HIKING EXPEDITION TO UMQ BIR

It was the Saturday of last week when four friends of mine and I went to Umq Bir, a small hamlet nestled in a huge 'amphitheatre' at the source of Wadi Tiwi in the mountains at around 1,000 metre altitude. The journey would take you around 4 hours from Muscat.
I joined Rami and Hamood in Al Amerat at 6:30 am and we all drove with Rami’s car to meet Marco, who was camping near Qalhat where we started our drive into the mountains to Umq Bir.
The weather was already hot, reaching 38 degrees at 9 am in Qalhat where Marco was waiting for us with his delicious Italian coffee.
After a short break to savour Marco’s exquisite drink, we started driving into the mountains towards the small village of Hallut. Abdullah, the last thrill-seeker, was supposed to meet us in the mountains where we were planning to set up our camp after our new exploration of one of the tributaries of Wadi Tiwi.

It was already 10:30 when Abdullah arrived at our meeting point. From there, we drove another 1.5 hours to reach Umq Bir.
The sun was already very high when we started our hike, following a trail I had partially walked in 2014 along with Marta, my wife and my dear friend 'Mismar'.
The plan was to reach a tributary of Wadi Tiwi that pours just before 'The Cave' of the wadi.
I estimated the time we needed to finish our exploration around 6 hours. The hike was extremely exhausting during this period of the year.
When we finally reached the tributary we were looking for, we realised that we had consumed almost the whole quantity of water, so we decided to head back because continuing our plan would be risky.
It was around 6 pm when we reached our vehicles and we decided to change our plans for the next day. We all agreed to camp in Umq Bir to enjoy the Wadi with all its fresh, crispy, clear water pools and splendid 'cave'.

After dinner, we were all tired and keen to get a few hours of sleep before our early start the next day.
The night was quite short and we were all up at 5:30 am. Rami was already preparing the coffee as usual.
This guy has everything you need if you go camping with him! After coffee, he prepared scrambled eggs for everyone and even opened the bonnet of his car to make us shade while having our breakfast!
When we finished our royal meal, we packed up the camp, prepared our bags with our climbing gear, ropes, snacks and drinks.
It was almost 9 am when we started walking. Luckily, we came across Khamis on the trail. It was in 2004 when I first came to Umq Bir and met him and we became good friends.

Every time I came to Umq Bir, I paid him a visit. He also helped us in 2016 with his two donkeys to carry the equipment we needed for the shooting we did in Umq Bir for the documentary I made about Oman.
He insisted on offering us coffee and dates, but I promised him to visit him when we come back from the canyon.
It was the first visit for Hamood and Marco; and they were stunned by the beauty of the place.
It took us around 1.5 hours to reach the cave where we decided to stop to enjoy one of, if not, the most beautiful spots of the wadi.
It took us another 1.5 hours to come back to Umq Bir, where we had a long halt to enjoy the delicious Qahwa and dates of Khamis.
We hit the road back to Muscat and it was 7:30 pm when we reached Al Amerat.
For me, it was perhaps the twentieth time I had gone to Umq Bir and every time I enjoyed it like the first time.