Once upon a time, not very long though;P, I've been to Sadah, one of the Omani wilayas in the south of the country. Though it was for 3 days only, I did enjoy my stay that I've been wanting to blog about it ever since:) I didn't know I enjoy geography to that extent until then. A very interesting place Ma Sha'a Allah, where you will find a clean blue sea, large dunes right in front of it, and rocky mountains, all in the same place!Sadah is about 2 hours away from Salalah, the main city in the region. It has 5 "towns": Jofa, Hadbain, Hasik, Fooshi, and Soob (if my memory is accurate enough).
Our first stop was at Hasik, which is again 2 hours from Jofa, where we stayed. One of the locals (I'll refer to him as Mr A) volunteered to take us there and show us the place:) Hasik is called "bilad el somor" to locals, referring to the dark skin color of its occupants, probably because of the sun. There, we got a chance to see Prophet's Saleh tomb for the first time:) That's a picture of the entrance...
From there, we went to see "Jabal Natif", a mountain described by locals as " the mountain that cries" referring to the fact that there are drops of water coming out of it , and has been there for a very long time. The story says that the water comes out from a place very far away in between the mountains that people don't know where exactly, and by the time it reaches the end, it exits as drops. However, the picture shows that it was a big waterfall once upon a time:) And the second picture shows the amount of the water gathered from all those drops!
It was around 6pm and we pretty much seen the place, so we headed back. On the way back, Mr A told us that women in this place extract salt from the sea, and is used in food and therapy. He also stopped on the road to show us the trees that "miswak" is taken out from, and here is a picture:)
Just before darkness shadowed, we stopped by the rocky beach to enjoy a full-moon night while Mr A takes rest from the drive:) It was hard to sit on the amazingly-looking stones, but we surely managed:D
That was it for the first day:)In the second day, we only went out in the evening to the Corniche in Sadah itself:) It was a beautiful night. We got to see fishermen put their nests in the water, fish swimming in the dark water, and some huge crabs Ma Sha'a Allah. Sadly, it was too dark to take clear pictures of them. We ordered some sandwiches from a close-by restaurant, and had it there. This is the view from where we were sitting:)
We spent the third night at the beach in Haat, "the" beach and place for families in Sadah. The sand wasn't as pure as I thought it would be (from what i expected to sea on the way). It was filled with crunchy sea shells that it hurts to walk barefoot. But there were swings for kids also. No lightnings though, but from what i understood, people at Jofa, esp, prefer it that way:) There were many camels left like that, and in the darkness, one of them ran after a group of the girls who were with us:D Well not really "ran after" ;P but the camel "walked" towards them and they ran away :p It was funny to watch lol XD Of course, Mr A and his friends saved the day:) The sky looked very pretty BTW.
It was a different taste of a trip for me..one of the things I really admired is how respectful Jofa "guys" are (not Salalah as those were VERY rude). They are very helpful, never hesitate to offer help! Very sweet when spoken to! They don't pass by us without "salam", not the flirty type of it, but a respectful one, and they don't stare!! Another instance was when we passed by the bank machine and were getting ready to go and use it, Mr B asked us to wait because there was a man inside who was using it! Kinda not something one sees when living in the city:) Didn't know how much I missed that until I experienced it! They might think that we are spoiled city girls making fun of their "old" way of life, but the simplicity of it is really charming, as a matter of fact!One last point to mention, the way to Hasik was part of "Jabal Samhan Natural Reserve". We didn't get to see any animals however, may be because it was day time:-! I was also unlucky because I didn't get to see any foxes though they are very prevalent in Jofa, but my sister did. I saw them in Musandam but I wanted to see them again there :p
