The village of Balad Sayt
Another sunrise the following day as we departed Nizwa to visit the mountain village of Balad Sayt. Once again, the roads were super bumpy and often very steep, but the breathtaking views really made it all worthwhile. Full marks to our driver and fellow photographer Saif.
Balad Sayt
By lunchtime, we arrived at the village. Perhaps its remoteness has helped it remain untouched, even though a large hotel has been constructed on the hillside overlooking the village. This was, of course, useful for lunch and also as a drone launching point.
The location of the village is spectacular, with a mountain backdrop and surrounded by lush agricultural terraces watered by a complex set of falaj (irrigation canals). Crops grown here include dates, onions and corn amongst others.
This time we got to visit the village itself, with its narrow streets and quaint houses. Some of the inhabitants came out to welcome us, including this initially shy little boy who provided me with one of my favourite portraits. Later he and his father were happy to show us around.
After leaving the village, we left to go to a spot to take some pictures of the landscape at sunset, or so I thought. What I anticipated would be a static scene and only require a small number of shots turned into a full-on action scene with racing horses and bizarrely someone with a giant fan strapped to their back flying through the air above them.
From a photography point of view I was completely unprepared for this. I had forgotten to clear a memory card from the previous day and had little space left. So while the scene was unfolding with everyone else snapping away, I was left struggling to figure out how to make some space on the card without losing photos which I might or might not have backed-up elsewhere. (Lesson learnt – on getting home I bought more cards!)
Anyway, despite my frustration, I did manage to capture the scene as you can see below.
My final shot of the day was another portrait of a boy sitting in his father’s car watching the scene.
