Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ise a day trip through a tour company (OR30 per person for a 9am to 4pm dhow ride with
a minimum of four people).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Jebel Harim
If you have a 4WD, the mountain scenery around Jebel Harim (Mountain of Women)
makes a rewarding day trip, especially in spring when the mountains are full of delicate
blooms such as wild geraniums and miniature iris.
The graded road switchbacks through limestone formations until it reaches the
Sayh plat-
eau
, a startling patchwork of fields and grazing donkeys surrounded by stone settlements.
The road climbs a further 8km to a pass below the telecommunications tower (off limits to
the public) that marks the top of the mountain. Even if you don't intend to make the des-
cent to Rawdah Bowl, it's well worth unravelling the helter-skelter of road for a few kilo-
metres beyond the pass: the views of improbable homesteads, clinging to the crescent-
shaped canyons, with terraces in various states of livid green or grey abandonment, are
spectacular.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Rawdah Bowl
From Jebel Harim, the descent towards Dibba is via a narrow ridge with remarkable views
of striated sedimentary rock.
At the bottom of the descent, a right turn leads towards Dibba via the Omani check-
point (no access for non-Omanis) while a left turn crosses the wadi bottom and meanders
into the Rawdah Bowl - a beautiful depression of mature acacia and
ghaf
trees. The bowl
has several interesting features including the local stone-built houses known as
bait al qufl
, or the
'house of locks'
. So called on account of the elaborate locking mechanism, the homes
(which are left empty during the summer months) are built low to the ground and the floor
is excavated to about 1m below the door with beds and an eating area raised on platforms.
The furniture and vital earthenware water jars are often placed inside before the house is
roofed, ensuring that no one makes off with the contents during summer migration. Some
of the rocks used in these buildings are 1m thick and take six to eight men to lift. One
good example still exists in the middle of the bowl, near the road and a grave site. Note
the roof made of tree trunks and insulated against the heat and cold by mud.
