Wadi Dayqah Dam (Part 1 of 3): Entrance/Front of Dam

I’ve heard a lot about Wadi Dayqah over the past several months, so I recently decided to drive up to see it for myself.  It’s about 60 kms southwest of Muscat which makes for an easy ride!

Wadi Dayqah is the largest dam in Oman.  It was completed on March 26, 2012 and has impressed many visitors during the last 8 months.  Due to some creative planning, there are facilities for tourists there that make this a major family picnic area.

“The 390 metre-long storage dam, with a height of 73.6 metres and a 100 million cubic-metre storage capacity, would provide about 35 million cubic metres of water a year: around 10 million cubic metres for villages down the wadi stream for agricultural purposes and around 5.7 and 19.3 million cubic meters for drinking and domestic purposes in Qurayat and Muscat Governorate consecutively”. (Nov 19, 2005, Oman Observer)

The size of the dam is very impressive; as you can see from this photo looking up, the folks looked like ants walking on the top of the dam. Pics from the view on top will be in the 3rd part of this series on Wadi Dayqah.

Some families can be seen in these photos picnicing in the wadi below the dam.  There is also a beautifully planned area specifically designed for visitors near the top of the dam which I intend to show in the next 2 blogposts on Wadi Dayqah.  During national holidays and weekends, this place is crowded.

Wadi Dayqah was considered the ideal spot for such a massive project as 120 wadis converge into its path. (from the Oman Tourism web portal)

I wonder if anyone reading this feels the same way I did before visiting the dam.  I thought, “Since when is a dam a tourist destination?”  Well, when you see it for yourself and take in the beauty of the area, it really is worth half a day’s trip out of Muscat to see for yourself!  Part of my motivation for writing this 3 part blogpost is to encourage anyone who hasn’t been there, to visit this gorgeous spot.  This is where the beauty of Oman’s nature and the progress of Oman come together in one beautiful breath-taking location.

I loved watching these fearless men swimming on the very edge of the dam.  Watch the video at the end of this post (near the end of the video) to get an idea of the water pressure coming down towards these gentlemen!

I would have been impressed enough had our visit ended with this area near the front of the dam presented in this post.  We hadn’t seen anything yet!  After being encouraged to visit the back of the dam by some friendly local guys from Sur, my friend and I were about to be blown away by the true beauty of Wadi Dayqah – best seen from the area immediately behind and on top of the dam.  Stay tuned for posts 2 and 3 coming soon!  🙂