Five things I learned on my first Mountain Trekking

Muscat - During my high school days, I was interested to join the local mountaineering club. I had the orientation on what to bring, wear, fitness preparation and safety aspect of the activity. Unfortunately, I wasn’t financially capable to support the interest and had opted to drop. Fast forward 20 years, I am now able to provide myself all the necessary tools required to enjoy the outdoor activities from Scuba Diving, Water Skiing to Camping.

L-R: Hamed Al-Saadi, Abdulhamid Al-Hadhrami, Khalid Al-Mazrouai, Cledion Taporco

With just a day of preparation, I got what I need but my fitness level is not at its peak (it has never been because beers always taste good) coming from my annual holiday in Philippines. There were initially 9 of us ‘office junkies’ that would scale a mere 300m from an altitude of 2000m but were down to four knowing that our patrol leader is Abdulhameed, seasoned Omani Triathlete and an outdoor enthusiast. 

Reward: The Ghubra Bowl from the top of which Wukan village
can also be spotted

Jabal Akhdar is about 2.5 hours drive from Muscat including the uphill drive of about 40 minutes. The high elevation of ‘The Green Mountain’ makes it a great place during summer months as the temperature would be 10 degrees that what it is in Muscat and would even drop more during night time. 

Abdu slept comfortably with no tent and is not concerned about foxes
and scorpions, else he'll eat them

At night, the sky was really amazing with all the stars seemed so close and the moon appears like a ball of light in one of the peaks. The stillness and the deafening silence made me appreciate how peaceful was our life for the era of commercialism. All we can hear was the bray of the free-roaming donkey and the hiss of the insects.

Before China introduces the metal grills in Oman, this the local way of bbq.
Who introduced the bamboo then?

While we almost try all the time to be professional on the timing on most of the trips, we are still late to arrive and had our lunch past 2 pm with this goat sharing the remains.

Goats in Oman eat rice! Shaa is the arabic for Does while Anz are for Bucks

Proud owners of 4x4 vehicles (Jeep, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner and Pajero)
meet in Birkat Al Mouz

After gobbling up our lunch, we have just enough time to distribute our supplies with Abdu making sure that we all have our fair share. 

Apart from food, we each have to carry at least 6 liters of water. In total,
our backpacks weighs between 10-15 kgs.

In front of us is the village of Manakhir, where handful of houses are built.

While I almost have everything what I need according to my research, the following are very important I should say.

1. Always follow the lead of the experienced hikers. It is inevitable the few of the group would like to experience the adrenaline rush or have the interest to show better path. When confused, always follow the lead of the most experienced hiker because they have the sixth sense of how to find the right path. I have compared it in cooking, that if we are not able to arrive at the taste that we desired, an experienced chef would know which ingredients are missing and what to put in sequence.

This was the last time that we had an eye on Manakhir Village

2. Look for signs. Although the track that we follow is considered unmarked, we are not the first to be there. There are also enthusiasts like us that are kind enough to create trekking signs such as carefully arranged rocks and paint spray. Another is the presence of donkey or goat dungs, in the first place we are using donkey path anyway. So during the time that my companions are out of sight, I had the hint that I am on the right path.

Paint Spray showing which direction to go.

Decaying remains of a goat along the path.

 

Artistic way of creating trekking marks

3. There is no substitute for proper hiking boots. Just because I have an all-terrain shoes means that it was enough to absorb the punishment of rocky path. A good trekking boots would be something that has hard out-sole, soft insole, high-cut or enough to cover the uncle and it should be an omni-grip. Luckily, mine was able to survived but have unnecessarily stretch my leg muscles. Khalid had semi-sandals which cost him minor cuts from the sharp edges.

For this reason that the guidebook called it 'The Balcony Walk'.
In photo is Abu Ahmed, our search and 'reconnaissance' expert.

4. Long pants are a must regardless of weather and terrain.  I thought that because we are in Oman where sun shines almost year round, a rugged short would do. Long pants protect from harmful rays, insect bites but more importantly from cuts in the event of an accidental slip. A multi-pocket pants are handy for the energy bars and other essential tools

While we have to manage our water well, these goats don't have that problem.
They even most of the time, I guess as trail mark for them.

5. Food and water management. We are trekking in Oman not in Philippines where water from certain fauna can be extracted. The terrain is almost dry and the only sight of water (which is stagnant) is hundreds of meters down on a dead-drop cliff. Banana and Dates are very handy and provide a good source of carbs and sugar.

Fresh dates of Oman, the yellow one is called Khalas and is the number 1
variety.

These might seem basics for the experienced hikers but for beginners like, it made a whole lot of sense. Of course, those are lessons for myself and there are plenty of resources available in the internet that will help you better prepare. 

On winters, this plant boast a array of colorful flowers

Perfectly camouflage Arabian lizard, how else would I call it?

Can you spot another camouflaging lizard?

It took me more than 10 clicks to finally got this photo. Even on stones, this
insect appears like withered leaves.

It is already past 7 pm when we rendezvoused on the marked trail, and
anytime soon the mirage will disappear and we will be in total darkness.

We took a used smoked hand grenade that we found on a small camping ground.
Adjacent to our path is a military training facility, the toughest in Oman. I don't
know if this belongs to them.

Overall, the trip was very unforgettable and our bond as brothers are ever stronger. We all share our personal stories and get to know each of us better. We all look forward for the next trip sometime next month. Until then.

