Wadi Damm

Damn!

This past weekend the same companions for my first Oman trip and I decided to cross the border for a second time. For this outing we had a specific purpose in mind: swimming!

Amazingly, we drove right to the trailhead for our destination, Wadi Damm. “Damm” translates to “hidden” in English and hidden is the perfect descriptor. Looking down into the wadi you have no idea what you’ll find after scrambling over boulders and hopping over cracks in the rock.

At one point in our hike it appears as if you can go no further. Which… you can’t… unless you use the dangling rope to hoist yourself up into a cave and out the other side. Epic!

After approximately an hour of trekking and searching for viable paths, we came to what our guide book described as “a little slice of heaven.” Cool water flows out of a wall of rock and down into a pool perfect for swimming.

We enjoyed the water, our lunch, and some napping on the rocks all to ourselves until a few young Omani men joined us. They impressed us with their jumping skills as they splashed and played in the water before literally scampering back out of the wadi. These boys did in minutes in bare feet and sandals what it took us an hour with proper foot gear!

That night we camped in an oasis under palm trees. We were having a relaxing chat under the stars until we heard some rustling in the palms above us. It’s just a little unsettling to watch rats running around directly above your head! The bats and the frogs I didn’t mind at all… but those skinny little tails dangling in the air… ugh.

The next morning we stopped at the beehive tombs in Al Ayn. These tombs, along with others in the area, were declared by UNESCO as “the most complete collection of settlements and necropolises of the 3rd millennium BC.” Impressive. Oh and have I mentioned they sit on a ridge pretty much in someone’s back yard? No big deal.

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by what the little country of Oman has to offer. You have to look a bit harder to find it… but there’s a lot there.

xo, jill