Oman Calling – 3/2013 –June 28-29, 2013 – Mountain and Wadi
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Posts
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1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid
6. Munda Reddy
7. Razik Rizwan – I, me & myself
8. Philip Bencini
1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid
6. Munda Reddy
7. Razik Rizwan – I, me & myself
8. Philip Bencini – self + 1 + 1 child (2.5yr)
1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez Self +2
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid
6. Munda Reddy
7. Razik Rizwan – I, me & myself
8. Philip Bencini – self + 1 + 1 child (2.5yr)
1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez Self +2
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid
6. Munda Reddy – Self + a friend
7. Razik Rizwan – I, me & myself
8. Philip Bencini – self + 1 + 1 child (2.5yr)
1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez Self +2
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid – self + 1
6. Munda Reddy – Self + a friend
7. Razik Rizwan – I, me & myself
8. Philip Bencini – self + 1 + 1 child (2.5yr)
the Oman Met dept continues to show 10-17 degrees forecast for Jebel Shams, the page appears to be stale (I assume)
Arun has done some search and research 🙂 about the weather that we can expect at our camp spot. it appears that we are likely to face a chill factor of 20-24 degrees without any threat of showers. The detailed report is posted at the FB page of Adventure https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=628071437212276&set=gm.137943576405486&type=1&theater .
FYI…….
1. Ajay Sikri – self +2 , no children
2. Ahmad Pervez Self +2
3. Arun D’Souza – self +1
4. Firoz
5. Sajid – self + 1
6. Munda Reddy – Self + a friend
7. Razik Rizwan + 1 (Sridhara)
8. Philip Bencini – self + 1 + 1 child (2.5yr)
Gonna miss this….
Trust you have all reached back safely and without any incident.
While we all wait for the formal trip report and pictures, I can provide you some vital statistics of the trek that we used to conduct a stress test 😀 upon ourselves.
1. total distance covered from the parking to the abandoned village and back : 7.6km
2. elevation at the start point (Khatam village): 1,953m
3. elevation at the Sridhara :thanks: coffeestop at the village souq: 1,649mThanks a lot to all of you for being on this trip and the support that each one of you extended for the successful conduct thereof
cheers
An adventure trip (family oriented) can’t get better than this :yesss:
Simply AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you everyone :thanks:
I would like to thank the DO team and everyone on the trip for a great weekend and making us feel very welcome.
Lesson learned… I will never waste a drop of water again 😉Thanks again,
Philip Bethan & Clara
Most memorable and challenging trip. Many thanks to our wonderful host Mr & mrs Ajay for their hospitality :thanks: :ymapplause: and great support by Arun :ymapplause: . As all off roadsters agree it’s always man & his machine. We had a challenging mountain drive amongst most scenic & rugged terrain on the first day with all the men & their machines performing admirably well. 😀 B-) :ymapplause:
The real challenge started on the 2nd day morning trek with all the ” Able bodied MEN” of DO coming out the comfort of their vehicles. we started the trek at 7.50Am walking thru the rim of the ” Grand CANYON of the Middle east” with breath taking scenery with vertical cliffs of over 800ft daring the DO’s. The scenery was getting better and more interesting as we continued with our trek. I am sure the photo album will never be able to replicate the joy & thrill every one enjoyed. :ymparty:
The trekking path was generally 3-5 ft wide with rugged & rough terrain with mostly down hill track during onward trek & reverse uphill trek on the return leg. We made it up to “Machu -Pichu” spot with relative ease. The final finishing line of the onward trek seemed ever closer and tested our patience levels by the time we reached it. Most of the members had consumed more than their fair share of water stock. After a refreshing snack & coffee break we started our return journey.
By this time every one started missing the comfort of their off road machines, even there was an unlikely request for Helicopter service. As we started our return trek, soon most of us felt the shortage of most precious drink in the world – “water”. Finally every one completed the trek safely to the comfort of their machines. :drive: =p~ :-ss
@-) 8-} This trek demonstrated the fitness levels of all the men with out their machines. It also gave a practical insight in to the survival tactics required to be developed & effective utilization of life saving stocks during the critical situation, when we are likely to be stranded in an inhospitable terrain as we always love going to the desert. 8-} @-) The group dynamics in any critical situation plays an important role and many thanks to every one who stood together till the completion of the trek.
