When I first reached the abandoned village of Al-Shiyah, I wondered what it looked like when it was still bustling with people and its terraces planted with palm, banana, and lime trees. I could picture the beautiful sight of the water flowing through its amazing falaj system that runs over a few kilometres from the two main waterfalls to irrigate the gardens and provide the village with its lifeline.
August 2007 was our first attempt to reach Al-Shiyah village. The temperature was over 40 degrees in the shade and the wadi was totally dry. There were three of us: Marta, my wife, Tufan, my partner, and myself. We suffered from the heat and reached our “Promised Land” after three and a half hours of bouldering, climbing, and hiking...
At this time of the year, hiking in Oman is very difficult; besides the fact that the weather is extremely hot, you are required to carry a lot of water as you cannot be sure to find any during your journey.
In the middle of the dead village, we found a big natural pool, totally dried out, and I thought, “When this big basin was filled with fresh water the place must have looked like a little Eden on Earth”.
Our journey was very tough. So we decided to return to Al Shiyah in wintertime. Our second visit took place on February 12th, 2010, a few days after the place was inundated by heavy rain. I was accompanied by my “adopted son” Mihai Catrinar. What we discovered was totally different from what I saw on my previous trip. The natural pools were filled with crystal clear water, the waterfalls were flowing and the terraces were totally covered with green grass. We could hardly believe that we were in Oman. That day I decided to go further to reach the end of the canyon where I had spotted a high waterfall on Google Earth.
On our way, we passed through lush green terraces and came across some old houses. Our first stop was at a big pool with a diameter of around 30 meters fed by several waterfalls pouring from a height of 40 meters.
After a short break, we moved on and reached the spotted gigantic 150-meter-high waterfall that we abseiled a few months later with my wife Marta and daughter Mona.
After this second visit, I returned several times to Al-Shiyah with my family and friends, each time trying to visit the area after heavy rains. One of our visits was a week after the cyclone “Phet” hit the country in June 2010 and again we found a totally different landscape. A friend of mine, Kester, who accompanied me on that trip, thought that the 150 m waterfall was the most beautiful sight he had seen in his entire life.
My last trip to Al Shiyah was with my Omani partner Ahmed al Jabri, also following 10 days of heavy rains. The outflow of water in the waterfalls was impressive. We spent a great time swimming in “natural private pools and Jacuzzis”.
I wish we could travel back in time to see how these abandoned villages looked when they were still lively.
To reach Al Shiyah you have to take the road to Quriyat and then continue to Sur. Take the exit to Wadi Al Aarbiyeen. When you reach the village of Swayh, you can park your car and start your hike in the wadi behind the village “Wadi Al Naqmah”. It will take around three and a half hours to reach Al Shiyah and another hour to get to the last waterfall.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
