The road to nowhere?

many tracks in the mountains just seem to head off for miles into the middle of nowhere. as you can see in the first pic however the beauty of this country is that many of these tracks conceal a gem of a destination and in this case the trip to wadi something (ive forgotten the name again) on the other side of the border, was not without its rewards as at the end of this parched trail was a sight for sore eyes...

the road to nowhere...

blazing a dusty trail across this moonscape terrain


finally at the the destination at the foot of the mountains you encounter these strange rock pools of water that appears to be milky whitewater because of calcium carbonate (chalk) being leached out from the underlying rooks

as you meander your way through the valley you come to the source of the water which seems to be another deep pool of fresh water trickling down through the mountains. to get to the source i had to clamber my way up the rock face as there was no way round.

as you keep climbing up the rock face (Bear Grylls eat your heart out!) you keep coming across these little pools and streams until....


you reach a hidden waterfall concealed in the mountains with its own pool for swimming in and cooling off. you've got to understand in this desert terrain pools of water naturally forming anywhere is something of a spectacle. as it is approaching summer here the waterfall has been reduced to a trickle. when i got there, there was a local arab family who had come for a picnic otherwise i would have had the place to myself and definitely would have gone skinny dipping!