D riving southeast on Highway 17 from the small town of Fins, I noticed that the craggy barren brown mountains to the west contrasted the brilliant aquamarine waters of the Gulf of Oman to the east; and there was little more than that on the almost-deserted desert highway.
I approached the exit to Wadi Shab — which was clearly marked with a brown traffic sign — where I was to visit out of curiosity: a veritable oasis in the desert were it not for the Gulf of Oman and the hot, humid air.
A winding road on a moderate downhill grade approached a small town — all of which combined to obscure the actual entrance to Wadi Shab.
I do not exactly know why; but I thought that the road approaching Wadi Shab was rather cool, for lack of a better word — even though it is no Lombard Street in San Francisco in terms of grade and curves.
At the bottom of the hill, the entrance to Wadi Shab suddenly appeared at the sign shown in the photograph below.
The sign was secured solidly to its base by four bolts — which is more than I can say about the stability of the base itself.
You might say that things are looking rather rocky for this sign; and the goats which wandered around lackadaisically near the entrance to Wadi Shab did not even bother to greet me.
Ba-a-a-a-a-ah. Stupid goats…
I turned right into the parking lot next to the waters of Wadi Shab, which was situated directly under Highway 17.
I parked the rental car in the shade in a fleeting attempt to keep the car from being even hotter as a result of the desert sun shining on it — which, of course, was eventually unsuccessful.
I got out of the car and looked back towards the entrance to the parking lot.
The building on the right housed public toilets.
I walked around the area of Wadi Shab near the highway.
Additional photographs will appear in a future article. Please stay tuned…
All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
