Snake Canyon                                                                              This page is revised on the 8 June 1999

The prominent Al Hajar massif was created as the Indian Ocean tectonic plate moved in under the Arabic tectonic plate and, in a relatively small area, was pushed up through the Arabic plate. The surface of the Arabic plate consists mainly of sand stone, sand and others from the period where is was sea bottom. The surface of the Indian plate consists of hard rock. This hard rock cracked as it was pushed up through the Arabic plate. This activity has created some marvellous gorges and canyons. One of the most famous canyons is the Snake Canyon; it is 5 km long, ½ to 6 metres wide and up to 150 metres deep. The picture below gives an overview of the Snake Canyon and surroundings:

An exciting trip is to walk into the canyon and walk, crawl, jump and swim. It is a fantastic trip. Let's go:

Yes, it is right. It is into that little crack.

We start abseiling into a little lake.

You can see me there 6 metres above the water.

On the bottom in water over smooth rock (with rope).

After that it is simply straight forward......

Jumping.....

Swimming:

The most spectacular part is swimming through a 100 metres long cave. It is the only way out:

Salim and Hafidh are already in the water and are swimming (just visible in the centre of the photo above).

The complete trip takes between 2½ and 4 hours.