Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
Wadi Bani Khaled
“Wadi” means “Valley”, and there are dozens of those valleys carved into the mountains, some offering emerald water pools that invite for a quick refreshing dip into the water, some filled with Falaj and date plantations. You surely can spend weeks visiting the numerous Wadis throughout Oman.
Wadi As Shab, Sultanat of Oman, Arabic Peninsula
Very long stilts – like the legs of giant spiders – support the six-lane highway spanning the mouth of Wadi Shab, right where it empties into the ocean. A surrealistic view! Deep down in the valley, shaded by the wide concrete band of the highway starts Wadi Shab, a canyon guiding a small river lined with the palm trees. After exiting the highway, a small road winds its ways down to the valley floor. To start the hike into the 14 kilometer long Wadi, we had to take a small boat across. Immediately we noticed the damaged palm trees caused by a hurricane back in 2007. The path is easy in the beginning, but gets more and more difficult and is obviously neglected. Probably another result of the storm… Eventually the walk turned into a climb, since the valley is filled with huge rocks that seem to have been thrown around by a giant’s hand. Continue Reading →