By Zuwaina Al Sulimani
What is better than escaping the hustle and bustle of modern life for a whole day on the water for Kayaking!! Kayaking is one of the best ways to explore a new place and creates some of the best memories. The memory is completed if kayaking is among the glorious lotus flowers. By paddling along next to a place looking at it, as opposed to being directly immersed in it, you get a completely different perspective.
Using a kayak and a camera, Mohammed Al Malki, an Omani photographer, indulges among quiet waves of Wadi Shab and charming louts flowers taking beautiful shots of the place. As he mentioned, the presence of these rare flowers in Oman especially not far away from his village caught his attention to visit the place. He took shots of the louts flowers in the Wadi by which they went viral through social media. For most people, it is known that louts flowers grow in rainy countries, and it was a surprise for Mohammed to know that they are planted in Tiwi. He thought that it will be a unique experience to try as he was excited to picture the place and spread great pictures to people who are interested in Oman’s tourism and photography.
Mohammed is among those few photographers who enjoyed the experience of kayaking through the louts flowers. To the viewer, the flowers seem to be covering the surface of the wadi only, yet the fact is that the roots of the flowers go so deep inside and the trunks with the leaves cover the whole boat. “it is just as if you are inside a forest of louts flowers. The view is splendid and it feels like you are not in Wadi Shab”, says al Malki. He expresses his feeling that this experience was one of the best he has ever gone through and he encourages Omanis and tourists to visit the place to enjoy the charming beauty of Wadi Shab and louts flowers.
He describes Wadi Shab as “a famous place with amazingly beautiful valley in which the presence of waterfalls and louts flowers give the place a magical touch with surprisingly cold place inside.”
Louts flower is one kind of water plants as it is also called water lily. It is found across India, east Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. The reason behind its presence in Wadi Shab is likely because of tourists who have spread the seeds in the Wadi and they surprisingly grow up. They beautifully bloom at day, petal by petal, then close up at night. It is considered to be a symbol of purity, rebirth and strength across various cultures. It has flowers of various colors such as red, pink, white, creamy white and yellow.
Mohamed concludes his amazing experience saying that one of the photographers’ mission to their country is to highlight the beauty of different places through their lenses. “we have this duty of revealing the country to other people though photography. This talent, if not invested correctly to the service of the country and humanity, will lose it essence”, he explained.
