Amazing Quest: Stories from Oman | Somewhere on Earth: Oman | Free Documentary

foreign [Music] thank you today somewhere on Earth is off to discover the sultanate of Oman in the south of the Arabian Peninsula this is the Orient of the Thousand and One Nights which the Romans called Arabia Felix blessed Arabia it's also the land of the once nomadic Bedouins Baidu in Arabic means desert dweller though far in the far south of the country Harbors a precious treasure frankincense mosine has a PHD in biology he devotes most of his time to the protection of the frankincense tree two thousand years ago the inhabitants here made fortunes and their influence spread throughout the world thanks to the frankincense trade Saeed is a mountain Bedouin he lives in the hajjar a mountain range in the north along the Gulf of Oman Saeed is also a tree man like those who have gone before him he maintains the vital contact with nature Saeed lives his life according to the seasons of his date palms he takes care of them for they are all he has and he lives right in the midst of his trees Ahmed and his son live in balatzit in the Jebel al-aqtar literally the Green Mountain Greenery means water and it's conveyed thanks to the felagues an irrigation system that was born 5 000 years ago when the farmers channeled spring water to irrigate their crops and thus managed to thrive in a Barren hostile land Ahmed is an Arif a water Master a guardian of knowledge and a living memory we prefer to keep it as it was in the beginning those who have gone before us knew very well what they were doing in ancient times Caravans would cross the deserts of Southern Arabia [Music] the rube Alkali the empty Corner the desert of deserts is situated in Northern dofao it's a natural Frontier between Oman and Yemen Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in this vast immense expanse we are no more than minuscule particles insignificant specs when you're in a big city and you have people all around you're caught up in the bustle but here not at all we're fully aware of how insignificant we are compared with the immensity of the desert welcome [Music] the desert is immense boundless and we're very small in this world I feel at home here I'm in touch with this land the desert gives me serenity peace [Music] mohsin's father was a man of the desert and he transmitted to his son the entire history of his people the Bedouins were originally nomadic herdsmen moving from place to place with their camels they had to face hunger thirst and the merciless Sun this parched Earth with its sparse vegetation wouldn't allow them to camp in one place for very long for those tribes nomadism was less a way of life than a simple struggle for survival it was the Bedouins who long ago traced the Caravan Roots through the heart of this vast desert they would cross the boundless expanses of sand with their Precious Cargo frankincense the historians tell that the frankincense passed through here and across the rubalically so you can easily imagine what a difficult Voyage it was likewise it gives you an idea of how important frankincense was so important that some people would risk their lives in such a voyage the Bedouins would cover thousands of miles with their Precious Cargo even today with all the modern means crossing the desert is not an easy task so imagine what it was like for the Caravans back then frankincense was important it was priceless [Music] at the time the difficulty of the voyage increased the value of the frankincense it could be worth its weight in gold the fate of the nomadic tribes depended on this treasure which was in demand the world over the story of Frankincense begins here in the dofar region on the southern tip of Oman these wild trees are full of a resin with an unmistakable Aroma frankincense [Music] [Music] today olibanum another name for this aromatic Essence is still a must in the dofar region they burn it day and night said to keep evil spirits away cleanses the atmosphere and purifies the soul it is used in the rituals of a number of religions mosine is the guardian of this Legacy his family has always owned trees this is where the story of Frankincense begins in the nedge not far from Yemen it's Harvest Time many say that the nedge produces the world's finest frankincense I wound the tree so it weeps and these are the tears of the tree in order for it to produce I have to wound it again and again the tree suffers but it's to make us happy [Music] oh [Music] hello [Music] oh yes [Music] of course this tree is specific to this region this tree grows only around the Arabian Sea so my responsibility as an Arab from this region our responsibility is to protect it to see that the tree continues to thrive as other countries do with their plants so my favorite spots the places I like to explore are those where the frankincense trees grow in the mountains of dofar I'm attached to the spots where this tree grows I've always liked them ever since my childhood and that's why I feel at peace when I come to these places since he became a PhD in biology most seen has been rediscovering the nedge it's a scientific as well as personal Quest I'm at peace when I'm out alone in the middle of nature it can be in the mountains in the deserts along the sea I feel at peace I feel that it's my place where I belong and I never get this feeling when I'm in the city only when I'm away from it [Music] oh the only way to get around in this Wildland is by foot and certain parts of this broken terrain are still unexplored [Music] mosine devotes all his spare time to studying and understanding the boswellia Sacra scientific name for the frankincense tree frankincense runs in my blood in the blood of my ancestors in the blood of our history our entire existence is bound to it it's in our flesh all Arabia exhales an odor marvelously sweet so wrote Herodotus a Greek historian who lived in the 4th Century BC if Herodotus was acquainted with frankincense in ancient times it means that olibanum had already made its way across the deserts and seas frankincense Roots were either Overland towards Europe or oversea