Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±

Wadi Darbat

Top choice in Dhofar


A popular picnic site during the khareef and a great place to enjoy the jebel in any season, Wadi Darbat is a grassy plateau in the hills marked by Oman's largest natural permanent lake. This is the source of the estuary that flows into Khor Rori, and during a good khareef, water cascades through a series of limestone pools before tumbling over the plateau's edge in a long drop to the plain below.

In the dry months, October to May, the Jebbali tribespeople set up their camps in this area. The surrounding caves were used by the sultan’s forces, together with the British SAS, to infiltrate areas of communist insurgency in the mid-1970s. Now the most surreptitious activity you are likely to see is the scuttling away of a small, fur-clad rock hyrax (an unlikely relative of the elephant) that lives among the rocks. Chameleons share the same territory and are equally clandestine, changing colour when abashed.

Boat trips (OR4 per hour) are available, but don't be tempted to swim in any of the pools in Wadi Darbat – the snails bearing bilharzia occur here. Lots of tiny biting insects often make the site challenging during the rains. A tiny coffee shop selling tea, water and sandwiches opens between noon and 11pm at the very end of the road.


Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±'s must-see attractions

Nearby Dhofar attractions

1. Wadi Darbat Waterfall

2.55 MILES

Every few years, steady rains across the jebel result in a torrent of water racing across Wadi Darbat and falling over the edge, 300m to the Salalah Plain…

2. Sumhuram Archaeological Park

4.7 MILES

Looking across one of Dhofar's prettiest bays at peacefully grazing camels and flocks of flamingos, it’s hard to imagine that 2000 years ago Khor Rori was…

3. Khor Rori Beach

5.2 MILES

A celebrated local beauty spot, this khor (inlet) is often partitioned from the sea by a sandbar that shrinks and grows according to the season. In the…

4. Taqah Castle

5.58 MILES

This small but well-preserved castle was built in the 19th century. With a furnished interior, good signage and an accompanying booklet explaining the…

5. Ayn Athum

5.79 MILES

One of several issuing from the hills above the plain to the east of Salalah, this spring trickles into a reservoir at the end of the road. The spring…

6. Ayn Athum Waterfall

5.83 MILES

Just before reaching a spring of the same name, a small car park appears on the right-hand side of the road and a paved path disappears mysteriously into…

7. Tawi Atayr

7.11 MILES

This deep sinkhole (1 million cu metres), known as the Well of Birds, gapes without warning in a corrugated landscape of rock, covered in thicket. A small…

8. Ayn Tabraq

8.39 MILES

One of the prettiest springs sprinkled across the eastern Salalah Plain, this one ushers from a bare rock and is channelled through a zigzagging concourse…