{"id":4409,"date":"2026-08-23T10:09:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/?p=4409"},"modified":"2026-08-23T10:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:41:15","slug":"the-friday-goat-market-in-nizwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/?p=4409","title":{"rendered":"The Friday (Goat) Market in Nizwa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most traditional markets in Oman occurs every Friday morning in Nizwa. Even before the first light of dawn announces the beginning of a new day, many vehicles start to fill the car park near the souk; on Friday mornings, all the buzz is about the famous \u201cgoat market\u201d. In a dedicated enclosure, the animals are auctioned in a traditional market, where sellers and buyers close the deals in a lively way. I visited one Friday morning in early August, arriving before 6 am. This allowed me to walk around the souk for some time, becoming familiar with the ongoing activities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Early arrivals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wadi car park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even this early, the place quickly becomes very busy, and there is some anticipation in the air. In a nearby square, there was already an ongoing market for fruits and vegetables: dates, prickly pears, mangoes, papayas, were just some of the varieties available.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Checking for messages.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Variety.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Market action.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After taking some photos of the fruit market, I returned to the goat market, because the action was about to start. The enclosure consists of a circular path, where the sellers parade the animals; the potential buyers are located both in the central and outer parts. Each seller keeps the goats in a pen, waiting for their turn to go. I chose a location in the front row and got ready for the action to start. Once it starts, the whole process goes at a fast pace. For this type of event, I prefer the flexibility of a zoom lens; hence, I mounted the Fujinon 16-50 f\/2.8 \u2013 f\/4.8 on a Fujifilm X-T5 camera.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unloading the goats from the truck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Early arrivals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Salutations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Done deal?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The experts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Doing the rounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fast pace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stubborn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old man.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This market provides a unique opportunity to experience a genuine Omani tradition, in a beautiful town. Besides the souk, Nizwa offers much more to see and visit: the impressive fort, the surrounding oasis and plantations, or walking along restored walls in the old town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Incense burner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old Nizwa undergoing restoration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fort and Mosque seen from the old wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Framed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mosque.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sunset snack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most traditional markets in Oman occurs every Friday morning in Nizwa. Even before the first light of dawn announces the beginning of a new day, many vehicles start to fill the car park near the souk; on Friday mornings, all the buzz is about the famous \u201cgoat market\u201d. In a dedicated enclosure, … Continue reading The Friday (Goat) Market in Nizwa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4453,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions\/4453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paulobizarro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}