Not far from the centre of Nizwa and on our way to the Alia Hotel in in Jabel Al Akhdar is Falaj Daris.
Falaj means water channel and these have been used by Omanis over centuries to irrigate the fields supporting agriculture as well as for domestic use.
Falaj Daris is a World Heritage Site and is the largest falaj in Oman.
Without it there would never have been a city here in Nizwa and provides the surrounding countryside with much needed water for the date palm plantations.
Using gravity, water is channeled to the villages and towns it passes through. In the early times watchtowers were built to defend the water systems and now form part of the site reflecting the historic dependence of communities on the waterway system.