Mick Canning

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These photographs were all taken in the late 1980's - I have not been back there since, apart from a couple of flight transfers at Muscat airport, which were most frustrating, since I could look across at the mountains a short distance away, but had no time to visit. Oh well, one day...

Oasis #4 (Photo O1). Oasis is a word that we use very easily in the west, simply as a metaphor. But an oasis is a life-sustaining area of vegetation and water in the midst of what may be an extremely huge area that is otherwise hostile to life. To come to an oasis after crossing many miles of desert can seem like entering paradise.

 

 

Decorated roof beams, Jabrin Fort. (Photo O2). Jabrin Fort, like many of the bigger Omani forts that had, until fairly recently, been crumbling away, has been carefully renovated. And probably now has a steady stream of tourists passing through.

 

Portuguese fort at the village of Baushar, near Muscat. (Photo O3). This is a much smaller and less important fort, although much closer to Muscat than Jabrin, so I doubt whether this has yet seen the restorer's tools. I am sure that it is just a matter of time, though.

 

Carved wooden door in Baushar Fort (Photo O14)

Wadi (Dry river valley) Sumayl at Fanja, near Nizwa. (Photo O4). Wadis have traditionally been the main, and easiest, routes through the mountains.

 

 

Dates spread out to dry near the town of Quriyat (Photo O10). Dates are an important crop in Oman and were the main export until the discovery of oil there. They are still dried in the traditional way - in the sun.

 

 

Mangroves growing on the coast near Quriyat (Photo O23).

 

Terraced hillside high up in the Jebel Akhdar (Photo O21). In the shadow of Jebel Shams, Oman's tallest mountain at a little over 3000m, date palms and lemon trees flourish on carefully tended terraces.

 

Boy on a donkey with sharks (Photo O11). The sea has also traditionally been a major source of food for Omanis. I passed this boy just outside Quriyat.

 

Traditional fishing boat (Photo O12) off the coast near the village of Tiwi. These huris (not to be confused with houris, which are something completely different!) are frequently made from hollowed out tree trunks.

 

This launch (Omanis never use the word Dhow) was on the shore at Yiti, just east of Muscat (Photo O17). It would most likely have been used for trading and was probably still seaworthy when I took this photo.

 

The Way Through the Mountains (Photo O5). I just love this signpost, in the Jebel Akhdar. It seems to need no further explanation!

 

Falaj (Photo O15). The Falaj system of irrigation originated in Persia and was spread throughout the Arab world. I have even seen examples in Spain. The system consists of a series of underwater channels bringing water from where it arises, usually in the mountains, to where it is needed, where it is distributed by overground channels. These channels, both underground and overground, have been built on a very gentle gradient and show astounding technical skill, being built only with primitive tools, often very deep underground. Many of the Omani Falajes are reckoned to have been built by 500 BC.

 

Artificial lake (Photo O22). As well as falajes, water is occasionally to be found flowing through some wadis. Frequently artificial lakes will be formed to store some of this precious water.

 

Snake Gorge (Photo O6). Snake Gorge is not it's proper name, of course. That's just what we knew it as. It's proper name is Wadi Bani Auf. But this part of it is fearsomely deep, and the hairpin tracks that we drove to get to the bottom were more than a little scary in places!

 

Remains of old Fort in Wadi Bani Auf (Photo O20). In a slightly more accessible part of the valley than the above photograph! Oman has a history full of invasions and tribal warfare and these old forts are to be found scattered throughout the country.

 

Truck destroyed by gunfire (Photo O20), Tanuf village. Tanuf is known throughout Oman from the sale of Tanuf Water, bottled water from the mountains close to this village. Tanuf itself, however, is slightly more infamous as An Example To Others. In 1965 a communist inspired rebellion began in Oman, which was eventually put down with British help. The villagers in Tanuf, which had supposedly harboured rebel troops, were given a few hours warning to evacuate the village, which was then attacked by the RAF. It remains as it was left on that day as a warning.

 

Oasis #1 (Photo O16). Another oasis.

 

Oasis #3 (Photo O8). I like oases.

 

Well, near Bander Jissa (Photo O13). This well shaft may be sunk to a natural water source at depth, or be tapping into the underground course of a falaj.

 

Pottery kiln at Bahla (Photo O18). Bahla has good quality clay and produces large numbers of pots, which are thrown on simple foot-operated slow wheels and fired in large mud-brick kilns, which are fuelled with brushwood.

 

Newly-fired pots (Photo O19).

 

 

Coastal mountains, SE of Muscat. (Photo O9). I think that this shows very well the aridity of the region.