Wadi Al Arbeieen

Wadi Al Arbeieen cuts into the eastern Hajar behind the coast between Muscat and Quriyat, and it is a wadi of large boulders and deep pools rather than plantations, with water held in the rock basins through the year and green enough at the upper pools for swimming in what is otherwise bare mountain. The track in follows the wadi bed, crossing and recrossing the stream, and it needs a proper four-wheel drive and some confidence; the last section to the best pools is walked over boulders. Villages at the wadi mouth grow dates. It is much less visited than Wadi Shab or Bani Khalid because getting there is harder.

What you actually see

• The rock pools - deep basins holding water through the dry months.
• Boulder gorge - the wadi bed of large blocks and narrow passages.
• The wadi track - the driving route along and across the stream.
• Date villages - the settlements at the wadi mouth.

When to go

October to April; summer is severely hot in the gorge. Never enter the wadi when rain is forecast anywhere in the catchment, as flash floods arrive without warning. Weekdays are quiet.

Honest expectations

Four-wheel drive is essential and the track is genuinely rough with water crossings. Flash flooding is a serious and recurring danger in this wadi. There are no facilities. Modest swimming dress is expected near villages.

Nearby

Quriyat lies east; Wadi Dayqah dam is south.