Bahla Fort, Jabreen Castle, and the road home to Muscat.
Oman chapter six
It’s a thirty-minute drive from Nizwa to Bahla. We’re to visit the fort there and then Jabreen Castle.
Abdullah asks me if I’d like to see both forts on the list or something else. They’re much the same. I tell him I’m happy seeing the forts. Ok, he says.
At Bahla Fort Abdullah leads the way into the main courtyard. It’s already quite warm and in the sun it’s pretty hot. He gives me an introduction to the fort and then lets me explore on my own, preferring to stay in the shade himself. I don’t blame him.
Oman’s first UNESCO-listed fort, Bahla Fort is one of four historic fortresses situated at the foot of the Jebel Akhdar highlands. Believed to have been built between the 12th and 15th century by the Banu Nebhan tribe (known for controlling the trade of frankincense), the construction uses bricks of mud and straw, all susceptible to erosion. In 2012 massive restoration efforts were completed before the fort was reopened to visitors.
There’s very little information in the fort and no real guiderails. And so, left to my own devices, I seek out various rooms and climb up crumbling stairs to reach different vantge points for views of the fort and the oasis beyond.
At one point, unsure of whether I’m allowed somewhere, I ask a guide who is leading a small group with him. He shrugs as if to say there are no rules and so I clambor up to the highest point I can find to look down upon the complex.
The colors of the fort blend into the landscape, the flat light evens out the colors. The sun is almost directly overhead, limiting the shadows, but it also beats down upon me anytime I’m outside the walls and I haven’t quite brought enough water with me for the amount of exploration I’ve decided upon.
After making my way around the fort I stop into the Kmkan cafe and purchase a three dollar mango strawberry smoothie. It’s the best three dollars I’ve spent.
Inside, the cafe is modern and cool. It’s like stepping through a time portal. Even the phones seem to be from another time.
Meeting Abdullah outside he drives me up to a vantage point overlooking the oasis. A window has been built overlooking the scene with examples of the pottery for which the city is known.
Made from a special local clay it’s said to have magical properties. Indeed, the town itself is known as the ‘city of magic’ for the legends of jinn and supernatural events associated with its mystical past. One such story has it that two sisters, both jinn, built the 13-kilometer wall around the town in one night to protect it from invaders and the ancient irrigation system for agriculture.
Jabreen Castle was erected in 1670, commissioned by Imam Balarab bin Sultan bin Saif Al Ya’rubi, the third Ya’rubi imam. Located in a small palm oasis, it offers panoramic views of the surrounding plain. Constructed of large stones and dark grey sandstone, it boasts intricately painted ceillings, two courtyards, and a specially-designed canal running through the fort before branching out to irrigate the surrounding palm groves and fields.
Abdullah leads me inside and around the labyrinthine complex, through various room and corridors, pointing out details along the way, including the beautifully painted ceillings and detailed carpets.
At one point he has me stop to look up at the intricately carved ceiling above a corridor that leads between two floors before taking me to the Sun Moon hall, where the arragement of 14 windows allows moonlight to enter the room at night and sun/glare levels to be controlled with shutters during the day.
Finally he leads me to the roof and lets me explore the various viewpoints, climbing up platforms to admire the plains surrounding the castle.
Making our way back down, I pause by an ancient painting of a boat made right on the wall itself. The sun coming in through the windows and from above casts the walls in a golden light, and the castle seems to glow from within.
Heading down into the bowls of the castle Abdullah shows me the date storeroom. Small grooves in the floor allowed date juice to be collected, seeping out from the weight of the dates pressing upon each other.
I stop again in the cafe for a drink, inviting Abdullah to join me. He declines, and heads back to the front gate. He tells me he’ll wait for me there.
On leaving I stop inside the small mosque in the courtyard. A man sits inside on his phone but bades me enter and we share the small space before it’s time for me to move on.
We drive the same roads back to Muscat, and I surrender to sleep, waking now and again to check progress and our surroundings. On one empty expanse of road I see a truck before us, but can’t quite make out what’s poking out from above its container walls. We’re driving slightly faster and as we approach I begin to make out the shape of a head. Passing, I I look up into the eyes of a camel gazing out at the same landscapes as I, kilometer after kilometer, the horizon a distant shifting line. 🇴🇲
—27 April 2025
