More mountains

We've already had a little peek at Oman's Green Mountain - not exactly lush, but certainly green by Middle East standards. The other big mountain adventure that can be reached in my faithful Jungle Bus is Oman's highest mountain, Jebel Shams - the Sun Mountain. And yes, it is sunny, although at 3000m it can get pretty parky and even sees the odd bit of snow ... thankfully not when we visited, as not sure my body could cope anymore!

Abandoned village above the fields at the bottom of Wadi Ghul

The drive up is definitely a large part of the fun - once you're past the last of the villages in the valley (some abandoned and beautiful, others lived in and remarkably ugly), it's all crazy rocks, gorges and signs pointing down impossibly steep roads to unseen hamlets. Every now and then you see a carpet seller, or a child will pop up by the side of the road and try to sell you woven key rings or smelly goat shoes, but apart from that it's just you, big birds and a whole lot of stoney nothing ...

Cool rocks everywhere

Walid and his carpets

For the last part of the drive up, the tarmac disappears, but it's a nice gentle type of off-roading - my mum loved it! And then you get to the last plateau about 2000m up, where you come face to face with Oman's Grand Canyon - a suitably impressive 1000m+ drop into the top of Wadi Ghul, and the summit of Jebel Shams another 1000m above, all making you feel very small ...

Not sure how it compares to the US's version, but Grand enough for me

There's a marked path into the canyon from the last village, which is stunning but not one for vertigo sufferers or health and safety experts - at times the path is only a metre or so wide before the sheer drop on one side, and railings are of course for sissies! But if you can stop your stomach from doing somersaults, it's actually an easy walk and so worth it for the views down, up and all around ...

Not walking for the faint-hearted ...

... but some great views into the precipice below.

Aside from the few people who somehow scrape together a living, Jebel Shams has a huge population of goats - smelly beasts that will eat anything and everything, but they can be cute ...

Unusual resting position

roaming the plateaus ...

You can just go up Jebel Shams for the day - there is a hotel that serves a buffet lunch or nice ice-creams in the sun - but it's even nicer to spend the evening up there, and watch the colours bouncing off the mountains. We stayed in a camp tent at the Jebel Shams Resort, or they have some cute little chalets as well, all sunset facing and a perfect spot for a bottle of wine under the silent stars ...

sunbeams bouncing off the peaks

cairns in the dying light

And soon to bed ...