Local history and culture Nizwa And The Western Hajar

We get up early, like the Omanis: no good trading in hot weather. The huge car park already sets the tone with its dozens of vans filled with goats, sheep and cows. In Nizwa, every Friday, cattle are haggled over! In the centre of the square, seated in a circle, a host of potential buyers watch as sellers parade past, tethering their cattle, waiting to be accosted. Everything happens very quickly and you have to exercise your neophyte's eye to try to understand the ritual of negotiation: an interested buyer asks for the price of the animal as the seller passes by and sometimes waits several turns before starting a negotiation, always quite fast and accompanied by a check of the good vitality of the animal (state of the teeth, stomach, legs). Buzzing of commercial conversations, alpine pastures, haggling, in the smell of cattle and the colours of the East. Each end of the square is a scene of life, almost a painting: old nomads with dull eyes, almost blinded by the sun, men in traditional costumes with their hands on sticks, rare Bedouin women with faces protected by a burqa. The deep and traditional sultanate: the spectacle of real life, a cultural plunge into a part of everyday life amidst the dust raised by the hooves of animals. Don't forget your camera for great shots, especially of faces, and take advantage of the hustle and bustle to capture attitudes without ever being pushy.

The particularity of the Birkat al Mawz falaj, along with four other Omani aflaj, is that it is classified on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Aflaj is the plural of the word falaj and means "divide into shares" in Arabic. This typical Omani irrigation system was invented 4,500 years ago to distribute water as equitably as possible among the inhabitants. It is based on notions of community and mutual dependence, and is guided in part by astronomical observations. The oldest ruins found on the territory date back to 500 AD. The principle is quite simple: water circulates by gravity over tens of kilometres from underground springs to houses and cultivated land. In the past, each falaj had watchtowers to protect it, as well as mosques and other buildings. That of Birkat al Mawz is marked by a stone stele with explanations in French near the fort. The overall layout shows that the falaj comes down from the mountain and was, at the time, built in such a way that the first to use it was the governor of the region. Park in the car park in front of the stele and climb a few steps. At the top of these is a small mosque on the right, built in 1649, very simple and without a minaret. A stroll along the falaj leads through the now abandoned old village and its oasis of date palms. To make a loop, return to the parking lot by the main road.

It is one of the prettiest places in the Akhdar jebel, not too crowded so far. Staircases have been installed, to the left and right of the car park. Preferably take the ones on the right, they lead to the bottom of the wadi, incredibly green and lush. Walk in the wadi for a hundred meters: on either side of the dry river bed grow multiple fruit trees or not, protected by dry stone walls. Climb a few big stone steps on the right to reach the lower part of the first village; particularly scenic, the latter is literally hung on the mountain walls, a landscape that is well worth a photo. The hamlet is no longer inhabited and its houses, although fairly well preserved, are not very stable. It is pleasant to walk around and enjoy the coolness of the old walls, but beware of the risk of landslides. The walk continues down the wadi for about 200 meters until you reach a preserved mosque, but forbidden to tourists. 50 meters after the mosque, climb the steps of the stone staircase on the right to reach a second abandoned village, also perched high up, and from which the view of the first hamlet is worth the detour. At the top and at the back of the few houses and alleys, the view plunges on a second river bed, as if parallel to the first one and planted with as many crops. The walk is preferable at the end of the day when the evening light iridesces the ochre of the old facades. Return to the parking lot by the same way.