Road Trip to Bat Al Ayn
When I first found out about the 5000+ year-old UNESCO-listed Bat and Al Ayn tombs in Oman I simply had to go see them for myself.Of course I never expected it to happen but that just seems like a pattern in my life.Yearn yearn yearn nothing happens and just when I'm about to give up....pop!The Bat necropolis is a protohistoric site near Ibri in Al Dhahira region. Protohistory by the way is a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings The necropolis consists of several “beehive” tombs and domes that were part of the prehistoric settlement of Bat that dated back to the 3rd millennium B.C, meaning that they are over 5,000 years old!
I tried to google for information about location of the place but didn't come up with many helpful posts but thought to myself,if it's a UNESCO listed heritage site,they'd probably have sign boards all over right?Wrong!The GPS also came up with zilch.
So off we went thinking if we didn't find the place,this would still count as a road trip,a no electronic devices family moment,right?Somehow driving through mountains like this makes me feel very very small.
Of course we passed by a camel.There is an Arabian tale that I get reminded of every time I see one-There are 99 names by which Muslims can know God. Each of those names describes a certain aspect of God’s character and nature. Allah is the first of the 99 names. It is also said that there is a secret, very sacred and holy hundredth name of God. To the one who knows this hundredth name of God, and pronouncing it with all sincerity, eternity in paradise is promised. The nomads believe that the camel is the only being who knows the 100th name of God. That is why camels have such a haughty look and always seem to be looking down on us!
After several turns and stops and asking around,and realizing there is no board in sight that says anything about these,to nearly giving up,we just look and lo behold we see this!Only there is no way to go there plus it was close to sunset so we weren't sure if we'd have enough time to explore.Anyways we decide to park the car as close to it as possible and start walking.The husband wasn't too happy with the suggestion,after all we had two little kids and it's supposed to be a burial site but complied nonetheless.
This is what we spot on our way up.Noticed the cutesy bear sticker(?) after I got home and looked at the pics.Till then it was just a race to the top against the sunset to get a few decent pictures.
They just seem like big piles of rocks with nothing inside but incredible considering they form one of the largest protohistoric necropolis in the world and have withstood the test of time.Also a bit eerie considering there is no set explanation as to why they exist.Some say burial site but then no remains were found,some say storage houses but we just don't know yet.
Did I feel odd being there?Not really.I was pretty fascinated and wished I had a little more time to explore around but the sun was setting pretty fast and with loose rocks,I didn't want to take chances on the way down with the kids.
Some of them were pretty big enough to crawl through and various blogs online did mention it was considered okay to do so and so they did.I didn't feel like it and was happy to take pictures.
I had to take one last pic after getting down.Considering we had a window of just a few minutes in terms of lighting,I think it was pretty awesome to have done what we did!!I wouldn't mind going back but when I do,I think I would go with a charted plan to see more places around the area to make the 3 hour drive a bit more worthwhile.
I tried to google for information about location of the place but didn't come up with many helpful posts but thought to myself,if it's a UNESCO listed heritage site,they'd probably have sign boards all over right?Wrong!The GPS also came up with zilch.
So off we went thinking if we didn't find the place,this would still count as a road trip,a no electronic devices family moment,right?Somehow driving through mountains like this makes me feel very very small.
Of course we passed by a camel.There is an Arabian tale that I get reminded of every time I see one-There are 99 names by which Muslims can know God. Each of those names describes a certain aspect of God’s character and nature. Allah is the first of the 99 names. It is also said that there is a secret, very sacred and holy hundredth name of God. To the one who knows this hundredth name of God, and pronouncing it with all sincerity, eternity in paradise is promised. The nomads believe that the camel is the only being who knows the 100th name of God. That is why camels have such a haughty look and always seem to be looking down on us!
After several turns and stops and asking around,and realizing there is no board in sight that says anything about these,to nearly giving up,we just look and lo behold we see this!Only there is no way to go there plus it was close to sunset so we weren't sure if we'd have enough time to explore.Anyways we decide to park the car as close to it as possible and start walking.The husband wasn't too happy with the suggestion,after all we had two little kids and it's supposed to be a burial site but complied nonetheless.
This is what we spot on our way up.Noticed the cutesy bear sticker(?) after I got home and looked at the pics.Till then it was just a race to the top against the sunset to get a few decent pictures.
They just seem like big piles of rocks with nothing inside but incredible considering they form one of the largest protohistoric necropolis in the world and have withstood the test of time.Also a bit eerie considering there is no set explanation as to why they exist.Some say burial site but then no remains were found,some say storage houses but we just don't know yet.
Did I feel odd being there?Not really.I was pretty fascinated and wished I had a little more time to explore around but the sun was setting pretty fast and with loose rocks,I didn't want to take chances on the way down with the kids.
They loved it!
Some of them were pretty big enough to crawl through and various blogs online did mention it was considered okay to do so and so they did.I didn't feel like it and was happy to take pictures.
Most of the entrances were as tall as her!
We even tried some cool photography tricks.This was Shiven's idea!
This was mine even though I kind of got the angle wrong!
Quite impressive when you think these have been there since nearly 5000 years.
I had to take one last pic after getting down.Considering we had a window of just a few minutes in terms of lighting,I think it was pretty awesome to have done what we did!!I wouldn't mind going back but when I do,I think I would go with a charted plan to see more places around the area to make the 3 hour drive a bit more worthwhile.
Vive Valeque♡
Kavita
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