Bat
Around 30km east of Ibri, the small village of BAT is home to a remarkable array of Bronze Age tombs, towers and other remains, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 (along with those at nearby Al Ayn). The site dates back to between 2000 and 3000 BC, forming, according to UNESCO, “the most complete collection of settlements and necropolises from the 3rd millennium BC in the world”. To the untrained eye, it’s difficult to make much sense of the remains you see on the ground, although the sheer scale of the ruins is impressive and the whole place is particularly beautiful towards dusk, when the light turns the surrounding hills a rich russet, their ridges dotted with the enigmatic remains of one of Oman’s most ancient civilizations. If you want to have a look at the tombs before visiting, there are a couple of nice 360-degree panophotographs of the site (and also of nearby Al Ayn) at wworldheritagetours.com.
The archeological site
Getting there is the first challenge. From Ibri, follow the road to Yanqul for about 15km then take the signed turn-off on the right to Bat and follow the road as it loops through a small village, past a mosque, straight on across a small roundabout and then turn right along the unsigned road in front of Al Dreez Modern Market. From Yanqul, take the signed turn-off on your left to Bat then the left turn signed to Al Wahrah, which brings you to the road in front of Al Dreez Modern Market. Follow the road past Al Dreez Modern Market for about 13km to reach a turning on the left signed to Al Banah and Al Hajar – this is the road on to Al Ayn.
Ignore this turning for the moment and continue straight ahead for a further 2km to reach a blue sign on the left saying Wadi al Ain 23km and pointing down a dirt track. Follow this track for about 1km (you’ll see the remains of a prominent white tower up on the hillside to your left) until you reach a ruined tower in a fenced enclosure next to the track on your right; park hereabouts. You’re now pretty much at the centre of the archeological site, stretching for a couple of kilometres in every direction, although there are no signs or marked trails to guide you. There are some four hundred tombs scattered around the surrounding hills, although virtually all have collapsed and now look essentially like large mounds of rubble.
From here, it’s a 5–10 minutes’ walk up to the remains of the circular white tower you probably saw on the drive in, halfway up the hill overlooking the wadi. This is one of a number of such structures dotted around the site, now standing about 1m high after restoration (although they may originally have been up to 10m tall), with a distinctive triangular door, walls formed from beautifully carved and carefully fitted pieces of stone and an interior divided into two “rooms” by a single wall down the middle. The exact function of this and other similar towers around Bat – or, indeed, what they originally looked like – remains unknown.
Two further towers stand next to one another in the wadi below; one has been restored using white stones, and the other using ochre, which makes for a nice photo, although the underlying archeological reasoning behind two-tone restoration remains unclear. Continue walking up the wadi for another ten minutes to reach an enclosure protected by a green wire-mesh fence (padlocked at the time of writing). Inside are three neatly restored beehive tombs (very similar to the towers, though a little smaller), one constructed out of white stones, the other two out of ochre, along with half-a-dozen other tombs in various stages of collapse. The remains of further partially intact beehive tombs can be seen along the ridgetop beyond.
Ibri
Strung out along Buraimi-Nizwa highway (Highway 21) more or less in the middle of nowhere, IBRI sees few foreign visitors, although it boasts a surprisingly absorbing cluster of traditional sights including a fine fort, interesting souk and one of the region’s most memorable walled mudbrick villages at nearby As Suleif. The town was formerly a stronghold of Ibadhi conservatism, though modern Ibri derives its importance from its proximity to Fahud, where Oman’s first oil was discovered in 1964.
The main sight in town is the large and carefully restored fort. Inside, the spacious gravel courtyard is surrounded by an interesting jumble of buildings and towers. To the right of the entrance stands the main defensive tower, an impressive three-storey structure; to the left, the remains of a mudbrick mosque with a deep well built into the platform alongside; and, on the far side of the courtyard, a residential building. Head left across the courtyard, through a second gateway, to reach a subsidiary courtyard, where steps lead up to a sizeable mosque, one of the largest in any Omani fort and still in use today, although kitted out with eyesore modern glass windows and metal pillars. This is actually only half the fort; the rest, beyond the mosque, remains closed to the public.
The area around the fort is significantly less manicured, but ultimately much more memorable, with dozens of imposing mudbrick houses (and a particularly fine ruined mosque opposite the fort) in various states of ruin, dotted here and there with little patches of dead oasis with decapitated palm trees. It’s a perfect picture of the physical passing of old Oman – intensely atmospheric, and rather sad. Pressed up hard against the west wall of the fort is the town’s attractive old souk, including some neat little arcaded sections.
As Suleif
On the southern edge of town lies Ibri’s most absorbing attraction, the remarkable walled village of As Suleif, a huge clump of collapsing mudbrick buildings which crown a small hill next to the main Nizwa highway. Like so many settlements in Oman, the old mudbrick village was abandoned a couple of decades ago in favour of the modern concrete villa development which now stands beside it, and the original settlement is now slowly crumbling into picturesque ruin – see it now before it collapses completely.
The entire village is impressively fortified, with high walls at the front and sides, and a string of watchtowers stuck like candles into the massive rock outcrop at the back. Inside is an incredibly labyrinthine, kasbah-like tangle of old roofless houses and other structures including a mosque, jail, various wells, majlis, food stores, a room for pressing dates and a “hanging tower” at the summit of the rock where unfortunates were taken to be executed. The remains of various inscriptions moulded onto arches or inscribed on rocks can also be seen. The resident guardian will meet you at the entrance and show you around. There’s no admission price, although a couple of rials should suffice.