I would rate Mr. & Mrs. Philip to be winners of this trek, for their endurance & patience levels to carry their princes on their shoulder seat. It has been a wonderful & refreshing experience for all the men with out their machines. Congratulations to all the participants for their company & look forward to many more from Ajay Bhai & oman Adventure team. :thanks: :thanks:
quote sridhara:Most memorable and challenging trip. Many thanks to our wonderful host Mr & mrs Ajay for their hospitality :thanks: :ymapplause: and great support by Arun :ymapplause: . As all off roadsters agree it’s always man & his machine. We had a challenging mountain drive amongst most scenic & rugged terrain on the first day with all the men & their machines performing admirably well. 😀 B-) :ymapplause:The real challenge started on the 2nd day morning trek with all the ” Able bodied MEN” of DO coming out the comfort of their vehicles. we started the trek at 7.50Am walking thru the rim of the ” Grand CANYON of the Middle east” with breath taking scenery with vertical cliffs of over 800ft daring the DO’s. The scenery was getting better and more interesting as we continued with our trek. I am sure the photo album will never be able to replicate the joy & thrill every one enjoyed. :ymparty:
The trekking path was generally 3-5 ft wide with rugged & rough terrain with mostly down hill track during onward trek & reverse uphill trek on the return leg. We made it up to “Machu -Pichu” spot with relative ease. The final finishing line of the onward trek seemed ever closer and tested our patience levels by the time we reached it. Most of the members had consumed more than their fair share of water stock. After a refreshing snack & coffee break we started our return journey.
By this time every one started missing the comfort of their off road machines, even there was an unlikely request for Helicopter service. As we started our return trek, soon most of us felt the shortage of most precious drink in the world – “water”. Finally every one completed the trek safely to the comfort of their machines. :drive: =p~ :-ss
@-) 8-} This trek demonstrated the fitness levels of all the men with out their machines. It also gave a practical insight in to the survival tactics required to be developed & effective utilization of life saving stocks during the critical situation, when we are likely to be stranded in an inhospitable terrain as we always love going to the desert. 8-} @-) The group dynamics in any critical situation plays an important role and many thanks to every one who stood together till the completion of the trek.
I would rate Mr. & Mrs. Philip to be winners of this trek, for their endurance & patience levels to carry their princes on their shoulder seat. It has been a wonderful & refreshing experience for all the men with out their machines. Congratulations to all the participants for their company & look forward to many more from Ajay Bhai & oman Adventure team. :thanks: :thanks:
Good report Sridhara :-BD
Another adventure in the literal sense. \M/
The DO members from the UAE met up at the Omani Check Post visa hall to complete the legal formalities to access Omani territory. The team consisted of the founder, Mr. Ahmad Pervez, Raziq with shotgun Sridhar, Reddy with his friend and myself. We assumed that Philip Bencini and family were running late only to find out that they had already crossed the border and were waiting for us just outside the check post.
The five vehicles continued their journey to the meeting point in Rustaq town where we were joined by the Oman DO/Adventure Oman members which included the co-founder, Mr. Ajay Sikri, Oman veteran Arun D’souza with Alan riding shotgun and another member whose name I can’t recollect.
We commenced our off-road journey through Wadi Bani Awf and I can say for certain that this stretch offers some spectacular views as the region appears to be very fertile comparatively to the rest of the GCC landscape. The lead then stopped the convoy at one of most amazing spots I have personally come across for members to enjoy what nature has to offer. This spot is so aptly named as Snake Gorge :YMBRINGITON: It was so refreshing to just soak our feet in the water and admire the beauty of the place. It would be great to trek this gorge sometime in the future.
We then continued our journey admiring the scenic spots along the way which offered us a panaromic view of the Snake Gorge from an altitude and stopped for lunch midway to allow our vehicles to rest and cool down a bit. We then passed by a very small and beautiful village just before arriving at the Al Hamra gas station at ground level to stock up before starting our ascend to Jebel Shams. The Hoota Caves are close to the Al Hamra village and maybe we can checklist that some other day as you need to book in advance to visit the caves.
The climb to Jebel Shams was very straight forward as it is a proper black top with just a few odd kilometers of dirt track in between. My eyes were on the temperature guage as we were ascending and it was so wonderful to see the temperature go down to as low as the early 20s where we camped for the night. The camping spot was a flat land with a touch of greenery and midway between the two resorts, one a few meters below and one a few meters on top. We had bbq and dinner which was prepared by the ladies and had a few laughs before retiring to bed as we had an early morning trek.
I will not talk a lot about the trek along the rim of the Omani Grand Canyon as it has been covered in detail by Sridhar. A real test of stress, endurance and desire to make it while your mind plays games with you. In hindsight, I am happy I did it as no amount of pictures or videos can replicate the scenery which we witnessed in real and also learnt a few valuable lessons along the way. The most important being “WATER”, it saves lives! #:-S. Yes, we did spot some fossil marks, stalactite and Machu Pichu.
The following members deserve a special mention :
1.The Bencini family who carried their daughter, Clara in a baby carrier for the entire 7.6 km trek with no water on the return leg of the journey. Super Mom and Super Dad. ^:)^
2.The ladies for preparing dinner, breakfast and lunch for the entire convoy. :thanks:
3.Rifaat for taking charge of the bbq. :ymapplause:Thank you Ajay saab and Ahmad saab for one more memorable trip.
Thank you to everyone in the convoy for being a part of this journey and yes, we don’t leave anyone behind. I saw this in real!
Regards
Sajid
PS : Raziq, your car is a big flirt. Every other car wants to kiss it 😉
Wow, great report. Can you please share the coordinates of snake gorge and jebel shams camp site please. We missed this epic trip on account of in laws visiting us. Couldn’t leave them behind and couldn’t take them with us to Oman. 🙁
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