Canyon Crawling

After all that cornbread, our bodies gave thanks when we headed off mid-week with Brian and Bree to explore yet another one of the beautiful spots Oman has to offer. If you headed out every weekend for a year you might still struggle to conquer all the wadis, mountains and dunes that are out here, and if you think that if you're seen one desolate rock face you've seen them all, you'd be wrong.

This time, we had Wadi Bani Awf in our sights, with our first pit stop being Little Snake Canyon. This relatively easy hike takes you through a few ankle-deep pools and, unless you have some serious waterproof gear, the end of your walk will be at the icy cold main pool that snakes its way between the cliffs. Who said the desert was dry?!

We had planned that this would be the end of the road for one day, but curiosity got the better of us, and we drove on to the end of the main Snake Canyon and soon found ourselves at the oasis of a village that is Balad Sayt, with its terraced fields and friendly locals.

Still determined to see more we thought we'd throw in some hairy 4x4 cliff climbing and made our way to the top of the Western Hajar mountains... a spectacular sight to calm some slightly frazzled nerves.