The Essential Guide to The Wadi Damm Pools (2024)

Wadi Damm, Oman’s hidden wadi, is magnificent. It’s beautiful, there are multiple different hidden pools and to top it all off, the surrounding scenery is gorgeous.

Want to discover Wadi Damm for yourself? We don’t blame you!

Read on for our essential guide to Wadi Damm, including how to discover all the hidden and beautiful Wadi Damm pools (spoiler: there are a lot!). 

Wadi Damm: Overview

Wadi Damm is a lesser-known wadi that has many, many ‘hidden’ year-round pools, just waiting to be explored! If you like adventure and swimming, then Wadi Damm is just the place for you. 

Wadi Damm is also located in a very stunning area, with incredible mountain scenery in all directions. In our opinion, it’s an essential stop on any Oman road trip!

Read next: The Essential Guide to Visiting Wadi Tiwi

Wadi Damm Location

Wadi Damm is located in the very small village of Damm, near the also tiny village of Al Alyn, off the Nizwa-Ibri road. 

There are two ways to get to Wadi Damm. One requires a 4×4 and one does not require a 4×4. 

2WD Road From Nizwa

Coming from Nizwa, if you navigate to ‘Parking short walk to Wadi Damm Pools’, Google will direct you to the entrance of Wadi Damm. This road is paved until the last section, which is unpaved, but graded. 

All vehicles (even 2WDs) can make it close to the entrance of Wadi Damm. If you’re in a 2WD, you’ll have to park around 500m from the entrance and walk the final leg (around 10 minutes). 

If you have a 4×4, you can go around 500m further and park there.  

Pro tip: use Discover Cars to find the best deals on rentals for your Oman adventure.

You can also navigate to the Wadi Damm camping area above the wadi. While an SUV is ideal for this, we did see a sedan parked up there, so it depends on your level of adventure and what you’re comfortable with. 

4WD Road From Jebel Shams

There is a brand new graded road connecting Jebel Shams and Wadi Damm, so if you would like to go between the two (in either direction), you can do so without having to go the long way around. 

Coming from Jebel Shams, take a right at the coffee shop here. Continue on this road until you see the Wadi Damm campsite. 

Related: The Ultimate Guide To Conquering Wadi Bani Awf

Leaving Wadi Damm for Jebel Shams, continue on the road by the upper campsite for about 20 minutes until you hit a T-junction with a coffee shop here. 

At the T-junction, take the left. This is the main road to Jebel Shams and will take you straight there. 

All up, it’s about 1 hour to Jebel Shams from Wadi Damm. The road is steep but graded, so you’ll need a 4×4. 

However, a small 4×4 will suffice – we took our Suzuki Grand Vitara and were able to make it fine. 

Wadi Damm Pools

Damm means hidden, which is the perfect word to describe the Wadi Damm pools – because there are many, many hidden pools there!

The main hidden pool that people want to find is what we call the moss and fern pool, which we discuss below. 

However, there are other hidden pools, even further up the wadi, which we also discuss below. 

And finally, there are even more pools further up, which you can see from above when you take the road to Jebel Shams. We don’t go into details on those (because we didn’t visit them), but they also look great to explore!

Learn all you need to know about Camping in Oman

Moss and Fern Pool

The most famous Wadi Damm pool is what we call the ‘moss and fern pool’. This pool is very, very beautiful. 

With clear turquoise water, a natural shower and moss and fern hanging over a ledge, with water dripping, it’s pretty idyllic! 

Even if you’ve already seen a few wadis in Oman, this one will still impress you. 

How to Get to the Moss and Fern Pool

There are 2 ways to get to the moss and fern pool.  One way is from the Wadi Damm car park and the other is from the upper Wadi Damm campsite. 

From the car park

The hike to the moss and fern pool from the car park is about 30 minutes each way. 

From the car park, simply walk up the wadi until you reach the dam wall. While there’s the occasional arrow to mark the way, this part is very straightforward. 

After passing the dam, you’ll come to the first pool (where most people stop). Continue past this pool by walking along the wadi wall. 

Keep to the left. You’ll pass by a couple of small pools until you reach what looks like a dead end, but it’s actually a boulder cave.

Inside the cave is a rope. Use the rope to crawl through the hole at the top of the cave. 

Once you’ve gone through the hole, follow the ridge along the canyon until you reach the pools. You should hear the waterfalls and there should hopefully be a trail of green plants. 

From here, you’ll have to drop down a bit to reach the pools. The rocks are slippery, so be careful. 

From the upper campsite

Park at the upper Wadi Damm camping area and walk back down the road (i.e., in the direction you came from) for about 650m until you reach these coordinates: 23°13′51.51″N 57°04′59.16″E. 

From there, begin descending to the wadi floor. It’s a quick 20 to 30-minute walk down to the valley. There are occasional cairns to navigate. 

