Mr Benn's Blog

21st to 23rd February, 2024.

Wednesday saw us set off on our postponed trip to Nizwa. This is a popular destination roughly south-west of Muscat, which is famous for its souq and fort. It used to be the capital of Oman proper (as distinct from Muscat before they were joined as one, in or around 1970) and was the capital of the Imamate of Oman. It is a very ancient site with close links to very early Islam.

It is about 158 km from Muscat (with 40 speed cameras!!) and we passed some large and rugged mountains.

We arrived and the first stop was the Souq, which is made up of different buildings each catering for different products from vegetables and fish to meat, pots, and halwa (Omani sweets – absolutely delicious) as well as a goat market.

The main souq, selling fruit and veg and halwa.

We then had a traditional Omani meal of lamb and rice, salad and Omani bread. The lamb is cooked by wrapping it in a sort of mat and then lowering it in to a hole with charcoal in it and leaving it for a day. I have to say that it was delicious, though we ordered way too much. Lucky for Ahmed who took the doggy bag home.

Next was the fort, which was much bigger than I thought it would be.

I am not sure you get the real sense of the size of the fort from this, but I hope the other photos help. It is actually 24 metres high and 40 metres in diameter.

The fort was built in 1668, taking 12 years to complete. It is surrounded by a wall that is 1,200 years old. There is also a castle that is part of the overall complex and is even older (late 8th Century AD).

If you look at the bottom of the stairs there is what looks like a glass plate. This is covering a hole so that if you were attacking the fort, you might try and get through the gate at this point, unless you were burned by boiling oil from above. If you did get through the gate, you then fell into the murder hole.

There were various activities going on including this lady making Omani pancakes, something we tried another time – delicious!!

Not sure what the chap in the middle was supposed to be doing…

Val and Ahmed discussing the finer points of forts…

There was a park beside the fort with various animals, such as deer, rabbits, some deer-like animals with nasty straight and long horns as well as the statutory camel.

We had a long drive back, but it had been a fun and interesting day. The ideal is to stay in Nizwa, get up early and visit the Souq, especially on a Friday, when the goats are sold. We did well, though, we felt, but were glad to get to bed that night (after a rather good Indonesian restaurant dinner).

Thursday saw us off on another adventure, this time heading due south to Wadi Shab. A wadi is a river and this is exactly what it is. I should add that Oman has numerous wadis, but most are dry at this time of year, though you do get storms that bring torrents of water down from the mountains.

This a popular tourist destination as you effectively walk up the wadi and then swim in various pools, the final ones leading to a waterfall in a cave. Unfortunately it would have been way too challenging for Val, so she and Ahmed took up residence at a nearby cafe and I set off paying 1 Omani Rial for the boat trip to the other side of the wadi where the path started. It did slightly feel like paying Charon to take me over the River Styx!

There were quite a lot of (slow!) people on the narrow path.

Socks off and then through the first water hazard in my rather nice Skechers.

The wadi ranged from this sort of wide bit …

To some rather dodgy and slippery paths (on the left) along narrow bits … The water was, if anything, a bit greener than in the photo.

This donkey came round a bend at some speed and I think we both got a bit of a surprise,

There were water courses every now and then and you had to walk along them for a while.

Finally I arrived, after about 45 minutes, at pool 1.

So that was fun. I could have happily spent the whole day there, but sadly time was against us. Even so, it was a real highlight of the trip.

Our last stop was at the Bimmah Sinkhole, a rather unusual feature, where the sea appears in, as you might have guessed, a hole. It is a popular spot for swimming.

The steps down to the pool. Val very gamely made it all the way down – and up!

It was then back to Muscat, via the coastal road which was interesting as you could see the numerous caravans, RVs and tents along the coast where Omanis will come and set up camp for a while. They are well equipped, with water and solar panels and separate loos.

We had to say goodbye to Ahmed at the hotel. He has been a really good find and has made Muscat and Oman for us, He will be much missed.

Today has been a quiet day, though we did walk up to the mall. Home tomorrow, which will be fun too, but we have thoroughly enjoyed the trip, which has been a great success.

I hope you have enjoyed these posts. Not sure when or where the next adventure will be, but I am sure we will soon be on our travels again soon.