“The valley of the sons of Awf (Auff)”. The word Bani means “sons” and is therefore the name of a tribe. In this case, the tribe of the father of the tribe, Awf (Auff), lives in this valley.
The Wadi Bani Awf is a rough mountain valley. The first few kilometers are still paved, then we follow a rough but easily passable gravel road up the valley.
The asphalt road ends at Al Tekhah and the valley branches off. The signposts are rather confusing for us, as some of the small villages indicated are not on our map. But the navigation device shows us the right way. We follow the gravel road to the small Schlangen Gorge. The terrain is rough, rocky and stony. Good terrain for our vehicle. We stop at the small snake canyon and look for a way into the gorge. We don’t get very far, however, as huge boulders block our way. Incidentally, Snake Canyon gets its name from its meandering shape and not because there are particularly many snakes here. There are small pools of water directly in front of and inside the canyon. Small fish feel at home in some of them. And Pawel even takes a dip in the cold water of the canyon.
At the small snake canyon, we meet Celina and Pawel from Poland with their girlfriend. Pawel and Celina work in Dubai in positions of responsibility. Their girlfriend is visiting them. The three of them are very bright, active and cheerful. It is a real pleasure to meet such people and their enthusiasm seems to spread to us. It was great to meet the three of them. Unfortunately, the planned visit to Dubai could not take place as Celina had to fly to another Arab country for work.
The gravel road continues between steep mountain slopes to the entrance to the large Snake Canyon. The drive is not easy, as the palm and vegetable gardens on the side are often irrigated with water that is brought in via water pipes hanging across the valley. As our vehicle is just a little too high, we struggle and have to drive under the pipes with great care.
Unfortunately, we can’t hike through the canyon because the water was dammed up at the beginning and we don’t have the necessary equipment.
The mountain landscape of the valley of the Sons of Kharus is much wider and more fertile than that of the Sons of Awf. A tarred road leads down into the valley. On the other hand, the vegetable gardens laid out in steps are pleasing to the heart and the eye. We spend the night at the edge of the riverbed and have a quiet and undisturbed night.
At first we are a little disappointed when we enter the Wadi Abyadh. It is a riverbed of rolled gravel with small mountains rising up at the edge. We have to be careful when driving on the gravel bed of the wadi, as it is easy to dig into the gravel as if it were sand. However, digging the vehicle out is harder in the sand due to the heavy gravel.
We spend the night in the middle of the stream bed, hoping that it won’t rain up the wadi …. and once again enjoy total peace and quiet.
The roots of Fort Nakhal go back to the 7th century. It was renovated in 1734 and subsequently extended and maintained again and again.
The tour is pleasant. There are seating areas everywhere where you can sit down and enjoy the magnificent view. A small café serves excellent coffee with delicious sweets. We benefit from this once again. Wonderful. Really worth it.