towards India China and Egypt ever since ancient times these roots have linked Oman to the Mediterranean countries and to the Far East Via the Indian Ocean dofar earned a widespread reputation as a frankincense exporter [Music] the Omani seafarers became excellent Navigators and gave the world the first instruments like the Sextant thus laying the foundations of modern navigation foreign [Music] has traveled far and wide it has penetrated Asia and reached the heart of China it has crossed borders even the most tightly sealed it has opened the gates of unassailable citadels [Music] this perfume of 1000 Mysteries has even penetrated to the heart of China's Forbidden City frankincense Roots relate this epic Tale they connected communities they wove barns United different peoples and their cultures thanks to the Caravans and the seafarers frankincense has had a role to play in the rights and prayers across the continents and throughout the world these ruins are a testimony to a still living legend foreign where the frankincense was exported to the rest of the world it's a historic Port the frankincense would leave here for the Far Corners of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea the Far East and China this spot is a historical link with other civilizations the Greek civilization the Mediterranean civilization there is a reference to sumeron in Greek mythology that shows that there were already exchanges between this port and the major trade routes of the time at the time different civilizations were vying for control of the frankincense trade there were many military Expeditions undertaken to find the source of Frankincense by Alexander the Great for example [Music] foreign [Music] the frankincense of the nedge region is unique and that's thanks to a microclimate found nowhere else in Arabia dofar receives the monsoons of the Indian Ocean but the frankincense tree needs above all an arid Sunny climate the hotter it is the more concentrated its aroma [Music] the frankincense tree needs a very specific climate humidity is not good for it it can't be too cool either it grows in regions that are dry and arid but not totally desert seasonal winds also play an important role [Music] mosine is on his way to manzala a few hours away the name means land of trees mosine knows a man there whose tribe still owns 500 year old trees [Music] that man a Bedouin as well has worked all his life in that remote region I see you have a herd of camels I need one for a few days I have to go to manzala let's go take a look one might be right one has to use a camel in this region the trails are impossible for cars or any other mount here we packed everything we'll need food blankets water everything we'll need for this week-long trip [Music] thank you at the bottom of the canyon lies the legendary site of manzala a thriving frankincense Market in the Middle Ages the merchants would come here to buy it directly from the families who owned the trees then another Voyage would begin [Music] frankincense is known throughout the world yet the tree itself remains shrouded in myth far from the coast the locations of the Groves were closely guarded Secret manzala still preserves this mystery Charlie I've come to learn how you go about harvesting the frankincense show me the old method the technique that your ancestors passed on to you we've always done like this these are the cuts after making the cuts you wait 20 days after 20 days the first layer appears and we Harvest it then you stop at the fourth cut for all the trees no some don't produce anything even after the fourth cut so then you stop once you harvest here what's it like when the resin flows it forms little white pellets the best incense is what you harvest first it has the lightest color foreign [Music] the desert Bedouins don't speak Arabic even today they continue to speak their own particular dialect even though times are changing in Oman it is still a land of oral tradition in his quest for knowledge mosine listens attentively to the stories of the old-timers there are a lot of trees here you share the Trees of the whole Wadi means region of trees each person has his territory everyone knows and respects the boundaries that's always been the tradition from the beginning of time you mean yes we have to respect the tradition for our whole life depends on frankincense literally this holds true not only for my family but for all the families as long as there are trees here there will be man as well in these Timeless valleys only the words of the Bedouins ruffle the silence [Music] to the South dofar borders on the sea sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean Drew her inspiration from this land and one can easily imagine Sinbad the Sailor striking out across these Waters to embark on Fantastic Adventures [Music] mosine owns a few trees himself an inheritance he and his nephew study every aspect of them he also is transmitting his Storehouse of knowledge and hopes to heighten people's awareness of these trees [Music] [Music] right now the trees are suffering from a number of diseases and parasites as you can see here with these insects we have to find out why get to the root of the problem why is this tree healthy here and not here there are other insects invading this tree again we have to find out why when they over tap the tree with too many Cuts it's weakened and gets attacked by insects yeah do you understand and to share that's the mission that mosine has taken on knowledge of the frankincense tree will be his contribution to this story that is thousands of years old it's the pride of mosine son of Bedouins a man of the desert there are no limits to knowledge but before leaving this world I hope to contribute something make a significant advance in the scientific knowledge of this tree mosine is perpetuating the bedouin's age-old story he carries us off to the mysteries of the Orient of frankincense and of the Thousand and One Nights [Music] [Applause] [Music] larger than all of France the rub al-kali covers one-fourth of the Arabian peninsula um this boundless Wilderness has forged the