Could you bring the Curry?

Last Thursday I was invited to go camping with some colleagues and their families. But on one condition: would I be able to transport a large vat of curry from Muscat to Fasah, a small village 180km away in the middle of the Al-Jabal al Akhdar mountain range? Some of my colleagues were leaving the day before and the curry would probably dissipate after 48 hours in their cars. So, armed with a brand new red Coleman coolbox, I accepted the task.

What made it challenging was my car, a second hand Kia Sorrento which has had one problem after another. Vehicles suffer out here and a combination of high temperatures, dust and Muscats road system ensure good business for carmechanics. Indeed garages and repair shops in Oman are as common as garden centres in Hampshire so if you do break down there is normally somewhere close by you can have it fixed. At least the petrol is only 17p a litre.

I left at midday on the Saturday following the road west out of Muscat, past Barka before turning left at Al-Muladdah and continuing south-west to the town of Rustaq. The car started well but as I passed Barka the road began to feel suspiciously more bumpy and 5km shy of Rustaq my front right tire burst. After changing the tire in the sweltering heat the brakes started to make a racket and, after limping to Rustaq to find all the garages closed until 4pm, I thought my journey was over. Miraculously whilst being taken to an open garage by a friendly local the noise ceased (some dislodged grit perhaps?) and despite an increasingly leaky radiator I took the chance to go on.

The only way through the otherwise impenetrable Al-Jabal al Akhdar mountains is the Wadi Bani Awf. The alternative route to Fasah would be a 200km drive from Rustaq via Ibri in the west, or back east to Muscat where you take the main road via Bidbid and Nizwa. So the narrow pass was busy and chaotic with vast engineering works taking place inbetween the small villages hidden behind date palms.

Wadi Bani Awf

Roads in Oman are regularly washed away by floodwater. For most of the year the wadi is a small trickle but for one or two days it becomes a deadly torrent which destroys everything in its path. The engineering work is an attempt to channel natures power. Whether my Kia made it through was another matter; I saw at least two cars with infant daughters sat steering on fathers lap, negotiating the noisy columns of lorries and trucks.

The wadi opens out on to large plateau surrounded on all sides by the mountains. Immediately to

the west was the small town of Fasah, mostly hidden amongst an oasis of irrigated date palms. The rest of the plateau is barren, littered with a few patches of withered trees and dry vegetation. More sporadic building was taking place as well, mostly new roads but also a few houses and schools were being constructed close to Fasah and Amq. In the distance further to the west is the summit Jebal Shams (literally 'mountain of the sun' in Arabic), a tower of jagged brown rock which soars 5000 feet above the plains and foothills below. It is one of the few places on earth where rock deep within the mantle has been forced through the crust, the enormous pressures giving the mountains their omninous, twisted and beautiful appearance. 

Jebal Shams in the Distance

We found an area to camp in a small valley not far from the village of Madruj, about 3 - 4km south west of the summit. The children were kept busy foraging for firewood in the nearby scrub and as the sun set we settled down for dinner. Upon opening the coolbox the curry was thankfully (and literally) in one piece, frozen inside the container. After a long days drive it was a welcome meal amongst good company. We spent the rest of the evening sat around the warm campfire watching dusk give way to a blanket of stars, Orion emerging briefly to the west above the ridgeline before disappearing. Being closer to the equator the stars move more quickly and I had my first go at filming them. At midnight the moon rose in the east, flooding the valley and mountains above with pale light. At this point I turned my camera off and managed a few hours sleep under canvass.

Is there a pub nearby?

Our Camp

I woke early the next morning. The valley was earily silent, broken only by the occasional call of a bird and loud snoring emanating from a nearby tent. I crept out of the camp and headed for a nearby hillock to catch the sunrise. On the way down I bumped into a friendly goat herder, an elderly gentleman probably in his early 70s wearing a white dishdasha and a pair of worn out reebok trainers. We exchanged greetings and seeing my camera asked if I could take his photo. He was possibly after a bit of money although I could not be sure. I showed him the photo and on he went, his goats slowly following him back down the valley.

The south eastern flank of Jebal Shams

The mountains soon lit up with sunlight and before too long the cool night temperatures gave way to blistering summer heat. After a hearty breakfast of scrambled egg and Arabic bread we packed our tents up and headed back towards Rustaq to visit the Fort. I will write about this at a later date, although I will say the vast battlements make for a good game of hide and seek. From there it was back to Muscat. Until next weekend, inshallah.