Falaj Daris, Oman
Jan 14, 2024
No life could have survived in the vast stretches of desert of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries were it not for life-giving water. Villages sprang up where there were oases. But there were also ingenious ways if transporting water from mountains and springs to irrigate lands. In neighboring Iraq, the Sumerians had already mastered the art of diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates as early as 5000 BCE.
In Iran they are called qanats and they stretch thousands of kilometers underground. The small heaps of piled up of dirt stretching straight as an arrow are the telltale signs of underground channels. I saw them as far apart as Turkmenistan and Xinjiang province of China, in all the deserts of these regions.
In Oman they are called falaj. Archeological evidence indicates they may have been used here as early as 2000 BCE. Still used today, so important are they that they have been given a UNESCO status. Close to Nizwa is the Falaj Daris Park with these water channels. Here though they are intended as a display and used mostly for the fun of splashing around.
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 