Ghost village of Birkat-Al-Mouz, Oman, July 2014

[HughieD]

A bit different this one. Plenty of exploring opportunities in the lovely country of Oman if you find yourself over that way. This place is a two hours drive (140km) from Muscat in the mountains towards Nizwa. The place in question is Birkat-Al-Mouz, a deserted old town that has been left to crumble. There has been a lot of depopulation in the countryside in favour of the big cities like its capital, Muscat. Birkat al Mouz translates literally as “pool of bananas” and is situated is a small area about 2 kms from the base of the mountain of Jebel Akdhar. It’s hard to find any history about this place but it really is worth the drive. The houses were made out of mud and are now slowly starting to crumble making it a very atmospheric place to photograph. The new town is near by to the ruined old town and the whole area is surrounded by lush green date palm plantations.

Interior of one house with a falaj (or water channel) flowing through it:


img3332 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Decaying mud houses:


img3335 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The village’s old mosque


img3334 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The old look-out tower:


img3336 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Houses slowly collapsing:


img3337 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Typical Omani style shelves built into the house walls:


img3340 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Another couple of shots of the watch-tower:


img3343 by HughieDW, on Flickr


img3344 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And a couple of overview shots of the old village as a whole:


img3338small by HughieDW, on Flickr


img3339small by HughieDW, on Flickr

 

[HughieD]

Just noticed that this poor fella didn't get a single comment. More Oman urbex to follow shortly....

 

[luketovey]

I like the last photo!

 

[UrbanX]

Not sure how this one slipped through the net!
What a fabulous place! It goes to show the extent of how weather degrades a building, these wouldn't last one winter in the UK.
Fantastically documented, looking forward to more.

 

[HughieD]

Not sure how this one slipped through the net!
What a fabulous place! It goes to show the extent of how weather degrades a building, these wouldn't last one winter in the UK.
Fantastically documented, looking forward to more.

Cheers UrbanX. Was in a very privileged position to be working out there with some down time so headed into the interior. There's massive dereliction there as many head for the bigger cities and abandon their rural dwellings leaving ghost villages like this. However the next one I'll post is more about the RAF causing dereliction through bombing! Watch this space...