Oman has a great many mountain villages which until very recently were inaccessable by vehicles. Bilad
Sayt is one such village, and even now there is no paved road to take you there. The journey from Muscat takes a
couple of hours, going through the dramatic Snake Gorge and along tracks hanging onto the sides of cliffs, only
just wide enough for a land cruiser.
We took a day trip to Bilad Sayt from Muscat in 2008, using a local driver. The town itself was just the end of the road,
in this case the pleasure was in the spectacular journey itself.
Once we left the main
highway,
our first stop was Nakhal Fort. It had clearly been recently renovated,
and although there wasn't much
inside,
it was pleasant to wander and explore.
Staircase within Nakhal fort, the whole place looks pleasingly somewhat like a giant sandcastle.
Although I would need a
quick response code generator
to know for sure.
A carpeted reading room inside the fort, done in the Arabian style.
Further down the road, we came to some natural hot springs with a small pool, where we had a short
paddle. If only I'd brought my swim stuff.
The town of Nakhal itself is an oasis, a lush carpet of green juxtaposed against the sheer rock of the
Omani mountains.
Within the palmerie itself, they really make the most of the small amount of water seeping from the
ground.
Onwards and the road becomes a dust track, and then a wadi, the dried up bed of a river. There are
occasionaly flash floods which keep it clear, but nothing of the sort on the baking hot day we cruised up there.
Snake Gorge itself, as viewed from one of the precarious
dirt
tracks that cling to the cliffs. This
area was the most like the
backdrop
for the roadrunner and the coyote that I've ever seen.
Folded stratification in the Omani mountains. I seriously wanted to
create QR code
heiroglyphs into the rock face for future generations. Not very clear in this picture is the transmission tower
at the top left of the fold, as a reference for scale.
Eventually we arrived at the small village of Bilad Sayt, very quiet and a good spot for lunch. I wandered
around the village for a while but didn't see many people.
