Throughout Dhofar are hundreds of caves decorated with ancient cave paintings. Colours commonly used are black and red, but green is occasionally found. Some paintings seem like doodles; while others tell a story from long ago…

The photographs here of this cave painting in the Dhofar Mountains in southern Arabia seem to tell a story. What it looks like is a caravan of laden camels being raided. We see men on horseback with swords and shields. There’s one man upside down falling to the ground. At the bottom of the painting is what looks like a tally – maybe they counted the cost of camels lost or men killed in the raid.

Any suggestions? Any other story this painting might tell?

1600 years ago a terracotta cup inscribed with six symmetrical symbols was buried in a fort in southern Arabia. What did those symbols represent and what was the cup used for?

A team of archaeologists headed by Dr Juris Zarins unearthed it from a buried fort, which was once an integral part of the ancient frankincense trade. Fort Hamran, as it is now known, lies 25 km east of Salalah in the Dhofar governorate of southern Oman.

The vessel they found was originally purple in colour and marked with six simple Greek crosses. Their conclusion is that it was a Christian chalice! And what was it doing in southern Arabia?

This raises the possibility that Christian monks had set up a centre in what was once a frankincense trading post. “There is a chance that Ain Humran was the missing ‘third church’ founded by the Byzantine missionary Theophilus Indus in the middle 300s.” (Clapp, N. (1998). The road to Ubar : finding the Atlantis of the sands. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p.212)

Ahmed Al-Ma'ashani © Sandeha Lynch

“Don’t count the stars.” This is the warning traditionally issued to children in the Dhofar Mountains of southern Oman. I asked one of my students – Ahmed Al-Ma’ashani – to explain. He told me the story that he had been told by his grandparents (and maybe told to them by their grandparents).

Shehait sinkhole, Dhofar Mountains © Ross Hayden

“One day a boy was outside at night and he decided to see how many stars there were in the sky. Unfortunately, he kept counting until he counted his own star whereupon that star immediately fell to earth and destroyed him and all the inhabitants of his village.” I asked Ahmed how they knew it had happened like this when the witness to it had been killed. He said that the person who observed him counting the stars probably got so bored that he walked far from the village and was able to safely observe the arrival of the meteorite!

Shehait sinkhole, Dhofar Mountains © Ross Hayden

In any case, just behind Ahmed’s village in Shehait (on the road to Tawi Attair) is a sinkhole. It is about 100m in diameter and 40 metres deep.

A similar story is used by locals to explain the formation of the nearby sinkhole at Tawi Attair. However, unanimous scientific opinion says that both these sinkholes were formed by the action of water in the limestone and not by meteorites. Tawi Attair sinkhole is about 150 metres in diameter and is over 200 metres deep.

The above two sinkholes are very impressive. However, my favourite is Teyq, which also happens to be one of the largest sinkholes in the world. It’s about 10 km north of Tawi Attair. At first sight it doesn’t even look like a sinkhole! Technically, it is described as a collapsed sinkhole. There are two wadis (dry river valleys) which merge in the sinkhole. When it rains water flows along the wadis and then disappears into a large underground cavern. The sinkhole itself is 1.25 km long, 1 km wide and 250 metres deep, with a volume of about 300 million cubic metres.

Ain Razat is the most important source of spring water in Dhofar. It used to be one of the main sources of water for Salalah. Its water as well as several smaller springs flow into a long pool on the northern side of the carpark at the foot of the jebel. Water flows along a falaj (watercourse) throughout the year, although flow is highest during the khareef. This water flows 7 km to Al-Mamurah Palace, the Sultan’s residence when in Salalah. A further 3 km further on the watercourse reaches Razat Farm.

Near the spring is a beautiful fenced garden, which belongs to the Diwan of the Royal Court and is constantly guarded. However, it is open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays and every day during the khareef. The garden is a very popular place for picnics, as is the area under the trees near the pool near the spring.

There are several shallow caves in the limestone hills along the northern side of the spring and pool. Unlike the hills on the jebel side of the Razat Valley, the hills on the southern side of the pool and carpark are much more accessible, and relatively easy to climb. There are numerous animal tracks which zigzag the hillside so there are no problems in finding your way to the top. At the summit there is an uninterrupted panorama of the plain from Salalah to Taqah.

During and immediately after the khareef the whole area comes alive. Fresh growth is seen everywhere: fresh grass, trees with new leaves, and many plants and trees covered in colourful blossom. The new growth and easy availability of water attracts insects and birds – for example, the African Paradise Flycatcher, the White-Breasted White Eye, African Silverbills and Wheatears – which thrive under these conditions.

A generation or two ago, waters from Ain Razat and nearby Ain Hamran, were channelled into cultivated fields. Evidence of the irrigation systems are still visible on the plains in some areas around Wadis Razat and Hamran. There are also the remains of an occasional tower or two which were used by farmers to guard their land. Friends have told me that in the late 1930s the plains between Ain Razat and Khor Soli (near Taqa) were, in season, green with crops of millet, corn and other grains.

