Enchanting Oman [antikvár]

Chapter 1OMAN AND HER PEOPLE"They are a bold and brave race" Ibn Batuta, 1329The very landscape of Oman is dramatic and exciting. Rugged chffs rise sheer from a deep blue sea; tawny deserts lap up to the foot of arid mountains whose jagged peaks tower high above; deep green palm groves fill a mountain valley or spread out around an ancient mud-built town. Along the plain of the Batinah the palm groves form an uninterrupted belt, and the coastal towns behind them are guarded hy ancient forts. In the far south, the mountains of Dhofar turn a lush vivid green with the summer monsoon.It is the Hajar mountain range, however, that is the backbone of Oman. These mountains have played a central role throughout the history of the land, shaping the character of the people and their destiny. Although the mountains only cover about one-sixth of Oman's total 300,000 square kilometres, they have always dominated the country at their feet, and determined the pattem of settlement there.The mountains of OmanThe Hajar mountains, like the deserts, are remarkable for their aridity. No greenery cloaks their barren rocks and wild contortions. They appear stripped naked, dark and imposing. Strange colours, burnt red, ash grey, green or purple, form sudden abrupt outcrops. To the uninitiated they would seem the result of violent upheavals in some primeval past. This is indeed just what they are. The Hajar mountains were formed some 100 milhon years ago beneath the ocean to the east, then forced up by huge pressures on to the edge of the continent. Fossil shellfish high up on the Jebel Akhdar, on the high plateau above Sayq, are a witness to this.A falaj channel carries water along a cliff face of the Jebel Akhdar. Traces of an older falaj are visible above the present one.