Hike and Canyon in Oman

This was a fabulous trip. Oman is made for adventures. In addition to canyoning and hiking, we added quad biking and snorkeling. The country is beautiful, people are kind and polite, and the food is incredible. All hotels were super clean.

1. Bring a long sleeve rash top and tights/leggings. It will protect your skin from scratches.
2. There is very little spending money required as the trip covers majority of food and expenses.

Great experience and exposure to a different culture. Go into it with curiosity and willingness to learn rather than compare. Your world will open up and you will have an opportunity to physically push yourself. I highly recommend adhering to the kit list (although head lamp wasn't really needed). If you bring a reusable water bottle you will find some spots to refill them, or even at the hotels. Don't take a taxi from the hotel, it will cost significantly more, and be proactive in asking for your included transfer! This is such a fun and beautiful adventure.

What an amazing trip!! Highly recommend and had a thoroughly great experience. A few things to note:

• Yes, it may not be the cheapest trip but all meals, snacks and transfers are included. I took out 100 Omani Rials when we landed (around £200) and that covered my whole trip, including additional activities like renting quad bikes in the desert and snorkelling with the turtles. If not interested in additional activities, you could take out even less, 50 Rials would be plenty.
• You can take either a suitcase or a rucksack, they are both equally easy to transport between hotels.
• Highly recommend leggings for the canyoning.
• A small towel will be sufficient, it’s to dry yourself off after the canyoning, but we were mostly dry from walking back to the car in the sun.
• Previous comments mention to take snacks for the big hike day, but Nabeel and the team have made a number of updates to the itinerary to make it flow better, so I barely ate any of my snacks. There is also a stop to a supermarket before the hike so you can pick anything up there. I’d recommend to pack a few things you like but don’t overpack.
• The food is absolutely amazing on the trip! There is always lots of it so embrace it and enjoy! A huge thank you to Nabeel and a special shout out to Jaifar, what an amazing guide and made the trip really special.

Activity and Itinerary-wise this is was my favorite MBA trip. The scenery is stunning and the hikes and canyonings are a lot of fun.Logistics, however, were not outstanding, and this is the only reason why I am not rating this trip 5/5. There was some confusion with our hotel bookings and one or two very late meals. Make sure your dry bag has stripes as you are going to hike with them and also that your water shoes have good grip.

This was a great trip! The local guides were incredible - very knowledgeable and well organised. We loved all of the activities, accommodation and food. What a lovely way to explore such a beautiful country

This is an absolutely amazing trip with a myriad of different activities and highlights! Hiking Oman's Grand Canyon and Jebel Shams, exploring the fascinating cultures of Muscat, Nizwa, and the wonderfully atmospheric Misfat al Abriyeen "mud village" built into the rock. Playing and walking in the incomparable dune scenery of Wahiba Sands and swimming and canyoning through beautiful wadis. Nabeel's organisation and company was fantastic from start to finish, and Jaifar is a superb guide and so much fun to spend time with! We ate far too much delicious food (hard to restrain ourselves after lots of active days!) and the fresh fruit juices were delicious. A close-knit lovely group and overall a wonderful experience - you must do this trip!

I cannot recommend this trip highly enough - stunning scenery, a brilliant group, great value for money, and fab guides. It would be very difficult to pick a single highlight in a trip that included cities, mountains, canyons, desert and traditional mud towns, but the canyoning in particular exceeded my expectations and was far more fun (and challenging!) than anything I've done in the UK. Jaifar is a brilliant guide with endless energy who made sure everyone was always having fun, even when we (I!) were wobbling over the more difficult bits of bouldering or needing hauling up/onto rocks. Special mention also to Khalil for acting as a human ladder on more than one occasion! Wahiba Sands was also a huge highlight for me, as was Nizwa, and the swimming at Wadi Hawir - some of the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen, made even better (in the case of Wadi Hawir) by the fact that for much of the day we didn't see anyone else. The accommodation and food throughout was even better than expected, and confirmed that this trip is incredibly good value. A big thank you is also due to Nabeel, not just for his knowledge and support at the beginning and end of the trip, but also for continuing to help out those of us who stayed on a few extra days after the tour ended - he went above and beyond. My extra advice: definitely pack leggings (I didn't, but they would have been helpful for canyoning!) and for women, be aware you'll need to cover shoulders and knees in most places. Most importantly, if you're thinking of signing up, do it - Oman should be at the top of everyone's travel list, and you will be in capable hands throughout if you book with MBA.

