CATTLE MARKET
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.
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