Al Hajar Mountains

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F The Hajjar Mountains (Arabic جبال الحجر Jibal al - Hajar, DMG Ǧibāl al - Ḥaǧar, stone mountain ') is the name for a mountain range in Oman, which is also known under the name Oman Mountains.

Location

The Al Hajar Mountains, extends approximately 450 kilometers from the border of Oman to the United Arab Emirates to its easternmost promontory, the Ras al Hadd -, towards the Indian Ocean. The Al Hajar Mountains frames the coast on the Gulf of Oman crescent shape and separates the fertile Batinah coastal plain from the barren hinterland.

The Wadi Samail divides the Hajar into an eastern and a western mountain range. The wadi is the main link between the coast and the hinterland, as the rugged mountain range is passable only in a few places. Therefore, the main traffic route ( highway), power and telephone lines, and pipelines running through Wadi Samail. The western part of the mountain is also called Jabal al - Akhdar and is the more important of the two. Here are the two highest peaks of the Hajar mountain: Jabal Shams of, the mountain of the sun, and the Jabal Kawr. The height of the Jebel Shams is usually 3009 or 3017-3020 meters specified. The eastern part of the mountain, Hajar ash Sharqi - runs with decreasing height ( 1500-500 meters) to the eastern coast. A very prominent mountain is Jabal mixing, which is a particular challenge for climbers with its nearly 1,000 -meter-high south-east wall.

Wadis

The flanks of the mountains are quite steep and rugged, as there is hardly found in many places foothills. In some places, rocky valleys and canyons lead deep into the Hajar Mountains, such as Wadi Tiwi and Wadi Shab from the northeastern coast here, or Wadi Bani Khalid from the south. In these wadis there are rivers that lead at least in winter partially water. In Wadi Shaab and Wadi Bani Khalid, these mountain streams pour into picturesque freshwater ponds. In Wadi Shaab they are reached after approximately three quarters of an hour's walk, at Wadi Bani Khalid something more. Other wadis lead only after rainfall water. They extend into mainly inland.

Climate

Oman has an always - hot sub-tropical climate, the sultry and humid on the coast, in the interior is very dry. Winters are short and warm, the rest of the year hot. The Al Hajar Mountains, is in this respect an exception: its higher zones have mountain climate. Here the winter, in contrast to the other parts of the country of Oman be quite cold, the summers are moderately warm and there are richer precipitation than usual. In the nights can be chilly at all seasons, frost is rare and usually occurs only at altitudes above 2000 m.

Flora and Fauna

The Al Hajar Mountains, has hardly any vegetation, which can clearly come to light the rock formations. In some places you can study the Auffaltungsschichten exactly. This area is a paradise among geologists, especially as it is one of the few places in the world where the clash of mantle and crust at the surface is visible. The Al Hajar Mountains arose during the alpidischen orogeny ( Alpidic orogeny ) and is one of the younger mountain ranges in the world. The colors of the rock rich, depending on the material, of ash-gray or ocher to dark brown, red and black.

The wadis are lavishly lined in part by palm trees. Even bushes and reeds grow here. Otherwise, you will find long stretches only rock, stones, rubble and dust, between which can claim a tuft of grass or acacia only here and there. In the oases, wadis and basins that extend partly into the mountains, grow vegetables, dates and citrus fruit, not because of the irrigation system of the Faladsch (plural Afladsch ). One can also find larger settlements such as Rustaq, Nakhl Awabi and towards the coast or Ibri, Kubara, Bahla, Nizwa or Izki at the falling back to the desert southwest flank of the Hajar. At higher altitudes, the rose breeding plays a crucial role, which takes a high priority in the fragrant love Omanis and is practiced in the picturesque mountain villages such as Misfah.

Thus, while serving his spurs many people as living space and is used for agriculture intensive, the Al Hajar Mountains (apart from remote small mountain nests ) settled himself only sparse. Here are the last refuges of the endangered Arabian Tahrs, and also the Arabian leopard is spotted here occasionally.

Rock region in the area of ​​Jabal Shams, Wadi Ghul as seen from from.

The fort of Nakhl watches over the Dattelpalmoase that approaches the hard right up to the edges of Hajar.