Picnic at Wadi Shab

On our second Raya, we excitedly woke up early in the morning for our picnic trip. We choose to go to Wadi Shab as we have never been here before. Wadi Shab is located between the capital Muscat and the town of Sur.

It's easy to reach this Wadi from the new Qurayyat-Sur highway. Well that's what most written in all blogs but for the first timer like us, it will take lots of effort and trial and error before you can actually get to the place. You of course can see the big sign board of WADI SHAB from the highway but that's it.. The sign just stand there without any further direction of how to go there.

We actually found the place after making three rounds U turn back and forth the sign board which at the end we asked the local. We were lucky as this Omani couple was so kind enough to lead us there.

That was actually happening after 3 hours drive from Muscat. I figured out that we can actually reach Wadi Shab probably around 2 hours. The kids were starting to get bored and asking when we will be reaching the place. Along the highway of course there's nothing much to see except the big huge mountain around us.

When we werevreaching towards Qurriyat we could see the beautiful beaches along the road. It's so beautiful. We just couldn't resist not to stop. We stopped for a while to take photos. It's quite hot but windy.

The stop made all of happy and excitedly continued our journey. This was where we were lost finding the Wadi Shab. It took us another hour. Nevertheless once we reached at the entrance of the Wadi, we were relieved and astonished with the beauty.

We took a boat to cross to the side of the river. River? Well.. it looked like a river to me as this long river-look-like is actually the long pool of water from the nearby sea. We got the boat for the whole family and it costs OMR1. Once we reached to the other side, we have to walk to find the spot.

Trust me.. none of us were complaining of walking as the view and scenery were so beautiful. We could see the shimmering emerald green water and beautiful rocks and mountain around us. We passed by one small wadi but decided to walked further to find another one. From the researched that I made, there are seven pools of wadi.

That was what we planned to do, walk and find all the pools of wadi. Unfortunately after we passed by the first pool, we could see the next wadi was dry. Kering kontang. We still didn't give up and walked further up. There were couple of Omani's boy told us to walk further as there is another pool.

At this point, my kids semua dah melepek. They were hungry and the weather was getting hotter. We walked and at last found the pool. It was beautiful. It was down under the mountain and you can jump and splash in the wadi. This is fun for the grown ups but definitely not for my kids.

We then decided to turned back and it took us another half an hour. We finally found a spot under pokok kurma. We laid out our mat and had our lunch. The kids had started playing and swim.

They spent about two hours under the sun. Eat, swim, play and catch a fish. Yes! Hakeem found one small fish. He was happy and non stop talking about the fish.

We were lucky to be here quite early as by the time we were ready to pack more people were coming. We got a good spot, kids enjoyed their swim, perut kenyang and all of us were ready to go back home!

Though there were no wadis or pools as we expected it to be, we still enjoyed our picnic. The place is so beautiful and is a must place to visit.

On our back home, we stopped by at the famous "Sink Hole" at Dibab Lake Park. We parked a car and walked on the short path which lead us to this sinkhole. I've never seen one like this and this amazed me. The water was vibrant green. This sinkhole is about 500 meters inland and 40 meters wide and 20 meters deep. It is said that the sinkhole is connected all the way to the ocean.

Memang menakjubkan. I still couldn't relate how suddenly a big hole of pool can exist in the middle of no where with mountains and rocks around it. The water never dry and it just remain like this even during hot summer.

We can actually go down there and swim. Tapi semua dah melepek tak larat, Furthermore there were many people already down there! Tak sanggup nak join all those 'expat'. We continued our journey and reached home at 4pm.

Everybody was tired but relieved to be back home. This definitely not our last wadi as I definitely will plan for another wadi trip in a near time!