“And once you are awake, you shall remain awake eternally…”
Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Saiq Plateau.
Saiq Plateau.
Gnarled wood.
Gnarled wood.
Failed – Devil’s Finger…….
This is about a 600ft drop.
500Ib bomb fragments.
.303 ammunition box c.1950.
A nice walk, unsuccessful in getting onto Devil’s Finger – yet again…..
The problem is; finding a route that gets onto the final ridge, without several descents & the inevitable climb-out of the many gorges that criss-cross the approach.
Google Earth is hopeless for this sort of thing and my O/S maps are not of the right scale (even worse for the SAS during the 50’s campaign) they had old style topographical maps (some copies of which I have) they used shades of colour to denote altitude. Aerial photography was nearly as bad as Google Earth.
Locals just think I am mad – “why do you want to go there? it’s just a rock” But….. may have found someone who says he knows the way – we shall see!
The weather was good and the walk interesting from a historical point of view. It became obvious that there had been some sort of combat (1950’s) which took place over a large area of the route. Lots of 500Ib bomb fragments and at least one .303 ammunition box: all found without much effort looking.
One way of passing a long weekend !! 🙂
The Devil’s finger.
A long weekend off work !! so yet another attempt to find a way of getting a hand on the ‘The Devil’s finger’ seen on the image of Jebel Akhdar below.
It’s the sticky-up bit seen at the end of the range of hills upper centre of this image; a long walk going from right to left.
Geology on display – Shams.
Geology on display-Shams.
Cairn – Jebel Shams.
Cairn – Jebel Shams.
I have no idea of its age; always been there, say the locals – there are the remains of early Iron age tombs – see below and (if you know where to look) stone house foundations of probably the same period.
Door detail.
Another door 🙂
Another from Jabrin Fort.
Corridor Jabrin Fort.
Door with Studs No 2.
Door fittings.
Mountain village.
Dramatic backdrop to this mountain village.
Old Style.
Nikon 35Ti with T-Max 400 @ box speed.
Playing in Photoshop – in the darkroom, I would use wet tissue paper to achieve the same result.
As thin as possible & wet so that it is semi-translucent.
Plastic bag.
Nikon F2sb with Tokina 35-70 f2.8 Ais AT-x lens. On Fuji Neopan 400 pushed two stops.
Quite often find (abandoned ?) bags hanging from a tree branch – especially in the middle of nowhere….
There never seems anything in them.
Door in abandoned building.
Nikon F4 with AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens. Made on T-Max 400 @ iso 320.
Sunset with palm trees.
Nikon F4 with AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8. Made on Ilford FP4plus @ iso 100.
I definitely needed the zone system for this exposure & two bath development.
Needs very careful printing so that the shadow detail doesn’t go totally black – so hope the scan looks ok.
Crooked clasp.
Nikon F2sb with Tokina 35-70 f2.8 lens – made on Kodak Tri-x.
Jebel Misht lost in cloud.
Nikon F4 with Sigma 28mm f2.8 Ais lens. On Kodak Plus-x.
Tree root in rocks – Jebel Shams.
Nikon F4 with AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8D. Made on Kodak Plus-X at box speed.
Just as a matter of interest: it’s lashing it down with rain here in Bausher !!! welcome after the heat of the last couple of weeks, but unexpected.
Old pot & plant.
Nikon F3 with Tokina 35-70 f2.8 Ais AT-X lens. Kodak T-Max 400 @ iso 320.
Pool with Palm.
Rock pool.
Hear what I found on YouTube…..
I stumbled on this … make your own mind up 🙂
And this……..
Leaves catching the light.
Early evening sun through the window.
Reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs – Necropolis of Bat.
For anyone interested in a little bit of information about the latest archaeological research regarding the Necropolis of Bat, of which the two tombs depicted above are part. See the link below:
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 45 (2015): Stephanie Döpper.
2014_SemArab_Doepper
Click the above link & click again on the new page – it will open a pdf file.
She discusses the reuse of Umm an-Nar tombs in the area and some of the interesting finds being made.
Cloud build-up Masirah.
A lazy build-up of clouds over a beach at Masirah Island.
Sand plants Masirah.
A continuous fight between plant & sand.
David A Lockwood 