Abdallah, The Pink Roses of Jabal Akhdar and some Food For Thought

The pink roses of Jabal Akhdar

Do you remember the famous song 'Desert Rose' by Sting? It's lyrics as well as the music were extremely haunting, and I  couldn't help but wonder what exactly was this 'Desert rose'?

Then one day, having visited this magical terrain called 'Jabal Akhdar' or the Green mountains high up in the hills in Oman, I arrived at the most likely answer, or certainly one that I would like to tell you about. 'Jabal Akhdar',  the place where the most exquisite pink roses bloom and in April you can find whole fields full of these fantastic roses.

The stunning terrain on a beautiful day

For five years consecutively I've gone to the Jabals land each time it has looked stunning.But my trip last April was probably the very  best!

Not only did I get the opportunity to see these roses up very close and personal, I also had the added advantage of watching the Omani National award winning rose water maker, Abdallah walk us through his stunning fields filled with exquisite pink roses.To top that, we were also very privileged to watch him make some of that fantastic rose water, the good old fashioned way in his brick kiln.

Abdallah picking his best pink roses 

Just before the roses are taken for making the rosewater

Making the award winning rose water, the old fashioned hand made way

The icing on the cake, his little grandson  Mohammed, who is obviously following in his father's and grandfather's  footsteps, spent that whole morning with us, telling us all about their way of life and living and must admit, we couldn't help but marvel. Such a young boy, and so much of information stored up in that little head already!

Little Mohammed showing us the best pink roses

Memories are truly made of this

And as I frequently like to say, I think I'll let my photographs do the rest of the talking.However, the only thing that I can't possibly convey through these, is that particular fragrance of the
pink roses that is in a word, unforgettable.

Many months later, I can still conjure up that heady perfume.

In my 'waking' as well as my 'sleeping' moments.....