At the base of the Western Hajar Mountain range, near Jabal Akhdar in the northwest of Oman, sits Nakhal, a town that is set amongst date plantations and dominated by the dramatic Nakhal Fort. The fort itself is believed to date back to the pre-Islamic era while the towers and entrance way were constructed during the reign of Imam Said bin Sultan in 1834. An extensive renovation was undertaken in 1990 and today the fort affords visitors excellent views of the town’s date plantations and across the Batinah plains as well as interesting displays of guns and cannons.
We approach the fort by road through the town and it’s unclear whether it’s open for visitors on this Eid long weekend. When we get to the car park there are a few others braving the midday heat and disappearing in through the large wooden door.
We enter through the same door way and it’s instantly cooler in the shade. This doesn’t last long though as we climb stairs that leads out onto the roof. There’s no flow and we find ourselves exploring meeting rooms and cannons haphazardly. The majlis (seating areas), laid out as they would have been long ago, are positioned on top of the structure and accessed by the roof. These were designed to catch the mountain breezes and provide a cool place to enjoy the views of the oasis below, however, there are no cool breezes today.
The entire structure was built around a rock, a common feature of Omani forts, saving the need for constructing foundations. There are gaps over doorways where boiling cauldrons of honey would be hinged and spiked doors to repel battering. The round towers are designed to deflect cannon balls and there are lots of falaj (water channels) built in to catch and distribute water in case of a siege.
My boys love the cannons and the idea of bows and arrows being fired off through the little slit windows to repel the enemy.
The whole structure is built around the existing rock formation giving a haphazard design to the ramparts but meaning that there was no need to lay separate foundations during construction of the fort.
It’s big and interesting and although there are lots of rooms to explore there is not much information available on site. It was an interesting visit and a nice diversion and my boys enjoyed exploring the towers and various rooms with a few make believe battles undertaken in the process.
Would I return?
No. It was a great visit though it was a bit too far of a detour with children in tow. The roads are generally not very well signed (for non Arabic speakers) and Google Maps doesn’t seem to work here. We got lost on several occasions and had to backtrack and re-route a number of times. Take printed maps or other forms of navigation to ensure your trip runs smoothly. There are many forts to visit in Oman.
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