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.
The narrow canyon with its pools and palm trees is truly impressive, but we were so busy with climbing and meandering our way through the huge boulders that we hardly had time to look around. Tired and frustrated, we turned around after 1½ hour. Besides, we didn’t really know what to expect if we continued. Maybe the most magic place was just around the corner and we never saw it…
The big bonus of Wadi Shab: none of annoying plastic litter like at the otherwise most picturesque Wadi Bani Khaled!
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