There is a general belief that the natural beauty of the Al Khoud village is limited only to the water that flows here throughout the year. That's true, but the landscape of Al Khoud attracts a large number of tourists, and it becomes a hub of visitors during the public holidays.
Samayil and Fanja feed Al Khoud with water which travels some 10 km before reaching the village. The high accumulation of water gave reason to the authorities to set up a dam with a capacity of 11 million cubic metres at Wadi al Khoud in 1985.
With its modern design and technical specifications, the dam protects the residential and commercial neighbourhoods surrounding the valley from the damage of floods, especially during the exceptional climatic conditions that the Sultanate witnessed from time to time.
The dam also recharges the village's groundwater. There are many artesian wells and aflaj that get fed on from this dam.
Another project that contributes to conserving the environment is the 'Omani trees and plants garden project'. This project, spread over 425 hectares, takes care of rare native plants.
This garden has all the Omani plants displayed professionally in a natural environment with segregations like an arid, humid, desert, and or autumnal weather plants.
This small village in the Wilayat of Seeb embraces the heights of adjoining mountains and the course of its valleys has several archaeological sites ranging from tower tombs, castles, forts and ancient walls.
These all give the tourists reasons to visit Al Khoud. The Al Khoud Castle, located on the eastern bank of the valley, represents a historical symbol that the people of this village can be proud of.
Not far from this castle is another historical landmark (Bait Al Oud), which is a fortified house built around 200 years. It consists of two floors and contains rooms, halls and stores for dates and honey.
Sources indicate that Omani, French and Dutch researchers have recently found a collection of dinosaur bones in this village, as these bones are the first evidence of the bones of the dinosaur 'Hadrosaurus' in the Arabian Peninsula.
The finding of this type of dinosaur is surprising, as Hadrosaurus dinosaurs, according to scientific studies, were confined to the northern continents (North America, Europe and Asia). Therefore, their presence in the Arabian Peninsula or Africa was not known before.
The bones were found in the vicinity of the village of Al Khoud. It was concluded that the village where dinosaurs lived about 70 million years ago was a natural oasis filled with rivers and trees.
"This village is full of rare antiquities. Today, one can see many archaeological sites that are only metres away from some of the houses built during the last ten years. All geological studies and research confirm its importance as an ancient human settlement. Finding dinosaur bones requires further research to find out the origin of their spread," an Omani geologist told the Observer.
The residents of this village still practise agriculture, sheep herding and camel breeding and the majority of them feel happy and welcome the visitors with open arms. However, they lament about the lack of basic facilities such as toilets and no shelters, cafes, or restaurants for them.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY YAHYA AL SALMANI
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