Experience the Mystery

I booked a Mountain Crossing for the weekend hoping for a time away and refreshment.  I met Rebecca, tour manager and guide supremo, early in the morning for a quick coffee before the adventure began. For more info on Guide Oman http://www.facebook.com/TheGuideOman , great pictures of the trip posted here.   It was another sunny and warm day in Oman, very warm, the temperatures up in the high 40 degrees C this past week.  The mountains offer refreshing cooler temperatures in the summer.  Evenings can be as cool at 17 degrees C. WOW!

Met up with another 43 vehicles and our adventure began.  Up the first mountain, lunch, down the mountain and begin the ascent of the second mountain.  Stopping part way for the night, set up campsights, dinner and of course great conversations, music and a campfire.  And yes, I had to put on a shawl for warmth!

The following day offered “the experience of mystery”.  It began in the morning with some unusual company for breakfast.  We were visited by the beasts of the desert,  camels.   A small family arrived first, Mom, Dad and one child.  The young camel was quite frisky and we couldn’t get too near it.  Mom and Dad however allowed plenty of petting and pictures.

Then over the sand dune arrived a herd of five very people friendly camels.  They marched straight into the campsite!  Lots of petting and pictures again.  One of the camels eve discovered the buffet table and had to be chased away. 

Our visitors

Unfortunately the camels have been people acclimatized and are looking for the food offerings, not always the best food for camels.  The Omani owner of the camels arrived in his truck and monitored the interactions but stayed a fair distance away.   Camels are expensive animals and although they roam the sand dunes freely, the owners feed them ensuring their return each day.

Breakfast done, campsites packed up and camels headed home, we began our ascent down the second mountain.    

First stop,  Malis Al Jinn. 

From Wikidpedia:

Majlis al Jinn also Majlis al-Jinn (meeting/gathering place of the Jinn), local name: Khoshilat Maqandeli is the second largest  cave chamber in the world, as measured by the surface area of the floor. It ranks higher when measured by volume. The cave is located in a remote area of the Selma Plateau at 1,380 metres above sea level in the Sultanate of Oman, 100 km south-east from Muscat.  Majlis al Jinn had grown in popularity as a BASE jumping site.  Access to the cavern is only through a free descent of one of three vertical entrances in the ceiling, formed by water seeping through the weakened marly limestone in the zones of fracturing. The two largest entrances are called Asterisk (Khoshilat Beya Al Hiyool) and First Drop (Khoshilat Maqandeli), the smallest is Cheryl's Drop (Khoshilat Minqod).[4][7] Entrance depths:[3] Cheryl's Drop - 158.2 meters. Asterisk - 139.6 meters. First Drop - 118.0 meters.

Geologists put the age of the cave at 50,000,000 years. 

Majlis al Jinn, is also know as the Meeting Place of the Spirits.  Soon after we arrived, the local young boys arrived with their bags of Za’atar for sale, a local mountain grown herb of the species wild Thyme.  Za’atar is a very popular spice in the region and one of my favorites is Za’atar Croissants!

Next stop, the BeeHive Tombs, fascinating.

Wikipedia:

The earliest stone-built tombs which can be called "beehive" are in Oman, built of stacked flat stones which occur in nearby geological formations. They date to between 3,500 and 2,500 years BCE, to a period when the Arabian peninsula was subject to much more rainfall than now, and supported a flourishing civilisation in what is now desert, to the west of the mountain range along the Gulf of Oman. No burial remains have ever been retrieved from these "tombs", though there seems no other purpose for their building. They have only superficial similarities with the Aegean tombs (circular shape) as they are built entirely above ground level and do not share the same tripartite structure - the entrances are usually an undifferentiated part of the circular walling of the tomb.

A few of us entered one of the restored tombs through a small passageway.  Standing alone in the tomb, looking up at the sky through the opening at the top I felt surrounded with wonder.  Who used these tombs?  BC and before Islam?  Why here?  What was the purpose?  A few of the things we will never know for sure but the sense of wonder I experienced was very real.  It is like a shift in perception to a different reality, timeless and nameless.  Although it seemed like a long time it was only a short time. 

 Back to the present!

Can you see the villas?

We gathered and began our last descent.  Here we were treated to a spectacular view of a tiny villa nestled in the valley with Jebel Aswad (Black Mountain) as the backdrop.  The colors and natural beauty were breathtaking, beautiful and mysterious.  Standing amidst this natural beauty is good medicine for the soul.  For me it puts everything into perspective;  really, how big are my current problems!

Next leg of the journey took us through Wadi Tai’een, breathtaking scenery and flowing water.   A wadi is dry riverbed that only contains water during heavy rains or an intermittent stream.  Here playfulness was on the agenda.  Driving through small pools of water in the wadi and laughing as the 4x4 was covered by the spraying water!  Oh what fun connecting to the playful kid that is in each of us and allowing it to play!  Great fun!

Next a cool swim and lunch further down the wadi.  Everyone departed for their respective homes from here.

I loved this connection with the mystery of life in many ways on this trip. So much more than the original plan of refreshment.  

Life’ s like that!  Experience the mystery!