Wilayat Al Rustaq

Nestling beneath the soaring peaks of the Western Hajar mountains, the Wilayat of Rustaq borders on the Wilayat of al Awabi the the east, Ibri is to the west, al Musana'ah to the north and the slopes of al Jabal al Akhdhar to the south. It is 150 Kilometres from the Governorate of Muscat and its population of 67,641 lives in Rustaq itself and its 170 villages. It has two niyabats - al Hawqain and Wadi Bani Hinai - and numerous enchanting wadis where the visitor can stroll among springs and lush palm groves. Among the best known of these wadis are Wadi Sahtan, Wadi Bani Ghafir, Wadi Bani Awf, Wadi al Haimli and Wadi Hajir Bani Umar. The wilayat has 200 aflaj including Falaj al Maisar -the oldest - Falaj al Sayighi, and Falaj al Kamil, which is a truly brilliant feat of engineering.The Ya'ariba understood the importance of obtaining good drinking water from their wadis and underground springs, just as they recognized the dangers of salinity on the Batinah plain. In tackling the problem they looked to the future and realised that the solution lay in digging a falaj to carry water from Rustaq to the village of al Turaif in the Wilayat of al Musana'ah. The project was begun during the reign of Imam Saif bin Sultan al Ya'rubi, when a channel was dug through the rocks and mountains to the village of al Misfah near the village of al Hazm. The project came to a halt with the death of the Imam and, though its roofs and wooden supports remain to this day, the.falaj itself is not even a distant memory. Although Rustaq is a very ancient city with origins that date from Oman's earliest history, Rustaq Fort is one of only a few visible traces of its past that can be seen today.