Inscriptions in known Hadrami script have been found at Khor Rori, Hanun and Wadi Andhur. However, it wasn’t until relatively recently that further inscriptions, this time in a previously unknown script, were discovered. Since about 1988 many of these inscriptions have been documented by local historian, Ali Ahmed Al-Shahri*. He has documented more than 250 sites containing  this language. The texts are painted on the walls of caves in the Dhofar mountains or pecked onto rocks further north in the Nejd. While the language remains undeciphered it is clearly related to the South Semitic script.

Some think that this undeciphered script is the written form of the language that is spoken in the Dhofar Mountains to this day – Shehri, more commonly known as Jibbali.

© Ross Hayden. Cave painting in Wadi Darbat.

As well as the inscriptions, there are many cave paintings of domesticated animals (camels, cows, goats, horses) as well as wild animals (ibex, wolves, leopards, foxes).

© Ross Hayden. Cave painting in Wadi Darbat.

Al-Shahri reached the following conclusions about the incidence of inscriptions and drawings in Dhofar: the largest number of inscriptions and drawings were found in areas distant from well-worn mountain passes and routes taken by caravans. The inscriptions were, in fact, mostly found in areas heavily used by herders and their animals. Inscriptions and drawings were only found in caves which would have been suitable for human habitation. Often the subject of the drawings varies with locality – for example, ibex in the high dry plateaux; palm trees and boats near the coastal plains. However, the techniques, style of inscriptions and drawings, and the materials used are very similar wherever they occur throughout the region.

* Al-Shahri, A. A. (1991). Recent Epigraphic Discoveries in Dhofar. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 21, 173-191.

The men from the East see the star halting

Over the place where the Christ Child lies.

Their long journey seemingly at an end;

His just beginning.

They present their costly gifts

To the Child King.

“Look  at me!” Gold boldly proclaims,

“I am indeed a gift fit for a King”.

Frankincense speaks…

Ross Hayden © 2001 Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

THE BRIDE

Nawal Said Atiq is a very talented Dhofari artist who has won many local and international awards. Here is an example of one her paintings…

More of her paintings may be seen under Art of Dhofar.

Some years ago I received an email after someone had come across my website on Dhofar (that website is no more). He had evidently enjoyed the couple of poems I had written on Dhofar, but he was disappointed that there weren’t any on the khareef (monsoon). I immediately got to work and wrote the following poem, sending the inquirer a copy. It wasn’t long before we met. He was none other than Dr Salim Bakhit Tabook, a very interesting local character, who wrote his PhD thesis on Dhofari tribal practices and folklore (Exeter University).

Here then is my poem…

High in the mountains – no sound…

Except for chirping sparrows, and clacking crickets,

Until the cadence of distant voices

Drifts towards me through the mist -

It lifts and, lo, a beautiful panorama unfolds:

Rolling green hills, trees and rocks growing through.

And across the next valley I spy the voices –

Picnickers perched on top of a little hill

No doubt thinking that they too were all alone…

High in the misty mountains.

As I sit and ponder the peaceful scene

‘Midst gently falling rain and friendly flies

I first hear the buzz then feel the nuzzling

Of a very hungry mosquito,

And, a few of its relatives!

Quickly I spray hands, feet and neck

With a liberal coating of anti-insect spray.

It does the trick

And I continue enjoying the pastoral setting…

High in the Dhofar mountains.

Clouds again descend

And cover the nearby hills,

And my face, with their wet kiss.

I sink into a reverie

And dream of friends and loved ones in distant places…

Only the shishing of passing vehicles on the damp road,

The gentle lowing of contented jebali cows heading home,

And the far off laughter of happy excursioners,

Tell me that I’m…

High in the green Dhofari mountains.

The peace and tranquillity of the rural scene

Soon settle the small worries of the day,

Clearing my thoughts

And reminding me of the One who made it all.

Just then a new sound enters the audio spectrum –

The distant cry of a muezzin in a mountain mosque

Calls the faithful to prayer

And I too bow my head…

High in the lush green Dhofar mountains.

© Ross Hayden, Salalah, Oman.  Khareef 2000.

One of my favourite places in Dhofar to retreat to is Wadi Hinna. Half way up the mountainside you come to a spring – Ain Hashair.   The waters of this spring – and the annual khareef – have kept a stand of 30 or 40 baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) alive for perhaps 1000 years. This particular species of tree originates in Africa, but it is found in Dhofar in only two particular locations – here in Wadi Hinna (40 km east of Salalah) and near Dhalkut (150 km west of Salalah) not far from the Yemen border.

© Ross Hayden. Huge baobab tree during khareef

Among the scattered stand of baobab trees in this valley there is one specimen that is particularly memorable. It is possibly the largest baobab in the region with a girth of 20 metres! I love to sit at its feet, or carefully clamber up its slippery armour-clad trunk to perch in a fork of its gigantic branches.

© Ross Hayden. Camel standing beneath huge baobab tree.

I found it difficult to take a photograph which shows its massive size, until one day an obliging camel posed under its spreading limbs.

© Ross Hayden. Rock Pillar, Hayur

In days gone by, young Dhofari men used to show their physical prowess by clambering up to the top of this pillar of rock (6 or 8 metres high).

Images are Rights Managed and available for licensing through GulfImages.

© Ross Hayden. Pillar of Rock 2