Between leaping gazelle, barking dogs and wandering donkeys – all a few minutes from Hamriya
It is late evening and we are almost at the top of the hill, running towards the gazelle. We had startled it here, in the mountains between Hamriya and Amerat, just as we neared the final ridge. Far away from pet owners, zoos and a water supply, deer were roaming these hills.
It must have run straight over the cliff, bouncing off the smooth stone, one leap at a time. Alarmed by our voices, it had done a quick about-turn and fled, over the edge, down the sides and into a
network of wadis that would eventually spill out into some little- known back alley of Hamriya and then be forgotten.
For something that well camouflaged – it blended in perfectly with the dust and rock – the gazelle had a rather startling pompom on the behind. You might not see it when it is still, but if the view is clear you can follow the white of its bottom bobbing up and down all the way to the horizon .
Just minutes away from the truck stops and packed alleyways of Hamriya, all it took were a few wadi bends and a handful of contour lines of topography to keep apart entire ecosystems. There must be a lot of gazelle here, judging by the amount of little dung pellets we found, and the scratched mud where they had slept. While most humans would term the rocky landscape barren, a grazing animal would have plenty to keep it busy, with the scraggly plants sticking out between the rocks. And there must have been water somewhere in the millions of wadis that cracked open the landscape, water enough for the gazelles that ran across, for the donkeys whose dried dung we came across, for the stray dogs we heard but never saw.
It was then that we stumbled upon the stones, laid out with relaxed precision on the clearing before the mountain rose in a final peak. Written with evenly spaced out and roughly equal sized rocks, it read ‘Al Saalami.’ Whoever Al Saalami was, he was adventurous enough to slog up an hour of hillside, enjoy the view, think it special and then preserve his name. Preserved by anonymity, Al Salami’s name lies open to the skies, the only human inscription in a place where you will find yourself completely alone.
You can see for kilometres around, through Ruwi to the Sheraton Oman building, right to the GSM transmitter that stands above the road between Wadi Kabir and Bander Jissa, left to an endless series of peaks and wadis that will take you through al Amerat. And behind, your back to Yitti, Sifah, eventually Quriyat.
Just minutes away from the innards of Ruwi, you have to park your car in the same dead-end wadi from where we had walked
up to the mountain of gazelle heads (in the Mosaic section of the previous issue). That is on the left once you get into the wadi, while Al Saalami’s hill is straight ahead, slightly to the right. Park your car near the bit of dry rubbish dump, full of discarded construction material, bits of car interiors and the occasional piece of upholstery. This might be a bit of an eyesore but it’s quickly dealt with, leaving you with the gentle slope ahead that will get steeper. Walk past the rubbish and aim for the right-hand slope of the little wadi, one where you will find a discarded balustrade – a surreal landmark you should pass on your way to and fro.
Walking straight up, you will have a wadi on your left, and gentle slopes to your right. A few minutes later you will come to a flat
viewpoint where you will be rewarded by partly open views and good breeze. This is your first reward, pretty early on. The climb so far is the good kind – high enough to be rigorous but with excellent footing. Ahead is a dip, so turn left towards the next ridge, at which point you will have a second platform between the mountains. Continue left, up the broad slope. As you go higher you will see Ruwi beyond the mountains, on your right. Zigzag up the slope and you will come to a ridge – walk on towards the right of it and you will arrive at the level clearing where Al Saalami has left his name. Just ahead is the peak, flat enough to enjoy the fantastic views
all around.
GPS waypoints in UTM
Park your car in this wadi
40 Q 0659622, 2606225
Elevation: 196m
Discarded balustrade where you will climb up
40 Q 0659038, 2606123
Elevation: 194m
First flat viewpoint
40 Q 0658771, 2606221
Elevation: 241m
Second flat area
40 Q 0658704, 2606239
Elevation: 257m
Walk up this ridge
40 Q 0658504, 2606196
Elevation: 304m
Al Saalami’s stones, with the summit just ahead
40 Q 0658214, 2606328
Elevation: 338m
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