It is mid-February, and springtime is arriving fast in Oman. This means that in many mountain villages, the fruit trees are already in blossom, creating a very special natural tableau. Whenever possible, I like to visit such places; in my home country of Portugal, the almond trees in bloom cover large areas of the Algarve and Tras-os-Montes provinces, blanketing the hills in white and pinkish hues. In Oman, the small village of Wakan, in the Jebel Akhdar mountains, has become quite popular with tourists all year round, but particularly so in the spring. I went there in the spring of 2024 and wrote about it in the following article.
This time I arrived earlier, to avoid the predictable weekend crowds, and to benefit photographically from the higher quality early morning light. I carried with me my trusty Fujifilm X-T5 and a single lens, the Voigtlander X 27mm f/2. This small pancake lens is manual focus only but is perfect for these trips. In case I required something wider, I simply took more images to assemble later as panoramas.
Leaving Muscat at 5 am, I had the first glimpse of Wakan, perched on a hill at 1,400 m altitude, at around 7 am. I parked the car and took a few photos as the first light of the day started to illuminate the surrounding mountain range. I am always impressed by the beauty of this scenery, with the tiny village dwarfed against the jagged mountain peaks that reach up to 2,300 m above sea-level. I drove the final stretch of the (gravel) road and had no problem in finding a parking space in the small local car park. I strolled in the cultivated terraces and fields for a while, in the middle of the peach trees in bloom; daylight first hit the peaks above, slowly moving down along the mountain face. I waited a few more minutes until the sunlight bathed the orchards, and then started walking along the trail that connects Wakan to the Sayq Plateau to the south, and to the village of Hadash to the east.
I walked along this trail several times in the past, and it is one I always enjoy, due to the peacefulness and the amazing views over Wadi Mistal. This time my plan was to go all the way up to the Sayq Plateau via the Wakan Pass, a gap in the mountain at 2,300 m altitude. In total, I walked around 14 km, going first to the top, and then coming back. This is not an easy walk, because in places the trail crosses several steep rocky parts and patches of loose rock, but it is well signaled with conspicuous colored markers. One can only imagine how in the past people would travel along these narrow trails on foot or in donkeys. You can see that in some parts, the rocks are well polished from people walking on them.
It took me about 3 hours to reach the top, including lots of stops for photo opportunities of the incredible landscape. The weather was sunny but cold, with fresh winds in the exposed plateau, so it is a good idea to bring extra layers of clothing. I leave you with a selection of images of this wonderful day spent visiting this magical mountain village. Even if you do not walk the entire trail, you can adjust the distance to your requirements; by walking only a few hundred metres, you will get a nice view of the village and the magnificent landscape that surrounds it.