You’ll be able to see the pool from above. Once you reach the bottom of the wadi, head to the left, down the wadi, to get to the moss and fern pool. 

Important: From the camping area, do not walk up the road (i.e., in the opposite direction you came from). This will take you to a different pool (also worth visiting, see below). If you want to visit the moss and fern pool from this point, it’s about 1+ hours of arduous boulder hopping. It’s long and tiresome. 

The Super Hidden Wadi Damm Pools

Beyond the moss and fern pool, there is another set of pools at Wadi Damm. We call these ‘the super hidden Wadi Damm pools’. 

These are a series of really adventurous pools. Getting to the endpoint is not for the faint of heart and requires confidence, strength and agility. 

How to Get to the Super Hidden Wadi Damm Pools

To get to the super hidden pool, you’ll need to start from the upper campsite.

We don’t recommend walking through the wadi floor from the moss and fern pool, because it involves a LOT of boulder scrambling and is long and tedious. 

From the upper campsite, walk up the road (i.e., to the right of the camp, in the opposite direction that you came from).

After around 100m or so, you’ll see a path heading down into the wadi. It takes about 15 minutes to descend to the wadi floor. 

Once you reach the bottom, walk up the wadi (i.e., in the direction opposite the wadi entrance).

At the very first intersection, take the right. The coordinates are 23°14’03.1″N 57°05’36.2″E. You should hear the water. 

You first come to an open-air pool. This pool is nice, although the water wasn’t the cleanest when we were there. It’s still nice though and a good spot for a first dip. 

This pool is also nice if you’re camping at the top and just want an easy pool to access, without the work involved in getting to any of the other pools. 

To continue on the adventure, swim through this pool. The wadi will start to close above and become more enclosed. 

Next, you’ll come to a pool with a waterfall. This is when everything steps up a few notches on the adventure scale.

2 ropes are hanging down the waterfall, which you’ll need to climb up the waterfall. You use one rope to ascend to a mid-point, then when you’ve got a bit higher you must transition to the next rope. 

Important: climbing up the waterfall is very, very difficult. Zandy had to help push me up from below and I never could have done it on my own. Even Zandy found it challenging, on his own. This shows how challenging it is. 

After the waterfall, the water gets really cold, because you’re in an enclosed space that sees little, if any sunlight. 

Once you’re above the waterfall, swim through another pool that leads to an ‘almost cave’.

This is a pool that is completely enclosed with a small hole at the top – where there’s a rope hanging. If you’re strong, you can try to climb up it a bit. 

To return, simply retrace your steps. To go down the waterfall with the two ropes, it’s easier to just jump into the water. 

How Much Time Do You Need for Wadi Damm?

How much time you need for Wadi Damm depends on how many of the pools you want to explore. 

If you’re just going to the main pool and then the moss and fern pool, then 3 hours is enough to explore and get a good swim in. 

However, if you want to go to the really hidden pool, then there’s a bit more trekking involved, and you’ll want to budget around 4 hours, at a minimum. 

Camping at Wadi Damm

There is some excellent camping at Wadi Damm and we highly recommend it as a place to spend a night. 

There are a few different Wadi Damm camping options. 

Firstly, you can camp directly in Wadi Damm. This is a popular option and people say relatively good things about it.

We don’t have direct firsthand experience (we camped above the wadi), but it gives you close access to the pools. Unfortunately, like many camping spots in Oman, garbage can be a problem. This is a good time to remind you to leave no trace!

There is also a campsite site directly above Wadi Damm. It’s marked as Wadi Damm Campsite on Google Maps. It’s a large space, enough for a couple of cars (at least). It’s beautiful, overlooking the wadi and the stunning mountains in the region.

We passed by and sussed it out, but didn’t stay there because there was a big setup with a generator that we wanted to avoid. 

And finally, even higher than the Wadi Damm campsite is another very small (actually tiny) camping spot. This is marked on maps.me as ‘side road camping spot and viewpoint’.

This is good for one small car and a small tent – but even then, it’s a squeeze. This is where we camped and we loved it. It’s secluded, peaceful and has sick views! 

Other Things to Do Near Wadi Damm

The whole area around Wadi Damm is so (damm) beautiful, that it’s worth exploring it a bit more beyond the Wadi Damm pools. If I had to choose one area in Oman to explore in more depth, it would be here. 

The mountains in the area are incredible and beg to be explored and the Al Alyn Beehive Tombs are 100% worth a visit.

Al Alyn Beehive Tombs

The Al Alyn Beehive Tombs are super cool and worth a visit. Not only are they interesting, but they’re in a sick location. 

The tombs are free and offer a really beautiful perspective of the area. We loved them! 

To get to the Al Alyn Beehive Tombs, follow Google Maps until it takes you to the riverbed. Then drive up the river bed (i.e., to the right, or towards the big mountain) until you see the entrance.

You can park just off the riverbed and then walk up the hill to the tombs. 

Tips for Visiting Wadi Damm

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