Water has always been the measure of wealth in the Omani interior, and at Nizwa it arrives through a channel that has been flowing for centuries. Falaj Daris is the largest of the aflaj, the traditional irrigation systems of Oman, and it carries water from underground sources in the foothills of the Jebel Akhdar to the date gardens and fields of Nizwa. The system works by gravity, with tunnels and open channels sometimes running for kilometres, and the water is shared among farmers according to an ancient system of time-based rights, managed by a local official. Falaj Daris is one of five aflaj inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2006, recognising a technology that may go back two thousand years or more.
Nizwa itself was once the capital of Oman and remains one of its most important historic towns. Its massive round fort, built in the seventeenth century, dominates the centre, and the old souq, with its silver, pottery and spice shops, is famous for the Friday livestock market, where goats and cattle are auctioned in a lively circle. The Jebel Akhdar, the Green Mountain, rises behind the town, with terraced villages, rose gardens and pomegranate orchards on its high plateau.
The riding here is spectacular. The main road from Muscat to Nizwa is a modern dual carriageway, fast but dull, but the roads into the mountains are another story. The climb up the Jebel Akhdar is a steep, winding road with tight hairpins, and access is controlled by a police checkpoint, where only four-wheel-drive vehicles are normally allowed through; check current rules for motorcycles before you go. The road west toward Bahla and Jabrin passes forts and oases, and the road to Jebel Shams, Oman's highest mountain, climbs to the edge of a deep canyon, with the final stretch unpaved. Summer temperatures are extreme, regularly over forty degrees, so the cooler months from October to April are the time to ride.
Nizwa is a city of over seventy thousand people, with plenty of fuel stations, restaurants and hotels. Omani food includes shuwa, slow-cooked marinated meat, and halwa, a sticky sweet served with strong coffee flavoured with cardamom. Walk along the falaj where it emerges into the date gardens, listen to the water, and feel the coolness it brings. In this dry land, it is a small miracle.