Profile of Nick Dekker

In the summer of 2006, a gentleman named Nick Dekker contacted the ENHG with information and photographs from his time in Oman and the UAE. A brief profile of Nick appears below. You can see his photographs and comments in the section on Field Trips for Ibri (the walled city of Sulaif) and the cliff walk on Jebel Shams. Thank you, Nick!

Nick Dekker first went to Oman in 1974 to work on village water projects in Khasab and around the Musandam Province. This was followed by a deep-well water drilling project in the Jebal area around Salalah in Dhofar province.

From 1978 till retirement back to Scotland in 2001, he worked mainly in Abu Dhabi (including doing the first village water schemes Project in Liwa in 1983) and made many 'wadi-bashing' visits to Muscat, Musandam, Liwa, Wadi Bih, Al Ain and Hatta.

The last project he worked on was as RE on the Ibri Regional Water Scheme (in 2000/2001) which allowed the opportunity to explore the wadis around Ibri and Nizwa, and make three trips to the Saiq plateau including walking up via Wadi Muaydin.

His favourite spot in Oman is Mazarra in Wadi Dayqah. He first went there in 1975 when an Omani engineer told him that it was the only surface place in Arabia where water flowed all the year round every year. Now you can drive there on a black-top road in just over an hour from Muscat. Nearby Hay al Ghaf has an amazing Falaj fed from the lower wadi gravels.

His photographs:

'The Final Barrier' as you walk up the gorge below the Cliff Walk.	The wadi in front of Sulaif, near Ibri, in full flood, the water streaming out to the desert in the distance.
The view up to the terraces of the village from deep in the gorge, near the village of Nakr.	The reservoir above the terraces of the village at the end of the 'Cliff Walk' trail.