Jahlah Tower Tombs on Salmah Plateau

Salmah Plateau is a special place - highland next to the coastline, offering stunning roads from sea level up to 1500+ meter and of course gorgeous views of the coastline. Life seems tough up there - there are no shops, no fuel stations, nothing. What it has though a very special and unique, moon-like landscape all around with the occasional gorges in between. We have visited the plateau a few times before and camped there as well - you camp for the wonderful views, star gazing and for the silence. Silence like nowhere else: you only hear the wind and the bugs. Also, there are great hiking options, and the plateau is the home of some incredible caves - you can read about all our trips here.

Due to COVID restrictions, night movement is banned and therefore we cannot camp lately - so we came for a daytrip to see the famous beehive tombs and cross the plateau from the coast towards Ibra. It is a great off-road trip which requires a confident driver and a proper 4WD as you will need low gear to beat the at times super steep roads. The trip also offers great camping spots - it must be a very special experience camping next to thousands year-old monuments!

There is a great article in Omanobserver about the history of these tombs. Matter of fact, little is known about them, why they were built where they were built or how old are they - they are estimated being around 3000 years old. They are called Jahlah or Kibaykib tower tombs - yeah, everything has many different names here. They are around 4-5m in diameter and 3-4m tall and surprisingly some of them are in real good condition, considering their age. They certainty look and feel mysterious! There are 90 tombs scattered around a big area, some of them are very difficult to access but some of them are conveniently next to the road.

We followed the guidance of the Oman Off-road book and combined route 28 (Salmah Plateau) and route 30 (Jabal Bani Jabir). We entered the plateau at 22.8709,59.2242 and at 22.8136,59.0673 we switched to route 30. Here we first turned left to see the first tombs, but we did not drive all the way to Al Jaylah - we did not have enough time. Once we explored the first tombs we continued to the right from the junction - the second cluster of tombs are at 22.8168,59.0544. These look stunning from the distance as you approach them as they line up on the ridge. From here we continued towards 22.8904,58.8844 - it is a quite straightforward drive. 

Practical considerations: as said earlier, the plateau is great for camping and you can easily spend 2-3 nights up here. There are are great hiking options like the Tahery Cave , or you can try to find the more hidden tombs. The roads seem to be great for mountain biking as well. Make sure you bring enough water, food and fuel especially if you plan to spend more days up there! Also have some extra snack or fruit in case you meet local kids!

The jaw dropping coastal view - and yes, that is the road you need to drive on :). 

Unfortunately, we had a cloudy day - still stunning though.

This village is very unique with the houses built in the cracks of the mountain. The only little bit tricky part of the road was crossing the wadi after this village - we had to drive through the wadi bed. The road was ok and hard enough but make sure you check before you just drive in.

The first tombs next to the road towards Al Jaylah, just right after the turn - you will see them from the distance.

These are the second cluster of tombs - they just look special from the distance. Haystack or 3000 yo tombs? :)

They are open from the top

And this picture shows beautifully how they were built - like a snail house!

The last section of the route leads through Wadi Khabbah - this is where you are crossing from Jabal Abyad (white mouintain) to Jabal Aswad (black mountain) - the change of colour of the landscape is very sudden and clear. The village of Maqtu'a with the terraces looked really nice from the distance - we did not have time to explore it though. Also here there is a school being build and the road was quite bumpy sometimes due to the heavy trucks - drive carefully. We were happy that we were descending and not ascending!