches forming a dome above. Last time we were here the roofs were thatched but now this thatch seems to replaced by plastic sheeting weighed down by old tires.
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| Jebali herdsmen - notice long hair and gun |
We had thought we would reach the Baobab forest at the 1,450 meters elevation on the jebal but all we reached was a dead end at the military camp, so we back tracked to the main road and started to ask directions in Arabic. A little difficult when you don't know the Arabic word for the tree species nor can describe it other than they are very tall with very fat trunks. We wandered up anothe road under construction again looking for these trees in the higher elevation. This road dead-ended right in front of a beautiful new 3 story home of an Omani who not only knew of the trees which we were looking for but had some small ones he had planted near his home so he could show them to David. True to traditional hospitality he invited us for lunch or tea letting David know "hareem hina" (ladies are here) so it would be acceptable for me to join. We politely declined as we had to travel. We did manage to find the small group of trees just on the side of the road under heavy reconstruction. Once that road is complete you will not be able to get to those trees without a long difficult hike.
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| Baobab Trees |
We picked up a chicken for lunch in Mirbat and ate it at our hotel room. We sat out by the pool reading and typing the blog on the blackberry. Around 4pm when it was low tide we walked out on the Marriott beach to see what there was. Between the islands is not a very healthy area and there is a considerable amount of green sludge. If you keep walking to the left of these islands the sea life is healthier but nothing like just around the corner on the othe side. We did pick up one crabbed Turbo Jonathani which was of interest. We had dinner at the hotel and did another small laundry as we expect we will be camping tomorrow night.
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