identity of Arabia and those who live here it's a last frontier defended by the wind and the vast emptiness [Music] for the Bedouins this is the desert of deserts a hostile arid land it never rains here temperatures can soar to 60 degrees Celsius in the day and plunge to minus 10 at night the dunes can shift in a few hours pushed by the winds alone [Music] the French poet after Rambo was 26 years old at the end of the 19th century he answered the call of the desert during the final years of his life the poet traveled through Arabia and abyssinia he roamed these vast expanses on foot on Horseback on Camel his friend verlen dubbed him the man with foot soles of wind [Music] there's one thing that remains impossible for me insisted Rambo that is to lead a sedentary life in the desert you feel hunger thirst the Lash of the sun drought you lose yourself without knowing whether you'll survive [Music] realm of a few Mad Men Seekers of the absolute and somewhere amidst these Dunes Lawrence of Arabia one can easily imagine the British soldier Crossing Arabia in 1916 with his fellow nomads face to face with the desert he learns to make do with nothing he approaches as he says the pleasure and suffering the man surrounds himself solely with desert Bedouins the only men worthy of his trust he thinks in the peninsula he earns the honorific name of Al Lawrence thirst hunger a hostile environment this is saeed's daily lot within him dwells the response to the desert he is a Bedouin as well but belongs to the mountains [Music] extreme my Village is named after that River I've lived here all my life this is where I was born we're in the mountains here and I wouldn't leave it for anything in the world I wouldn't want to live down there on the planet or anywhere else I've always lived here I'm attached to these mountains I don't like to go down into the valley when I travel it's never more than one or two days I always come back very quickly to Selma because I miss it I get homesick very quickly Zaid has a three-day walk to reach the nearest town several hours to his village he lives right in the heart of the ajar mountains this range is in the northeast of the sultanate Saeed lives in this remote Valley where he tends his Palm Grove when side was a child there was no school here no electricity no roads said doesn't know how to read or write or drive and I'm sure yeah I get around the valley only on foot Never by car I know all the wadis all the rivers all the channels because I've walked them wherever I go I use these trails the same Trails my ancestors used I never learned how to drive a car it's a bit late for that now I'm almost 60. according to a legend this narrow Gorge leads to the ancient city of Sana meaning the hidden village it's called that because it hides behind the mountain when you begin to get close to it [Music] for many years this Haven of peace and prosperity was protected and hidden from View then one day a tyrant discovered it he seized its riches and then destroyed everything ever since this sad tale Sana has been marked on the maps [Music] not far away in the village of Selma saeed's life consists of a small herd of goats and his fruit trees date palms in particular the date King of Fruit in the sultanate of Oman yeah in this plot there are six palm trees over there another five they belong to my family to my brothers my sisters and my cousins I'm the one who takes care of them so I get a larger share of the dates we have 78 poems foreign flowers it's where the pollen is I put them in my tunic and I wet them so the Palm Tree can produce a lot of dates this is how we pollinate the palm trees I have to wet them otherwise it wouldn't work now we have to bring them up oh [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign dates are the sugar of Oman inhabitants eat them at any and all hours of the day Saeed has been climbing to the top of his date palms for 50 years I learned everything from my father and the old-timers it's the tradition here I've been working in the Palm Grove since I was 14. and I also take care of the irrigation here and in the other spots I've been doing the same thing since I was 14. for years I've been doing nothing but this this is my life everything needs water every living thing needs water as it says in the Quran everything was created from water where do man the animals the trees and palm trees come from from water it's the very essence of man of plants of all things I'm not afraid even 40 meters up I'm not afraid 40 meters up [Music] the ajar mountains with their 3000 meter Peaks are a mineral barrier where time seems to stand still [Music] all this space and seeming hostility have shaped the life the spirit and identity of the mountain Bedouins once Nomads they owe their survival to this wild nature that they succeeded in taming in controlling this craggy terrain they've made life emerge where there was none before foreign [Music] [Music] makes his ritual tour of inspection of his Palm Grove Crossing it from one side to the other foreign possible in these mountains is this steep Trail the climate here is milder than in the plains the Bedouins have settled in the highlands to cultivate their trees and Saeed is continuing this ancestral way of life [Music] foreign thanks to the irrigation system just like our ancestors before us we came into the world and we carried on their tradition and now we continue to work the land and live from farming in cultivating palm and orange trees they follow this way of life and the whole valley foreign s are keeping the past alive and this once abandoned Village as well they keep up the houses on the Mountainside so that their memory will never disappear the terraced plots make a Charming adornment to the ajar mountains Saeed lives a solitary life here he tends his trees that feed his children perched on the Mountainside this Earth yields fruit and vegetables Grenadines the peaches over there and on the other side we have Vineyards [Music] foreign knows that one day he too will have to pass his trees on to his children all that is in his chant born in the Palm Grove his lament Rises