Every time I passed by the entrance of Wadi Aqabat al Baytayn after Samail on the way to Nizwa, I thought “Next time I will have to explore this canyon”.
However, it took me many years before I finally got the chance to do it.
It was in May 2013 that I first attempted to explore the place in the company of Ahmed al Jabri. We reached the entrance of the wadi around 8h30 after less than a one-hour drive from Muscat, we parked our car off the highway and prepared our bags with our climbing gear, food and drinks and started walking towards the enigmatic wadi.
Looking from a distance, we had the impression that it would be difficult but once we got closer we realized that it was quite easy.
We saw the remaining walls of an old settlement just at the entrance of the canyon. After a short walk involving bouldering, we got to a very steep rocky slope that we climbed without any ropes. We reached a small pool that we managed to avoid by doing a traverse and climbing further up.
I set up an anchor at the top of a short climb to make it easier the next time I’d come with my family.
Then we progressed on a second-long rocky steep ramp after which we reached a small waterfall and had to set up a second anchor to be able to go further. At this point, we had to climb out of the canyon as we were blocked by another waterfall.
Soon after we reached the wadi bed and managed to progress a few hundred meters before being obstructed by another waterfall. It was then that we decided to go back to our car as the sky got darker and we did not want to take any chances or risk getting blocked in the wadi in case it started to rain.
The next day I went to the wadi with my family. It was full of rainwater and I said to myself that Ahmed and I made a wise decision by leaving the canyon the day before. This time I set up a new anchor at the second waterfall and baptized the drop “Happy birthday” as it was my daughter’s birthday and she was the first one to abseil down the waterfall.
In the middle of the second ramp, we stopped for lunch in the shade of a shallow cave. There, a swallow had built his nest on the cave’s roof with mud.
A few months later I went back with climbers Darryl and Joanne and my good friend Ahmed and managed to push through a few more hundred meters of the canyon after overcoming two other waterfalls.
In the future, we decided to try to find a way to reach the top of the mountain from where we could have a fantastic view of the Ghubra Bowl (wadi Mistal) and come back down through the canyon bed.
While returning to the car that day we came across Hilal Al Rashdi, a herder who had his goats grazing in the mountain. He told us that there was an easier way to reach the top of the mountain. That made me look forward to a new adventure in the wadi!
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
