Although today was mainly a day of travel, it did include some really interesting highlights.
The first leg of my travel was flying from Salalah to Muscat. Everything went to plan – breakfast, checking out from the hotel, driving to the airport – until it was time to return the rental car. Just as the office had been unattended when I arrived to collect the car, it was unattended again this morning. Following the same routine as four days ago, the attendant in a competing office across the hall tried to phone the Avis representative, but when he did, the phone started ringing on top of the unattended desk. He phoned another office which said they would send someone, but when no-one arrived after waiting half an hour, I left the key on his desk and went into the airport to make sure I didn’t miss my flight.
As it turned out, my flight was about half an hour late. In every other way, it was a really good flight with superb views of the changing arid landscape beneath. This flight was on an Oman Air Boeing 737-900, flight WY904, registration A4O-BK.
To my astonishment, the rental desk in Muscat was attended when I arrived – this was Dollar Car Rentals, the same company that had helpfully tried to phone the Avis representative in Salalah for me. For the first time ever, I had a car rental company think I was an unlicensed drive because my license is a “Heavy Vehicle Driver’s License”, which he refused to accept was valid driving ordinary cars. Fortunately, I had my International Drivers License on hand, and he proceeded with the rental on the basis of that document – a Toyota 4-wheel drive to handle the treacherous mountain pass tomorrow.
Having collected the vehicle, I drove northwards on the road towards Nizwa that I had previously covered last year (Day 7, 31st October 2022). It was far less pleasant driving this afternoon than it had been on the morning drive last year; the different angle of the sun and lots of dust in the air made all the difference.
I made two stops on my way this afternoon. The first was in the small town of Birkat Al Mouz, several kilometres east of Nizwa. If I had not been running an hour later than I had expected I would have spent more time there as there are some interesting ruins from tribal groups as well as some beautiful banana and date plantations there. My stop was in the centre of the town and focussed on the UNESCO World Heritage “falaj”, or traditional irrigation system. It was definitely worth seeing, but the pressure of time on these short winter days was an unwelcome stress.
By-passing Nizwa, I continued driving towards the westward to the town of Bahla, which I had also visited on Day 7 last year. My intention this time was not to re-visit the castle that dominates the town, but to visit an elevated viewpoint that I only found out about after my previous visit. Situated near a communications tower to the south-west of the town, the views were sensational, perfectly lit by the late afternoon sunshine.
I continued driving northwards through the town of Al Hamra to my destination, the mountain village of Misfah al Abriyyin (also known as Misfat al Abriyyin). This had been my end point on last year’s drive through the Al-Dakhiliyah region before I had to turn around and drive back to Muscat. I felt I only scratched the surface of Misfah al Abriyyin on that day, but I made a mental note to return if ever I had the chance. Today was that day – and also night as I am staying in a guesthouse, the Al Misfah Hospitality Inn.
I arrived at 5:30pm, shortly before sunset, so after checking into the guesthouse, I quickly did some exploring in the rapidly fading light. To say Misfah al Abriyyin is another world would be an understatement. Centred on a small rock outcrop on the side of a steep gorge, Misfah al Abriyyin is a labyrinth of narrow twisting laneways, none of which could accommodate a motor vehicle and many of which suddenly become steep flights of steps.
My guesthouse is built on the rock outcrop, which means it offers great views along the gorge and over the lower part of the village below, a fair proportion of which is in ruins. My accommodation included dinner as well as breakfast, and the owner, Abdullah, invited me to join him at his table with two of his small children. Over dinner, he gave the extraordinary history of the village – the watchtower that was built by the Persians in pre-Islamic days, its now abandoned old site, the renovations that have been done to preserve Omani culture, and so on. It was really engaging – and the food was also excellent, much of it coming from the village’s own irrigated terraced gardens.
I could not imaging a better place to spend my final evening in Oman before tomorrow’s departure.