and drifts away in The Echoes of the mountains is the prime of Life 50 is another age the beginning of another life then 60 the time to reap all that we've sown throughout our life the fruit of our experience has ripened it's the time of the Harvest [Music] Mountain Bedouin grows trees from rocks his hands bring forth lemons grapes and dates this is how life flows on in the ajar mountains [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] several hundred miles from the shores of the Gulf of Oman and the capital Muscat lies the Jebel al-aqdar the Green Mountain in English [Music] when the moon [Music] the village of balatzit numbers about 50 families situated near a Wadi a canyon a trail has been recently opened leading to it but for a long time the village was inaccessible [Music] for centuries the villagers here could count only on their Ingenuity and sense of sharing so they managed to master water [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] too cool [Music] [Music] in Ballad seat the whole life of the village depends on the transmission from one generation to the next parents teach their children right from a very early age this simple truth life comes from water [Music] I would like to do like my father and my grandfather before him it's always been the tradition here green crops irrigation taking care of the flags after my father it would be my turn to pass on my knowledge to my brothers and sisters and later on to my own children the spring water is channeled from the Peaks down to the Villages by these aqueducts that carry it to its intended destination the channels and plots of land are all laid out so each family gets its fair share this irrigation system is called the felagues [Music] we're in the heart of the Green Mountain here the air is alive with the murmur of water Ahmed and his son were born here in balatzit Ahmed is the Arif the water master his role is to take care of The Village's major fallags everyone respects his knowledge and Authority over its five thousand years of existence the system of canals has continued to grow naturally they had to appoint men to tend the many branches the water Masters have an overall view of the irrigation system laid out like a spider web foreign I check all the channels and make sure the water flows freely every year one member of the community is chosen for the job I'm the one in charge it's my job I'm in charge of the maintenance as well as the distribution of the water if something needs to be repaired I get my children to give me a hand buy what we need for the repairs and we go to work [Music] super soldier I'm sorry I'm sorry foreign we teach our children the knowledge of our forebears if we don't teach them at this age they'll never know how to work the land or attend the Felix what needs to be done day by day to keep them up that is why we make sure they come along when they're quite Young they come everywhere with us we're proud of them as we are of our fathers this way everyone knows all about our culture that's why our children come along with us it is to learn foreign [Music] the water Masters are the guardians of an important facet of oman's History the falags have been classed a world heritage site even today life in the Jebel al-aghdar depends on them [Music] foreign [Music] the water Masters become intimately acquainted with the whole network and they ensure that the system runs efficiently once long ago people climbed this mountain five thousand years ago they deviated the course of the water once a month Ahmed and his son go up to the source Ahmed Ahmed here's the fill out we have to clean out we'll start at the source and then go on to the channels down to the Village these mountains enjoy a different climate from the rest of the country it's not as hot in the summer and colder and more humid in the winter in November and December the mountain is buffeted by violent storms a true godsend for these valleys clogged up and even less to rot the water must always flow there should never be any bugs or slime mold in it it's important to take care of the water nothing will go wrong as long as the fella gets well okay thanks be to God our fathers taught us how to repair the Felix with clay of course we could use cement but we prefer to do like our ancestors we want to preserve the health of our people as well as the beauty of the felons the whole Canal system was very difficult to dig our ancestors worked very hard it wasn't a simple task that's why it's important for us to preserve this Heritage we have to take care of the channels the quality of the water and it's good taste that's why we prefer to keep it as it was in the beginning those who have gone before us knew very well what they were doing Ahmed and his son work so that balatzit conserves its history their life continues practically unchanged in the age-old way the mountain jealously guards the secrets of the phalagues [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] Allah alhamdulillah it's much better living here in these isolated regions than in the city down there you don't feel the weather and the change of seasons you spend all your time running around it's not like that here we can enjoy the passing of time we can take the time to say hello foreign [Music] in the Palm Grove the main Canal splits off into a complex Network each plot of land each Terrace gets its duration of water the water Masters see that the distribution runs smoothly they know all the ramifications of the system and channel the water where it's needed Village we irrigate every nine days following a 24-hour cycle foreign thank you foreign [Applause] the Bedouins are the keepers of age-old Secrets people of an oral tradition they tell their story and thus perpetuated this memory is engraved in these waterways that flow on and on [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 322,486

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), somewhere on earth, amazing stories, amazing quest, amazing stories from oman, oman

Id: TcxDGSr9jRY

Length: 52min 6sec (3126 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2023