I love exploring new places that I have not seen before; it creates a great sense of adventure and excitement. When I see a graded track off on the horizon I can’t help wondering where it leads and most often I would not think twice about following it. When 50 people in 15 cars are following me, however, the sense of calm curiosity goes out the window and is replaced with the sense of “oh God please let this track lead to somewhere relevant!”
Executing a smooth weekend trip of hitting four different wadis, passing through international border posts, and accommodating everyone in 20 hotel rooms, at two separate hotels, 50kms apart did require a bit of advanced planning and organization. In the end, we pulled it off without a hitch and the weekend excursion was a complete blast and full-on success.
I had not been to this part of Oman in many, many years so it is safe to say that the lay of the land was a distant, blurred memory. I knew it had many beautiful sights, scenery, mountains, and wadis teeming with water all year round. I had several wadis in this area on the planning board for quite a while so as the weather in the UAE deserts was warming up I figured what a great time to go explore them.
The whole group met at 7am on Friday morning and proceeded as one convoy through the Hili border post. The Hili border post is not the biggest that the UAE has to offer so needless to say we created a bit of a backlog for the customs and immigration folks. After an hour or so we had all successfully managed our entry into Oman and were on our way. The first stop was Wadi Madbah. It was a 30-minute drive from the border to the entry of the graded track that leads up towards the wadi. We chose not to follow the typical route through the town of Madbah as we wanted to be able to access the top waterfalls. The drive up to the wadi does get a bit dicey at times so having an adequate 4×4 with solid offroad tires is absolutely necessary. It is a great track winding up the mountain and cutting through the wadi with challenging rock crossings from time to time. There are many wonderful camping spots all along the way but I would only recommend camping during the cooler months. Once at the end of the track, we parked our cars and walked down the hill to the wadi, which was flowing with water. We had to cross deep pools, sometimes just by walking while other times while swimming. We found gorges with flowing waterfalls into deep, crystal clear water pools. It made for a great area to jump, swim, and explore. Wadi Madbah was a great first stop of our tour and we could have easily spent the whole day there.
Here are a few more photos of the fun. The kids were great, they were able to play so many interesting games with the various bottles, sticks, rocks, and pieces of rope they found scattered about.
Moving on from Madbah we headed up at Wadi Kitnah after passing through the Wadi Jizzi border post. This was the one Wadi that was not so exciting on this particular day. It did have small pools and flowing water but only enough for a few people to swim at a time. We made the decision to not spend too much time there rather head back towards the hotels for the evening to enjoy the hotel swimming pools as well.
After spending a great evening in the hotel, we headed off early to hit our last two wadis for the weekend. The first stop was Wadi Shuwayhan. After a scenic drive of rolling hills and flowing curves through the mountains, we left the tarmac and descended into the wadi via a rugged graded track. We continued on into the wadi, which opened up into an oasis. There were palm trees, greenery, and water flowing briskly over the pebbly wadi floor. We dropped the gears into 4×4 low and began our drive in with water splashing all around our cars and the ubiquitous sound of the pebbles sloshing around under our tires. When we reached as far as we could drive we came upon a large, flowing pool with rocks for jumping off all around us. At the back of the pool was a small passage way that led to a narrow gorge with water flowing all through it. It was a fantastic spot as everyone was able to swim, explore, and relax in the shaded pools. This wadi had it all and then some!
Back to the tarmac from Wadi Shuwayhan we made our way up towards Wadi Khamis, which would be our last stop. Along the way, we passed small hamlets with beautiful watery detours. We were able to take routes that led us up and around the wadis and river beds. We traversed deep pools and drove through rutted tracks of pebbles and flowing streams. It was a treat and delight to drive through the desert mountain oasis. Reaching Wadi Khamis was the pinnacle of the trip. We were welcomed with a large, wide-open beach where pools of emerald green water flowed through deep canyon walls for a far as the eyes could see. Everyone was able to swim, jump, and enjoy nature’s beautiful gem. As the sun grew strong high above, everyone cooled down in comfort and relaxation. It was the perfect ending to a great weekend in some of Oman’s beautiful wadis. Looking forward to going back and exploring more of nature’s less-traveled Omani gems. ■
Words + Photos by: Matt Ficco
