Excellent trip so far for the grade 9 students at Jebel Shams.
The first day we kicked off from school and stopped for lunch at the beehive tombs, magical historic site facing the majestic Jebel Mist. Right after, we ascended wadi Dham and some of the students and some very brave teachers had a swim in a fantastic pool. As we have had rains recently, the wadi was working beautifully, full of cascades and with plenty of water in the pools.
We arrived to Jebel Shams resort on time for dinner and rested for the first night to prepare for a day full of activities on Monday.
Next day, after a fantastic breakfast at the resort, we headed for the wadi where the abseiling and the vía Ferrata were going to happen. We geared up and students were given instructions to complete the activities. I have to say that this was the first time for me that none of the students hesitated or panicked when starting the abseiling. This activity can be stressful for some people as it exposes them to heights that are normally out of their comfort zone. Right after all the students completed the via ferrata successfully and, quite tired, we returned to the hotel. After a well deserved dinner, we had a fire and enjoyed some spontaneous dance performances by some of the students before going to bed rather tired and satisfied with a day packed with adrenaline.
On Tuesday we woke up and had breakfast as usual, then headed to complete the balcony walk. Three students could complete about half of it as they experienced physical problems related to the fatigue from the previous day. The rest were able to complete the whole trek in a remarkable time. After this trek, we jumped in the cars and drove to Al Hoota Cave, learned about its formation and characteristics and headed to the camping site in Misfat where we spent the night. Here we had the pleasant surprise of coinciding with the grade 5 trip, who came there after changing their original plans due to bad weather.
Tomorrow we are heading to snake canyon and we are looking forward to completing the last activity of the trip, if weather permits.
Students are having a blast and they are showing excellent behavior.
More to come tomorrow.
