by ALI MOHAMMADI
Wadi Tiwi is a wadi in Al Sharqiyah region, adjacent to the very popular Wadi Shab but unique in its own way with numerous farms and plantations dotting the wadi, and a stunning pool that leads to towards Mibam village. Wadi Tiwi, which is named after Tiwi village at the coast, is a truly beautiful wadi with the lush plantations giving it a different (certainly greener) feel than many other wadis.
A visit to Wadi Tiwi is a unique experience compared to other wadis we have visited previously, in that it combines a great off-road drive right through the wadi mouth. You’ll need to traverse and reach the pools. Due to the road through Wadi Tiwi being right on the shoulder of the wadi, it is entirely up to you where you want to stop your car and start the wadi trek, or whether you want to drive all the way to the end of Mibam Village and start from there.
Inside Wadi Tiwi:
We explored Wadi Tiwi through a different way in each one of our two visits so far. In our first visit, we drove for approximately 30 minutes inside the wadi and parked near some houses prior to entering the narrow streets of Mibam Village. Walking through the houses, you’ll see some stairs leading you down into Wadi Tiwi. From here, it is a 2-3 hour traverse through mostly large boulder stones, with one or two tricky spots, before reaching the most stunning feature of Wadi Tiwi in our opinion: a gorgeous pool at the wadi bend flanked by palm trees and overgrown onto the wadi cliffs. If you are comfortable scrambling through wadis, you can reach here without having to swim; but you will need to swim the 80-100m distance in this pool to reach the ‘Mibam waterfall’ at the bottom of Mibam Village. The climb up from the waterfall area to the village is quite steep and requires ropes; however, if you do want to go to the village, just return back to the pool, and you can make your way to the village through the farms on your left (if your back is to the pool), look for the falaj channel and climb up from there through the village farms.
In another visit, we drove straight to Mibam Village and parked there and made our way to the waterfall through the farms. It is not straightforward going down through the farms, so you might need to go back up and try a different path, or just politely ask one of the villagers to walk you down to the waterfall. From there, you will see the ‘Mibam waterfall’ which you reach through a very steep path winding down (we certainly did not try returning back up from the same route, taking the route after the pool instead as described in the previous paragraph). From here, it is only a few minutes walk to the main pool, and by parking at Mibam Village you can get to enjoy the main attractions of Wadi Tiwi without much trekking – but isn’t that challenge one of the main attractions of visiting a wadi? It is for us at least.
Overall, we really loved Wadi Tiwi and it has become one of our favourite wadis after the very first visit, simply due to the lush plantations around it and the beautiful pool near Mibam Village. The trek inside Wadi Tiwi (at least the one we described above – we are sure you can do more!) is not the longest or the hardest, which can be a turn-off if you’re looking for a challenging wadi, but makes it an attractive wadi to visit in the summer.
About the Contributor: Ali Mohammadi is a blogger and tour guide who has been running Oman Tripper since 2012. His blog was founded in order for him to showcase and share some of the fantastic places worth visiting in Oman. Ali is also a licensed tour guide and conducts customised tours and hiking trips whenever time permits. Read more stories at OmanTripper.com and follow him on social media at OmanTripper
