Hawiyat Najm Park (Bimmah Sinkhole)

29 January 2010

 

Not far from Quriyat, we headed towards Hawiyat Nyam Park and found this amazing sinkhole! It i is actually a massive sinkhole between the beach and the mountains. This is a unique limestone crater which is a geological formation believed to have been a cavern before the roof collapsed many years ago. I cannot imagine how it would look like before we found it as we had such difficulty locating it. As we we were walking into the park, I was still wondering if it was worth going there. To my amazement, we saw a large hole filled with clear, blue- green sea water.

  

 Stairs had been made to make it easier for people to go down to enjoy the fantastic sinkhole.

  

  

  

 Esheng could not wait to change and jump into the water.

  

One of the kids playing on the other end of the sinkhole told us that water at the deep end where they were, is about 100 feet deep. 

  

 Esheng found little fishes and they were nibbling at his feet.

  

  

  

 Looking at the fishes!!!

  

 Trying to catch them...

  

 I guess no success!

  

  

 We all got down to the water to enjoy the nibbling of the little fishes too!!!!

  

 Pretty toes!!!

  

  

 See the little fishes on my... not so pretty feet....

  

  

 Esheng was able to enjoy some swimming too.

  

 I was glad to see that he is able to swim better now.

  

 Enjoying backstrokes!!

 

  

 He had great fun and his boredom of waiting in search of the sinkhole disappeared almost immediately.

Quriyat & Daghmar

28 January 2010

Quriyat is a fishing village, rather quiet and tranquil.  As we drove to the seaside, we passed narrow and winding roads with houses on both sides.  The view of the harbour was nice where the fishing boats are parked there.  Quriyat was a significant trading port in ancient times.

 Quriyat port

 

 

 

 

 

View of the mountains from Quriyat.

 

 Quriyat Fort, 400 years old protects the town center and surrounding palm plantations.

http://andyinoman.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/quriyat-fort/#comment-425

 

 

Master Bedroom

 

Ladies Room

 

Childrens' room

Kitchen

 

Coffee pots

 

Water container

 

Huge cooking pot

 

On the roof top of the fort, good view of the date plantation.

 

 

Entrance of the fort

 

Daghmar.  We drove in to Daghmar by chance whilst trying to find Bimmah Sinkhole.  Its is a peaceful fishing viilage and the view of the sea gives me the sense of peace and tranquil.

 

Ibra & Wahiba Sands

Ibra & Wahiba Sands

22 January 2010

Esheng took us on the same route to Ibra and Wahiba Sands where he has just returned from his school trip.  Lucky children, both can enjoy watching movies at the back of the car for the trip.

This is the hotel camp site where they had stayed for three days.

Typical Omani lounge

The restaurant where they had their dinners.

 

His room, No 4 shared with 8 other boys.

 

The meditation mountain where they had spent a lot time playing with their friends.

Al Mintarib Castle stands guard over a fertile date palm oasis on the fringes of the Sharqiyah Sands.  The Sands are home to a large populations of migratory bedouin who would gather here in Al Mintarib and other oasis towns from June to September each year during the annual date harvest.

Finally not far from the al Mintarib Castle, we arrived at the delightful Wahiba Sands.

 

Amazing views of the houses in the desert!!!

 

Then, we came to the end of the road.  The desert was just right in front of us, and the decision was to go or not to go as we did not have any experience driving in the desert.  We decided to try it out just for a short distance but somehow we went further and further into the desert as we were prompted by a local omani tour operator to go faster with our vehicle.  He gave up persuading us to go on his 4WD but somehow he followed us for a short distance.  It was a piece of good advice and we got better at it and me......of course could not resist the experience to drive too.  To my great discovery, it was really fun and I just wanted to go faster and faster.  I like the feeling of the car sliding, it is just awesome!!!

 

I really enjoyed the drive............ and the kids kept asking me to step on...

 

I love the vast sand dunes!!!

 

 

 

Camel resting.

 

A typical middle eastern scene of a man and his camel!!

 

More waverly sand dunes....

 

Not very steep, Esheng making his way up the little slope and leaving behind footprints

There he was...!!!

 

 

 

Oh... this little boy was like a little monkey let out from the cage.  We allowed them to sit on the window to enjoy the rides in the sand dunes and before we knew it, he was climbing all over the car.  As we were driving out from the sand dunes, we saw a herd of the camel. It was so nice to be able to drive along side the camels.

 

http://www.holiday-in-oman.com/html/land/camelsafaris.htm

Hi there...........!!!

 

Nature's beauty..............