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Gulf States: Mountain Swimming - Ubar Luxury Travel

Mountain Swimming

I wanted to try out some new hiking routes in the mountains near Muscat and so agreed to go with a guide friend of mine for a day trip. In her last email before the trip, she reminded me not to forget my swimming trunks. Quite an odd reminder for a hiking trip but all the more so bearing in mind Oman is renowned for its deserts.

My friend has been guiding trips in Oman for 8 years now and goes out of her way to find new routes over the mountains and through the wadis. She has covered all of Oman, many times over, which makes it rather surprising that she can find anything new to discover. I should have had more faith.

We departed early from Muscat and headed through the Samail Gap between the Eastern and Western Hajar Mountains before heading south towards the tip of the Wahiba desert. We turned off the road to head up into Wadi Bani Khalid. Wadi Bani Khalid is well known locally as a day trip destination from Muscat. However, my friend promised me that we would not be doing the standard trip into the wadi. Indeed, I am not in a position to disclose the exact route we took for two reasons; firstly I promised I would not so that it can be kept secret for longer and second because I don’t think I could retrace the steps anyway.

The area in and around Wadi Bani Khalid is fantastic. It is a combination of stark, dry cliffs looming above you and cool date palms beckoning you from below. There are villages stepped into the hillsides that look almost biblical and that are silent aside from the occasional bleat of a goat or laugh of a donkey. Even the government’s voracious appetite for road building has not yet reached some of these villages.

In some ways very little has changed in these villages over centuries; the concerns of a date farmer are very much the same now as they were a thousand years ago. Aside from the going rate for dates (which is often subsidised by the government), the concern is for irrigation. For this reason, the side valley down which we started walking is extremely important.

We left the car just before the last village and started walking, remembering to leave important but perishable items such as mobile phones behind. The first half an hour was a gentle amble following the falaj system through the palm groves. The running water was relaxing and the canopy cooling. You could be forgiven for thinking you were in a far greener country.

Omani yodelling

We then struck out across the main wadi which was a mess of boulders, rocks and pebbles apparently dropped there at random. It was actually just the last season’s rains that had created raging torrents of what are, for the other 300 days of the year, barren river beds. The strength of these temporary rivers is great enough to roll boulders (and cars and trucks, should they be carelessly parked). It was for this reason that my friend was doing this hike again; to make sure it was still possible to reach the other end with the boulders in different positions compared to last time.

The weather was fortunately cooler than it has been recently and we benefitted from the steep sides of the canyon which provided occasional shade. We walked for another hour before reaching the first pool. The pool was more like a puddle. My guide was keenly reassuring me that it had been higher last year. I started to have my doubts about needing my swimming trunks. We continued for another half an hour, gingerly jumping from one rock to another with a small stream running between.

Finally we came to a decent sized pool. In swimming kit with our rucksacks stuck to our backs we swam through this and then another two pools. It was most exhilarating to be in hot mountains with bright blue skies but to be swaddled in cool waters, immune from the heat. The canyon narrowed, only accentuating the effect of isolation.

We had a lunch midway and dried off while listening to the calls of goat herding women to one another across the mountains. The Omani equivalent to yodelling, it is a very effective means of both communicating to friends and instructing goats and sounds like a cackle or a scream. The goat herders could just be spotted at the very tops of the surrounding cliffs, sitting beneath a rock for shade.

It dawned on me that there must be a path on the top of the cliffs following the route we just swam. My guide had hiked it once, said it was extremely dangerous and promised that swimming was much more sensible. I readily agreed.

Ubar Luxury Travel

Eric is based in Oman and is currently setting up a luxury travel business. Contact him at eric@ubarluxurytravel.co.uk

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