Oman Canyon

Wadi Shab

46 m from rim to floor.

The cut

46 metres, to scale.

A slice through Wadi Shab where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.

Standing on the floor, to scale: a person · 1.8 m · a two-storey house · 9.0 m

Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.

46m

Depth

measured on the 30 m relief model

6.9km

Rim to rim

measured on the 30 m relief model

10°

Steepest wall

average over 300 m, from the relief

-1m

Floor altitude

Rim to floor

Afternoons, up top and down below.

In June the afternoon reaches 37 °C. The best months to hike are from December to February. The floor passes 35 °C from May to July: walk at dawn and carry water.

rim · 132 mfloor · -1 m

24°24°Jan
26°25°Feb
29°28°Mar
32°32°Apr
36°35°May
37°36°Jun
36°35°Jul
35°34°Aug
34°33°Sep
32°32°Oct
29°28°Nov
26°25°Dec

Hike: Dec–FebFloor above 35 °C: May–Jul

Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.

Wadi in Oman

Wadi Shab is a canyon in Oman. The relief model measures 46 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 133 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 6.9 km wide where the cut was taken.

Getting there.

Parking 30 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Wadi shab boatingnearest viewpoint · 0.1 km from the floor
Muscat International Airport (MCT)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 130 km in a straight lineCar hire at MCT airport (Muscat/Seeb)Discover Cars · sponsored link
From December to Februarybest months to hike (estimate)

Plan the visit

Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at MCT airport (Muscat/Seeb)Discover CarsSee prices

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From the sky.

The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.

N 4 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 15 × 15 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the canyon.

4viewpoints within 5 kmWadi Shab Resort, Wadi shab boating, View point and 1 more
2caves within 3 km
1car parks within 3 km
2bus stops within 2 km
11campsites within 8 kmBush Camp Fins Beach, Bush camp Tiwi, المكلا and 8 more
4hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmTiwi Sunrise, Guesthouse, Tiwi Pearl and 1 more
6restaurants and cafés within 4 km

marked hiking routes within 4 km
via ferrata routes within 4 km
climbing crags within 3 km
footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
swimming spots within 3 km
named waterfalls within 4 km
information boards and visitor centres within 4 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Month by month

The weather, at the floor and at the rim.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon · floor	24	26	29	32	36	37	36	35	34	32	29	26
Afternoon · rim	24	25	28	32	35	36	35	34	33	32	28	25
Night · rim	20	20	22	26	29	30	30	29	28	27	24	21
Rain (mm)	12	9	12	9	6	14	5	2	1	4	8	9
Rainy days	3	2	3	2	1	1	1	1	0	1	2	2
Sun hours/day	8.2	8.9	9.4	9.8	10.6	9.8	8.2	8.7	9.4	9.3	8.6	8.1

	Afternoon · floor	Afternoon · rim	Night · rim	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	24	24	20	12	8.2
Feb	26	25	20	9	8.9
Mar	29	28	22	12	9.4
Apr	32	32	26	9	9.8
May	36	35	29	6	10.6
Jun	37	36	30	14	9.8
Jul	36	35	30	5	8.2
Aug	35	34	29	2	8.7
Sep	34	33	28	1	9.4
Oct	32	32	27	4	9.3
Nov	29	28	24	8	8.6
Dec	26	25	21	9	8.1

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (-1 m) and the rim (132 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Seen from the trail.

At Wadi Shab (23834494314) — Prasad Pillai from Kochi, India · CC BY 2.0

Breathtaking cave in Wadi Shab, Oman (53697749251) — "dronepicr" · CC BY 2.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	368%	10%	400%	7%	11%	2%	—	—	—	—	62%	3%
2021	0%	3%	2%	7%	255%	2%	—	—	—	—	4%	49%
2022	130%	34%	0%	7%	0%	0%	—	—	—	—	4%	334%
2023	43%	0%	202%	723%	16%	2%	—	—	—	—	69%	10%
2024	13%	529%	245%	607%	50%	28%	—	—	—	—	0%	7%
2025	15%	7%	0%	0%	5%	13%	—	—	—	—	0%	32%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Compare with the neighbours.

Wadi Shab

Oman

46 mDepth
6.9 kmRim to rim
—Length
10°Steepest wall

Snake Gorge

Oman · 193 km

1,359 mDepth
15 kmRim to rim
—Length
56°Steepest wall

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length	Wikidata (Q3409476) · CC0
The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020
Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.