The Great Crack in Wajmah,Wadi As Sahtan

The Great Crack is exactly as the name indicates - a giant crack. It is a 45m tall vertical cave in between two mountain ranges in Wadi As Sahtan, just above Wajmah village. We had been in this wadi and in this village before, but did not do much hiking. Now we certainly rectified it - it was quite a challenging trip, couple of km's hiking straight up to the side of the wadi, with not much path to speak of. Than a 45m abseiling and 2 shorter ones and an equally steep hike back to the village. Alma did not like the hiking part, we were not crazy about the abseiling - it was kind of scary to dingle on a piece of rope in the abyss, at times in the pitch black. But we did it and now we are all super proud!

We had guides and even if you just would like to do the hike, best to ask for one (or ask someone in the village) as the path is narrow and steep, you do not want to find yourself rolling down. We had our usual guide master, Majid and this time a local guy from the village assisted him - Majid is teaching local guys to climb, abseil and developing them to be a tour guides - pretty cool. He also partakes in a project where they are turning one of the houses into a guesthouse, similar to Al Sogara. 

The Crack is pretty amazing from the top, the whole thing is very dramatic - you can peak through it towards the valley. And the whole thing is very narrow and dark inside - but wide enough for you to loose touch with your feet and swing to the wall :).

A bit about the village. Wajmah means water source once upon a time this was a lush green oasis with multiple permanent waterfalls. Unfortunately it is all gone because up in Jabal Shams multiple wells were drilled to supply the military base which dried up the water in the village. Eventually the villagers moved to the valley (the government provided housing for them) with the exception of one family. It means that the houses are slowly falling apart together with terraces. I tried to find a few pictures of how this place looked back in the day, you can find them at the end of the post!

The tour was organized by Omantripper, and as usual was perfect. We did this as daytrip from Muscat - it was a long and exhausted day. Full disclosure: while Alma did the whole thing without any complaining and loved the abseiling part, this trip not for the average 11 year old kid.

The Great Crack from the distance

Wajmah from the distance..

..and from closer.

He was the local guide, from the only family which stayed behind.

The Crack and the stunning views from the top.

Jabal Shams in the background.

Inside the Crack.

Walking back was not popular with Alma.

This is how the village looked like before the water level dropped - it must had been stunning!