| Log Cabin Chronicles Letter From the Oasis #2 |
 Jerry Buzzell  Jerry's previous columns are archived HERE
| Posted 11.03.00 |
Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Beyond Mahdah, we took a broad dirt road for about eight km to Aboul, a smaller village (little more than a few houses and a small mosque) at the end of its wadi.
The road (or path) in the wadi beyond Aboul was very rough and it was felt (wisely) that the two sedan cars in our convoy would not be wise to try it, so I and my three passengers from the Civic and the family in the Toyota squeezed into the 4x4s and we were jostled for a couple more kilometers, until coming to a stop at a small stand of trees.
This was a very attractive spot for a picnic, but I hadn't brought lunch (as I planned to stop at the Horse & Jockey Pub for lunch and a beer on the way home), so I used the time to explore while others ate.
This little oasis was fed from a small dam (containing water) and falaj. The trees and other vegetation were present only in a narrow strip beside the falaj. However, on the hill above this oasis was a more primitive falaj, made up of compacted sand and stones formed into a lip on the downhill side of a narrow depression, which was obviously designed to catch and channel rain water.
Climbing the hill behind this channel, I could make out a series of flattened terraces containing small plots, each delineated by low dirt ridges, into which the water of the small falaj would have been directed if any water had been present.
All of these terraces were dry and barren, but there has been a three-year drought here, only recently broken. There was some water in the wadi, so I surmise that, with more rain, these plots may yet bring forth something.
About half a kilometer further up the wadi is an old deteriorating fort. Below that fort is a concrete water catchment basin (full of water), from which small falaj run to irrigate a few other small plots, apparently identical to those by the little oasis.
These plots were growing what looked to me like a type of corn. If it is corn, it's either a very small variety or it's stunted or it was only planted recently, as there were no ears and no tassels visible.
Keep in mind the fact that, although it is October, we are just above the Tropic of Cancer and the rains which have occurred were very recent. If we have rain during the next few months, it will be interesting to go back there in December or January and see what this crop looks like at that time.
The fort sits on a ridge overlooking the wadi. It has stone and mud walls and is badly deteriorated. It is not quite unsafe, yet I felt a bit tentative walking about in it. I went up crumbling steps into one of the towers, and everything was fine as long as I walked carefully. I wouldn't like to see a group line-dancing up there though. A colony of small bats inhabited one of the other towers, which I didn't go into.
There were lots of questions about what this fort was built for and when. I don't know, but my guess is that it was built to command this area during the civil wars in Oman in the 1950s or 1960s. Since the wars ended and Sultan Qaboos began to modernize the country, the fort has fallen into disrepair. If nothing is done to preserve it, I expect it will be a pile of rubble soon.
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