We woke up surrounded by small sand dunes with the sun hitting the wind-swept ripples and our tent nestled beneath them. After some breakfast in the dunes we took the opportunity to pour some water over my hair and give it a wash which was well needed and then we hit the road towards Wadi Dayqah Dam. The drive was so beautiful with views around every bend of layered mountains, some rising so high I was struggling to photograph them in one shot. The road wound its way to the dam which had an empty carpark at 9am and some fabulous viewpoints to admire the mountains encircling the emerald water. Some peaks were so high they were wrapped in a layer of cloud.

After checking out all the different vantage points we noticed the public toilets had showers…free showers, aka a campers best friend. I have no idea what the showers were for but we didn’t dare question it and hopped in for a well needed body wash after days of using baby wipes. Feeling very fresh we headed to the next sight, the Bimmah Sinkhole one of Oman’s top tourist attractions. It the sort of place where you have to arrive first thing in the morning if you want to get any good photos but alas, we arrived bang on lunch time. It was busy but not as bad as I expected. The sinkhole had steep orange walls and a stairwell leading down to the pool at the bottom where a wonderful turquoise section dropped into the deep inky black depths.

Lots of people were milling about on the rocks but only one person was in the water so Craig gave it a go and enjoyed a few laps. Sadly some kids standing at the top and looking down on the pool thought it would be a fun game to throw rocks which nearly hit Craig and he had to get a guys attention to tell the kids to stop. Little shits.

I found a random wadi viewpoint to visit on google maps but it was a dirt road so we just enjoyed a walk up there. The view was a little anticlimactic as the weather was still cloudy but we did discover some spots to camp and seeing as the road had recently been graded and we’d walked the whole thing we decided it was good enough condition to drive Alvin our whippet of a car up.

We pitched up in a nice spot with a mountain view and a few locals walked past in traditional white robes known as a dishdasha and everyone was so friendly and smiley. Two guys even pulled up in their 4×4 to say hi and pointed up the mountains and tried to encourage Craig in for a ride. While we had dinner a couple hours later I mentioned that they still hadn’t come back down and we laughed about what a pickle Craig would be in right now, somewhere in the wilderness with two strangers, probably enjoying supper with their family while I panicked back at the tent that he’d been kidnapped.

The next morning we woke before the sun and it was the first day we’d woken to blue skies! The landscape finally looked incredible and all of the mountains had a warm glow to them. Wild donkeys galloped past our tent and down the road and locals were down the valley herding their goats.

It was a Friday which is the weekend in many Muslim countries and basically a terrible day to visit a popular sight as everyone’s off work but alas, today we wanted to visit Wadi Shab, aka Oman’s top attraction so we set off nice and early. Just before 8am we were sitting on a wobbly boat which took us across the river where we could start our walk though the dramatic canyon. Even the views from the boat were beautiful with steep orange walls glowing in the warm morning sunshine and palm trees in the oasis, all of which were perfectly reflected in the still waters.

We thought we were the first boat of the day and we managed to speed past the other 6 tourists and plod along the trail without anyone blocking our view which was delightful. First we passed through the oasis where it looked like locals lived as there were papayas and bananas growing and a clever little irrigation system running alongside the pathway but soon enough the civilisation was left behind and we were hopping across rocks, walking past pools filled with emerald water and admiring the steep cliffs. The trail was vague at times with the odd arrow painted on a rock to help guide the way and sometimes we were walking along the irrigation walls like it was a tight-rope.

After thirty minutes of walking we arrived at the main pools where you’re allowed to swim. The pools were nestled at the base of this narrow canyon and the turquoise water looked fabulous against the terracotta cliffs. ’d read lots of blogs about this hike/swim and everyone said leave your bags, no one will steal anything as Oman is such a safe country and it’s just not in their nature. But, having a very European mindset about safety and belongings I just couldn’t bare to leave my brand new camera out of sight so we decided Craig would swim through the pools first and I would go when he was back. The fun thing about this wadi is you swim through three pools to a waterfall at the end so while Craig swam I walked along a ledge of the canyon wall and photographed him from up high. I did get to a section which gave me vertigo though so I turned back and met Craig who updated me on his adventures. He made it all the way to the end where the only way to reach the waterfall was to swim through a dark tunnel through the rock and it only had just enough space to squeeze his head through the gap at the end! Far too adventurous for me. In fact I was happy just swimming in the first pool but Craig encouraged me to give it a go too so off I went, leaping from a high rock into the first pool and beginning my swim. It was rather creepy at times when the water became deep and dark beneath me but most of the time it was light and blue which I didn’t mind.

Sometimes the gorge narrowed to just a few meters wide and became so shallow between the pools that I was walking through a crystal clear stream with vegetation growing on either side which was really cool. I made it pretty far on my own, to a small sort of waterfall spilling over a slimy rock-shelf, it looked like a slippery mess for a clumsy person like me and I had already swam pretty far for someone who is terrible at swimming so I decided not to push my abilities and head back. The wadi was starting to become very busy by lunch time so we were very happy we arrived first thing. Before we left we enjoyed a walk up the side of the canyon where we had some snacks and soaked in the view before heading back.