Nizwa, Ibri and Oman's desert interior

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Unfortunately the photos for this entry have been lost due to a technical glitch at Travelblog. I will get around to reloading them soon!

We left Muscat behind and battled the traffic until we got past Seeb International Airport. Then it was plain sailing and we continued on towards Nizwa with very few other cars on the road. There wasn't much to see on the way and the one thing we tried to, we couldn't find! Therefore we found ourselves in a seemingly deserted Nizwa in time for lunch. We ate in a cheap biriyani restaurant where the food was good, but we had to sit in a side room. Such is life in some Omani restaurants when there are women in your group! Strangely though, there was only one toilet which it was fine to use, it's just eating facilities which can't be shared!

After lunch we visited Nizwa's impressive fort, as seen in the panoramic picture above. The restorations in Oman have made these places look brand new, but it saves on the imagination I suppose. With few exceptions, the English language information boards were very good. There's a picture here of one that wasn't. Can you guess what it should have said?!! The displays inside are well worth dwelling over.

From there we went off to find a hotel. There are none near the centre of Nizwa and we stayed about 5km out at the Tanuf Residency. It cost about US$50 but was the cheapest place we found. After a siesta we headed back to the town hoping to wander around the souk area. It was much smaller and modern than expected and really only took a few minutes of our time. Maybe we missed something! Nearby we sat outside a cheap restaurant where every English speaker in town seemed to pass through during the evening. We had a curious experience sat out by the road too, something fluttered past us and it turned out to be money, lots of it. The waiter gathered it all up but no owner could be found. There must have been a good couple of hundred pounds there!!!

The next day we set out to find some caves which have been developed as a tourist attraction. An hour out of Nizwa and we gave up, opting instead to find the working falaj (water irrigation system) at the ruined town of Tanuf. The British RAF actually bombed the place during the Jabal War of 1954 and 55. It was interesting to wander around and to see the water flowing through the channels, although we never managed to find its source. There was a reservoir not too far away but the water levels looked seriously low. We stopped instead to admire the scenery.

Next up was a drive up into the mountains. We passed the sign for the elusive caves then drove down into a wadi to get a closer look at Wadi Ghul, an abandoned village above a date palm plantation. At the far side of the wadi we drove up a steep slope, more suitable for a 4x4 (!) and were immediately pounced upon by little girls selling tiny gifts and their mothers selling carpets. We decided not to continue any further and headed back to the tarmac road. This continued up through the mountains for another 25 or 30 kilometres. It was deserted, we hardly saw another soul. We had taken a picnic lunch with us which was nice, especially as we managed to find a shaded spot. The only company we had was a few goats who were very interested in our vegetable peelings!

Back on the main road we passed through Bala where the fort is currently being restored. It will dominate the landscape when they have finished. The old souk is supposed to be worth a visit but it was closed that afternoon. Instead we drove through the narrow streets around the plantation which was nice. Then we continued on to the small town of Ibri where we were staying the night.

Thanks to Couch Surfing we were meeting up with Antonio, an American guy currently teaching English in Ibri. He gave us directions to find his place in Al Araqi (we missed the photo opportunity at the mis-spelled sign of Al Iraqi!) and soon we were exchanging tales and making plans for the evening. Later on we went to the Ibri Oasis Hotel for a meal and a couple of drinks. It's the only "watering hole" in town and is about 25km from Al Araqi! There we met some of Antonio's colleagues and we had a very enjoyable evening.

Sadly we could only stay for one night as our flights from Muscat to Sharjah were too early to drive all that way in the morning. We set off towards Muscat but first of all tried to find the beehive tombs in a small village called Bat. Despite the best efforts of some villagers we were unable to find the tombs we had seen pictured in both Salalah and Nizwa. We were surprised as they are supposed to be a UNESCO site, so we had expected signposts!

The road to Muscat goes straight over the mountains where the scenery was wonderful and the roads almost deserted. We passed through the town of Rustaq with, you've guesses, a fort being wonderfully restored! A little further on we stopped for lunch in Al Awabi where we were able to visit the fort. It was much the same as the others but, as most seem to be closed to the public, we took the opportunity to have a look around. Then we parked the car under a tree which provided welcome relief from the sun whilst we had our picnic.

On the outskirts of Muscat we stopped at a shopping centre, but only really to visit the giant Carrefour supermarket! Then we tried to find our hotel. It wasn't easy but with some Omani help we were checking in soon enough. The Aston Suites Hotel is nice enough and pretty much the cheapest thing we could find close to the airport at US$70. Thanks for the tip Antonio.

Unfortunately it was raining all evening so we didn't really explore the area. We did find a good Indian restaurant though!! Our sleep was disturbed by rainwater dripping onto the outer casing of our air conditioner. The staff at the Aston sorted it out though, which we didn't really expect them to do late at night!

The next morning we checked out, drove through the flooded back streets to the motorway, and made our way to the airport where Hertz reclaimed their car. Then we went to check in for our Air Arabia flight to Salalah. That's when.......

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nightmare!

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Russ realised he hadn't been given his passport by the hotel staff at check out!!!!!

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Photos

Spelling Errors
Shame as everything else was really good!

Goats Reunited
Bit on the dry side though!

Tanuf's Falaj
An old system of irrigation stil in use here