Oman’s highlands, and the Hajar Mountains specifically, have a grudging-but union of nature and culture which make Oman the ideal destination for adventure and travel. Celebrated internationally for their beauty and richness, the mountains present adventure, discovery, and reflection amidst some of the most stunning scenery of the Arabian Peninsula.
Above 3,000 meters on Hajar mountains are stiff trails and saw-tooth crests even for a seasoned trekker. Geologically varied landscapes have a series of scene-rocky sandstone valleys, canyon gorges and cliff-overhangs—to open country and faraway glades where waterfalls and rock pools create tranquil oases of nature.
The Oman hill trails themselves are an ongoing encyclopaedia of biodiversity. Field after field of shrub-step-cultivation line the hill slopes, yielding dates and pomegranates, and indigenous flora and fauna have perfected the art of circumventing the ridgeway regime to their own benefit. Naturalists roaming around looking for area-specific birds can spot birds along the hills, and efforts are being made to render such birds safe as elusive as the Arabian leopard.
It also has a rich cultural history. One travels on bumpy roads with erstwhile villages on uncouth slopes, stone houses, and along irrigation canals that bear testimony to engineering expertise. The villages are centuries old and an eye to centuries of human habitation on mountains.
Hospitality is also one of the local culture offerings made available to the trekkers. The visitors can be offered Omani cuisine, i.e., where they are served by shuwa, slow-cooked lamb-marinated, or spiced stews with the available vegetables and local beef. Commensal food to locals is one of the determinants of cultural diversity and are used to indoctrinate locals into kin relationship with the trekkers.
Organization is the key to success and safety of Oman highland trekking. Appreciation of weather and landscape mood of the area should be savored. Not so off the beaten path for most visitors to have local guides in attendance at their elbow, invaluable as they are for knowledge of the path as well as for cultural interpreters, and thus prefer to bring up the rear behind off-track trekkers presenting a new face to the scenery.
While ecotourism and green tourism are exerting pressure on its birthplace, its Omani hills are a destination that offers heritage and majesty of nature. To the traveling tourist into this hill country, the experience is one of richness of encounter with yesterday’s lore, with nature, with history refined to its cutting edge by fire of time.