I really enjoyed this trip. The scenery was epic and the guides were very warm and friendly. They were incredibly accommodating, great fun to be around and helped everyone maximise their enjoyment of the canyoning. I was gently cajoled into various jumps, abseils and caves that were outside my comfort zone but utterly thrilling in the moment and very memorable. We also had a fabulous group - that's 2 from 2 on my MBA trips 👌. My next trip is booked!

The 2nd of 3 canyoning days deserves a special mention - it was particularly exquisite. So much fun that the time flew by... And everyone's blown away by the photos. The Insta fodder is limitless.

There were one or two wrinkles: a struggle to find a hotel, briefings that could be more detailed and I'd suggest packed lunches to avoid the very late lunches we had on a couple of occasions. And the last day didn't quite hit the heights of the others so perhaps worth juggling things round there. It's a fairly new trip so those tweaks are to be expected. Certainly don't let it put you off.

A few things to bear in mind if you're considering booking this trip: 1) All the food and soft drinks is included so the trip is better value than it might seem. 2) You will need to bring snacks as per the kit list. They're crucial given the late lunches. 3) Full length arms on a rash vest will be a big help. 4) The timings and schedule are fluid - that's the way the guides roll. On the plus side you can influence the schedule. 5) I don't eat meat and I was fine. I had quite a bit of fish which is available everywhere. Most places have falafel and good salads so proper vegetarians would be fine too. 6) Water shoes with good grip and a decent sole (i.e. not wafer thin) will maximise your enjoyment of the canyoning. 7) There's not really an opportunity to pay for washing so bring travel wash or plenty of DRI fit gear. 8) Oman is a Pepsi country. Supermarkets do sell Coke Zero though! 9) Chips are used as a garnish. So a rice and chip butty is a possibility should you be that way inclined. 10) The Omani attitude to bread and rice is that more is always better. I loosened my belt a couple of notches and lent into that part of the culture!

Fantastic trip - great range of activities (especially the canyoning, which words can't do justice to), sights and guides. Felt like we really got to know Oman and its and very welcoming people whilst also enjoying lots of adrenaline rushes. There was the odd niggle, and I'd change the itinerary a bit, but nothing that took the shine off a great overall experience!

This trip to Oman was such an amazing experience!! I have always been curious and interested in the Middle East and Oman did not disappoint me... The host and guides lined up such an amazing itenerary to get us to know Oman and it is very difficult to point the highlight of this trip... every moment was special, since the canyons adventures to the night under the starts in the desert, to the moments of sitting around coffee and dates and the view from the top of Jebel Shams... Add to this the friendliness, generosity, and hospitality of Omani people, the delicious food where rice cant be missed, the smell of frankincense and the beautiful natural sites and you have plenty reasons not to miss this trip!!!

Oman is an incredible country of stunning scenery, a fascinating history and welcoming, generous people. This trip combines mountains, canyoning and desert with culture and history. The summit of Jebel Shams was a highlight (8 hours hiking, not technically difficult or steep, done in trail shoes), as were the magical wadis. An extremely varied, full, interesting trip and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone.

The most fantastic adventure and intro to a country and culture with the loveliest, most welcoming hosts. They looked after us fantastically, packing our trip with fun. The wadi pools are just heaven. Can’t wait to come back and explore more. 💙💙💙💙