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Oman’s largest garden
written by Nicola Shipway photographed by Syed Fasiuddin

“Precisely sculpted ridges, each one a pygmy hill,
rise up behind a pool overlooked by a tea house”

Green light
Escaping the city
“In Muscat we are always surrounded by mountains and sand,” says Thuraiya, who is visiting Naseem Park for a picnic with a group of friends. “Here it is green and there is water. It’s a change of environment and it makes us happy.” Her friend Awatif nods agreement. “We last came here four or five years ago but when the weather changed two days ago we thought we would come. It’s somewhere different.”

The park is indeed something different in Oman, a sprawling expanse of greenery and interest that is a visual tonic to the region’s predominantly sepia terrain. Created 20 years ago, it stands some 30km from Seeb International Airport on the road to Barka, a 1,000-acre public garden, the largest in the sultanate. Its attractions range from children’s play areas and a tennis court and football ground to pavilions and picnic tables, lake and Arabic gardens, a small train and a falaj, and 3,000 or so trees.
The park supervisor, A Jagan, has worked in the garden for a decade. “Ten years ago there were 120 labourers and technicians working here. Now there are just 45.” Despite the shrinking workforce Naseem is in pretty good shape: a new garden is planned, irrigation systems are being updated and the train’s engine and track are currently undergoing repair. And every January for the last few years, a team of gardeners has come from a faraway corner of the globe to assist with the upkeep of one particular part of Naseem.

Diplomatic horticulture
A celebration of friendship

The walled Japanese garden was presented in 1985 by the Japanese embassy to celebrate continuing good relations between the two countries. Situated near the lake garden beyond the Dodgems and merry-go-round of the so-called electrical area, it is a paean to an ancient and complex horticultural tradition. Japanese gardens fall broadly into three types: tsukiyama gardens re-create natural landscapes in miniature, featuring elements such as hills, water and paths; karesansui gardens are dry and reproduce elements of the landscape in an abstract way (rocks placed in raked gravel might symbolise islands in the sea for example); and chaniwa gardens are built for the tea ceremony.

The garden at Naseem has elements from chaniwa and tsukiy-ama gardens. Precisely sculpted ridges, each one a pygmy hill, rise up behind a pool that is overlooked by a pavilion or tea house constructed from dark, glossy timber. Round stepping stones set flush into the springy turf connect this arbour with a tsukubai or bowl, traditionally used by guests to clean their hands before entering the tea house. Encircling the garden is bamboo-effect plastic fencing, an artful device that reflects the popularity of this giant woody grass throughout Japan. The same plastic ‘bamboo’ is used for the gateposts that, like the Golden Temple in Kyoto, have no door and thus welcome visitors to enjoy the garden beyond.

Park life
Tricycles and turf
The Japanese garden is a favourite among visitors, not least Paulina and her two small boys, although it is the park as a whole that lures this family at least once a week. “Sometimes we visit three times a week, in the morning and the evening. We come here more often than we go to the beach. We eat here and the children ride their
tricycles, and every time we come we discover something new.” Naseem supplies the greenery that she and her husband miss from their native Poland, but for all the grass and trees and Japanese
elements, the park has a local flavour too: in the Arabic garden, trellises complement a long, geometric pool. Naseem is a park with universal appeal, a splash of colour near the Muscat-Barka blacktop, something different in Oman.

Naseem Park is open daily from 4 o’clock until midnight, and from 9am to midnight at weekends.