With its emerald-green waters and serene surroundings, the Bimmah sinkhole is located some 120km from Muscat.Tourists who get to see the sinkhole and its pristine waters are more than welcome to descend to the bottom through a concrete staircase that has been erected for just this purpose.

Tourists are also welcome to take a dip inside the sinkhole, which in Arabic is also called Hawiyat Najm (the falling star), because it resembles a crater that is formed due to the impact of an asteroid on the earth’s surface.

Sinkholes are often the result of groundwater eating away at rocks like limestone and carbonate. Caverns form as the rocks dissolve, and eventually the ground above caves in, sometimes taking cars, houses, and even the occasional pizza place with it.

A large concrete staircase sticks out among the natural landscape, but offers a less precarious way down to the picturesque pool. Many folks just go to admire its beauty, or dip their feet in the vividly blue-green water for a fish-administered pedicure of sorts. Still some take full advantage of the salty water, diving from the cliffs within the cavern.”