The ancient abode

December, 2, 2011

Having turned his abandoned ancestral house in Misfat Al Abriyeen into a guesthouse, Ahmed Al Abri, a former employee with the Ministry of Tourism, has ventured into a novel initiative that offers tourists overnight stay in an Omani house. Salim Joseph steps into the ancient abode for a unique experience

The Sabah Al Muqubrah (the main entrance) is bursting with people – the families and groups on a weekend trip to the beautiful interiors of Oman. We pass them and proceed through the old alleyways winding through the ancient houses built on rocks and mountain slopes.

The board erected by the Tourism Ministry at the entrance had said that we could look out for Bait as Saffah (houses on flat rock), Bait al Baitayn (the two houses) and Bait al Ambah (the house beside the mango tree). But we are heading to a 150-year-old house that’s now making a mark in the whole concept of sustainable tourism.

Many in Oman, especially those enthusiastic travelers to scenic places and green terraces tucked within the rugged mountains, may have been in this village that speaks of more than 1500 years history. And one can just imagine the impression this picturesque village that features mountain tracks, old houses, long-winding falaj system and terraced plantations of date palms, bananas and lemons would have made on the visitors.

Misfat Al Abriyeen, a village that lies at the foot of Jebel Shams, overlooking wilayat Al Hamra off Nizwa has been a major tourist centre in the Sultanate thanks to the large number of visitors who throng the place all year around. It’s here that a young man is trying to add great value with a novel initiative – offering tourists a unique experience of staying overnight in an Omani house, from where the rocky staircases lead down to gardens and pools!

He is Ahmed Mohammed Al Abri, a graduate in Archeology and Tourism, a trekker who played a vital role in marking trekking routes in Oman while working with the Ministry of Tourism and above all, as the name itself suggests, a local lad who grew up in this old village still teeming with life.

For a unique experience

With a dream to create something new, unique and different from a hotel or other guesthouses, Ahmed transformed his abandoned ancestral house into a place where one can get closer to the Omani traditions and culture. Misfah Guesthouse, as he call it, could be the first project of its kind in the country which offers overnight stay in an Omani house and the taste of authentic Omani food besides familiarizing the guests with various activities that have kept the village a living example of Omani customs and traditions.

“I grew up in this house and it got abandoned five years ago when my family shifted to a new house in Misfah. It lay abandoned for two years and then I thought of taking it up to fulfill my dream of creating something new in this country,” says Ahmed. Besides, his intention was to benefit local people also from the project.

Ahmed started welcoming guests to the house, his close friends, some Omanis and westerners, to get a feedback and suggestions. “Based on the feedback, we did a major renovation last year mainly to improve the toilet and shower facilities and bedding, still maintaining the structure built of rocks, mud and clay to retain the ancient architecture and the genuine ambience. We just upgraded it to a higher standard,” he points out.

Now being run in a proper way the house on the slope overlooking terraced gardens and mountains, has seven rooms, four sharing toilets and showers and can accommodate a maximum of 14 adults at a time. At present, a total of six people are working with the project.

Ahmed has also involved some families from the area to provide food, pure Omani food, he says, besides trekking guides to offer the guests a complete experience in an old Omani village. “The whole place is a tourist attraction and the village is still alive unlike many abandoned villages in Oman. There’s life, history, the heights where people can relax and daily activities like farming,” he says.

Ahmed says the price of RO25 per person which includes dinner and breakfast is something reasonable and ‘we are selling not just an accommodation but a different experience, which you wouldn’t get anywhere else in the country.’

He has plans to expand, hopefully by next year. “I have identified another house close to this and would like to add more,” he says. Of course, Ahmed has every reason for his expansion plan: “Last year we received around 500 people. The tourist season in Misfat is all year around and though the peak season is from October to May, we still have local tourists coming during summer.”

The bookings at present can be done through the tour operators or by sending e-mail to bandbmisfah@gmail.com. “We have done a good marketing and majority of the tour operators are aware about this facility,” Ahmed says.

But he is not at all interested in mass tourism. “We are not looking for a big number of guests to our facility. We like to have people who can really appreciate what we sell. And we easily can spot the wrong people from their very inquiries,” he asserts.