Oman's Wadis: Hiking Through Arabia's Hidden Canyons

Oman is the Arabian Peninsula's best-kept secret — a country of extraordinary geographical variety, from the fjords of the Musandam Peninsula in the north to the Empty Quarter desert in the south, with the Hajar Mountains, the Wahiba Sands, and the Dhofar monsoon region in between. It is also the safest and most welcoming country in the Middle East, and the hospitality of the Omani people — the coffee and dates offered at every threshold, the genuine interest in visitors — is one of the finest aspects of travel in the region.

The wadis of Oman — seasonal riverbeds that fill with water after rain and retain pools year-round in their deeper sections — are the finest natural feature of the country. Wadi Shab, south of Muscat, is the most beautiful — a two-hour walk through a canyon of turquoise pools, date palms, and limestone cliffs that ends at a cave waterfall accessible only by swimming through a narrow passage. Wadi Bani Khalid, further south, is more accessible and equally beautiful.

The Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountain), in the Hajar range, is a high plateau at 2,000 metres where the climate is cool enough to grow roses, pomegranates, and apricots — crops that are impossible in the heat of the coast. The rose water distilled from the Damask roses of Jebel Akhdar is one of Oman's finest products, and the terraced gardens of the plateau villages, maintained by an ancient falaj irrigation system, are among the most beautiful in Arabia.

Nizwa, the former capital of Oman, is the finest historic city in the country — a place of a great round fort, a souk famous for its silver jewellery and its Friday goat market, and the Jebel Akhdar rising behind it. The Nizwa Fort, built in the 17th century, is the most visited historic site in Oman, and the view from its tower — over the date palm oasis and the mountains — is one of the finest in the country.

The Wahiba Sands, a sea of orange dunes that covers 12,500 square kilometres of eastern Oman, is the finest desert experience in the country — more intimate than the Empty Quarter and more accessible than the Rub' al Khali. The Bedouin camps that operate in the sands offer overnight stays in traditional tents, camel rides at sunset, and the extraordinary silence of the desert at night.

Muscat, the capital, is the most pleasant capital city in the Middle East — a clean, well-ordered city of white buildings, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (one of the finest in the Islamic world), and the Mutrah Souk, where the frankincense, silver, and spices of the Arabian trade routes are still sold in the same covered market that has operated for centuries.

The best time to visit Oman is from October to April, when the temperatures are comfortable. The summer months (June to September) are extremely hot on the coast — temperatures regularly exceed 45°C — though the Dhofar region in the south experiences the khareef (monsoon) from June to September, which transforms the normally arid landscape into a green, mist-covered plateau that is one of the most extraordinary seasonal transformations in the Middle East.