Walking through Al Hoota

Our tour-guide said that “Al Hoota” is Arabic for “deep passage“.


Blind fish, small crustacean, mosquito larvae and water beetles live in Al Hoota Cave. While the crustacean and larvae are washed into the cave during floods, the water beetles live in the ground water. The water beetle, hydaena putearius, is only known in two places in Oman.

Caves are lacking light and therefore lacking green plants. Thus, cave animals are dependent on the import of organic materials from outside. Remains of plants and animals, delivered with water and wind, as well as remnants of cave animals, like carcasses and excrements, represent the basis of the cave food chain. The vast majority of animals in Al Hoota Cave are not true cave dwellers. They came either by coincidence with floods or they escaped underground temporarily from heat and drought.