Travel Diaries - Throwback - Visiting the Mountain Caves

nainaztengra (80)in #travel • yesterday

Next week some of my friends are coming over from Mumbai here to Muscat, and they will be staying with me for a week. I have been preparing their itinerary for their 7 days stay. It needs to be a mix of adventure, sightseeing and also somethings for the children. There are 2 kids of 8 and 5 years, so too much of adventure will not suit them. I have planned a visit to the Aquarium and Snow park for the kids, of course it will be with their parents. And for the parents some outdoor adventures which will be manageable for them with the kids. Once you have children, holidays become a bit different, it's not like how it would be before them, just go out in the wild and do anything.

Their holidays is going to be a mix of Beach, Mountains and exploring the city. 7 days is a short time to explore any country, so I am making sure they cover up the must visit places. One of the places that they will visit is the Al Hoota Caves, these are the Mountain caves, these caves are 2 million years old, and they were first submerged in the Sea. With the topographical shifts these Mountains have eventually risen to lands. They were discovered some hundreds of years back and they were used as a secret shelter but then someone local discovered it in 1960 and later on the government decided to make it a tourist attraction by reforming the caves. The caves stretch up to almost 5 kms, but for viewing it is only a little part of it, and the rest of the cave is as is, in it's raw form. It is one of my favorite places. Since it's also a source of Crystals and there are lots of Stalagmites and Stalactites formation to admire in this cave.

If you visit Oman you need to visit the caves, else your trip is incomplete. I have visited quiet a few caves like the Shenandoah Caves in Virginia and the Ali Sadr Cave in Iran. All these caves are spectacular and unique but th one common thing in all of them is that they have been all source of Crystals and that's why I am so attracted to them.

Sharing some pictures of my previous visits at the Caves