Oman 2

Okay so this whole blog thing is way harder than I anticipated…  This last week we had a group of about 30 kids from a German school in Abu Dhabi. I helped lead the rock climbing and helped do some team building and campfire time. It was super fun, despite the language barrier. The last day they were here we did a dhow trip and they did some snorkeling and swimming. Here’s a picture of Courtney relaxing on the boat ride out… we have a tough job…

And this upcoming week we have three school groups coming, so it will be crazy busy. I guess it’s a balance, we had a while off where we enjoyed some vacation time and just explored the area, now its time to actually buckle down. But before they come on Sunday (the weekends here are on Friday and Saturday, so Sunday starts the week), we’re going to Dubai for Octoberfest to blow off some steam.

So that’s the newest update of what the past few weeks have been like. But here are some more pictures and bits of information about the area and what I’ve been doing.

Here is a picture from the top of the wadi looking down.

It’s so cool seeing it from below when we drive through it and then from up top after we trek. It really brings in some perspective of the power of nature and how little we matter in this big world.

During our trek up Jebel Quiwi, the second highest peak in the Munsandam, we found some really cool fossils…

Another popular and challenging hike we do is called Smugglers’ Bay. It is a trek right outside of Dibba. We walk to the trail head from our headquarters. It’s a steep climb up and over the mountain and down into Smuggler’s Bay. The water is incredibly clear and beautiful.

It is called Smuggler’s Bay because Iranian immigrants are smuggled in a speed boat from Iran to here and many of them get dropped off in this bay. They then have to hike up and over into Dibba, a lot of the time without food or water. During the trek, we find a lot of the smuggler’s clothing. They change during the hike so that they are in clean clothes when they get to town to look less conspicuous. Many of them don’t make it and they die from exhaustion or from a snake or scorpion bite. There are a few skeleton’s along the trek also. It’s a very interesting place. It usually takes about 5-6 hours with clients,  but Dev, Rob and I did it in about 3 and a half hours the other day. I have never been pushed like that and the heat really takes a toll on your body. But I was psyched for the physical and mental challenge, let alone the fact that we get to be in this incredible and beautiful area with such a dark and haunting history.

Another one of our training days included an incredible trip called Acaba-Lima. Basically you take a speed boat out to this remote fishing village called Acaba. Here’s a picture of Courtney and Micah enjoying the somewhat choppy boat ride out…

Then from Acaba, we hike up and over the mountain to the other side of the peninsula into Lima. On the way there are some amazing ruins of an ancient village. You can still tell where the mosque was, their schools and their jail and really get a feel for the life they created up there. In Lima, Yousef, one of the owners of Absolute Adventure, has a date plantation. There we had lunch and relaxed in his pool. Ram particularly loved it…

After lunch, we hiked to the Lima harbor to catch our boat again. From there we did some snorkeling and deep water soloing. Seb caught some awesome pictures of Kyle climbing and jumping off some fun climbs…

(I actually had a bit of a freaky experience when I broke off one of the top holds of a climb. Needless to say the fall was a bit of a surprise, let alone the huge rock falling next to my head… I’m a lucky girl!)

After climbing and snorkeling, we had an amazing sunset ride back to Dibba.