today we drove from the desert to the mountains. had to stop at a checkpoint, to make sure all cars are 4wd before they go any further. interesting that jebel akhdar (green mountain) was finally opened to the public in 2003. before that, only the military had access. did u know about the dhofar liberation front, a marxist group that wanted independence, or the ibadhi imams up in the mountains who despised hereditary succession? there was a civil war in oman from 1963 to 1976. oil had been discovered in areas ruled by the imamate and the british were involved. needless to say. british bombs decided the matter eventually.
first stop, birkat al mouz (named for the bananas that grew here). this 400-500 year old village sits by the side of the mountain and seems to dissolve in it. it’s abandoned now. villages like these were built with sarooj, a traditional water-resistant mortar made of clay and limestone, also used in iranian architecture, going back to 1200 bc.
we went inside some of the homes. they were substantially cooler.
