Description

Meet your guide and proceed for a full day excursion to Misfah & Al Hoota caves. Drive to Misfah, an old heritage village located near Al Hamra. A sealed road leads from Al Hamra up to this mountain-hugging village making it one of the few mountain villages in Oman accessible without a 4WD car. The mountain flank, draped in date plantations and with a terraced sequence of stone houses in the foreground, is very picturesque and often seen in promotional literature on Oman. This is one of the few old villages that actively welcomes tourists, but in return visitors are urged to stick to the well-marked trails, respect marked no-go areas and to refrain from smoking, drinking alcohol and picking fruit – the village's main livelihood. It is also necessary to dress modestly (covering knees and shoulders) to avoid causing offence. Then you move to the famous Al Hota Cave, which was recently opened after a long renovation. Estimated to be more than two million years old, Al Hota Cave is located at the foot of Jebel Shams. It is the first and only cave in the Arabian Peninsula with a total length of about 4.5 kilometers, of which only 500 meters are available to the general public. Al Hota Cave has a rich ecosystem that includes four lakes. Here one can see the blind fish and there are many other species of animals that live in the cave including bats, arthropods, mollusks, spiders, snails and water beetles.