Mabuhay!

Canyoning from Ghamb to Wadi Shab

Wadi Shab – I have my first invitation and opportunity to join an expedition by a closed group of Ooredoo Oman colleagues, all of whom are Omanis. It has been a long time that I longed to crack this sort of private organization where character of a person is their main basis of acceptance.

Front L-R: Khalid, Saed, Hamed, Munir,  andHassan
 Back L-R: Monthir, AbdulHameed, Hassan, Me, Moutassim, Bader and Khalid

When working on any corporate company, there is always this certain exclusive group of elite people who shares similar interest. These are the group of employees who have firsthand information before rumors starts to spread, they are the mafia in the corporate world. To be part of the group allows me to get to know more of them, their culture, thinking and even the habits. It was even a surprise to see the images on social media, boys will always be boys regardless of ethnicity.

Dinner prepared by a handful of chef, taste is definitely authentic Omani

The plan was to camp on Fins, a fishing village that has a great view and a turqiose blue water for swimming. This is familiar place for Oman residents who love camping because of the existence of a cliff that blocks strong winds and water currents.

Authentic Omani breakfast with Foul Madames, Omelet and steaming hot Khawa (Omani coffee with a hint of cardamon)

The hiking trip which turned out to be canyoning as it commonly called because we are technically traversing a river. Oman have few water streams that will fit the definition of a river but the numbers will grow when heavy rain pours. In the arab world, these are called wadis.

Deafening silence in the midst of this magnificent place

We start our trip in the foot of Qur'ran village where the locals took us on their 4x4 vehicle. I had the impression that this is the only model of vehicle that can withstand time and the harsh terrain to reach the village of Ghamb.

Riding on the back of this truck has the experience of what I saw in the movies that depicts the travels in the Afghanistan villages. I was prepared for the high altitude temperature while Hassan (red) and Saeed (blue) where freezing cold as we reached the top of the plateau. Moutassim (black) is our tech-savvy friend. He's got the gadget that are necessary to document a week of expedition.

The view from the top of the plateau is breathtaking, it will take time to identify the boundary between the ocean and the sky.

We are all on our feet at the back on the pick-up track as we braced ourselves to what appeared to be long winding road that are made on the sides of the mountain.

Midway on our trip, we have asked ourselves if we have made the right choice of joining this unmarked route. Sometimes, we need this kind of experience that are pushing us away from our comfort zones in order to value our family and the life that we had. What would it be if this endeavor will go wrong.

The rocks along the path was carved by waters that seemed to flow for hundreds of years.

The wadi gave life to shrubs and trees that serves as refuge to wild animals in this wilderness. What captivates me is the contrast of the sky and the mountain.

Because we are traversing a big wadi, some parts are dead drop. One of the safer ways is to lean the body so that the center of gravity is shifted away from the edges.

The interesting thing about a group trail is that we are able to joke on each other, but the serious part is the close support and communication between among ourselves. Back in Muscat, we are working on the same floor but barely we are able to talk to each other as often as it should.

This our local guide which supports me as I reach the final steps of rappelling. 

It is already 4 hours since we've started our walk and we are separated into 2 groups. I managed to catch up with the lead pack and gained the needed rest for recuperate from the exhaustion.

This was the most technical in all of our experience, a shiny boulder with barely no carvings that we can step-on. We have to negotiate step-by-step especially for those that are acrophobic.

In the middle of this gigantic boulders, we are like mountain goats finding our way home.

The highlight of our experience was the test of the claustrophobia, belly crawl is the only way. A fall will land on a stagnant water with decaying animals, seemed like the neophyte stage of reserved military training.

Finally, we were relieved to see this pool of fresh water which offers a relief from a 6 hour of negotiating the boulders. In rural areas in Philippines, when you asked directions from the locals and they use their lips to point. Be careful. The lips signifies an long walk. Our guide uses his thumb measures against the lines of our index finger, the closer the thumb on the tip the nearer the destination. But the funny, thing about our guide is that the position of the thumb is the same when we asked 2 hours before so we are doubting if he is really telling the truth because by this time we are all exhausted.

After awarding ourselves with few minutes of dips in the water, we proceeded on our route and the scenery has changed from dry to slippery as the boulders have mosses. But it is a delight to walk in this kind of scenery because it offers us hope that there are villagers nearby. It already past 4 in the afternoon and we are concerned about darkness as we don't have flashlights with us. 

This view reminds of the books I've read in the wars in Afghanistan, it must have been difficult for both the military and the bandits to exchange fires because casualty is inevitable but for now this is a scene to behold.

This will the the last stop together with our local guide (blue disdasha). He told us stories on how we familiarize this route because as a young boy, his mother would ask him to go to other village and the shortest way is walking along this river banks. We have thoroughly prepared for this trip from hiking shoes to hydration packs but our guide is in his Omani traditional dress, sandals, no water and only dates on his pockets.

The last stretch of danger was stepping on donkey path, where the side is at least 100 foot drop.

I have learned that our perception of danger and the tolerance of risks changes as evolved in our life. As a family man, taking each step carefully is the surest way to reach home safely.

Below is the famous and most visited Wadi-Shab.

Please click below for the full video of this experience.

You can also watch my other experience on Wadi Shab.

Mabuhay!