On the last weekend of August 2022 the first tourism festival on Jabal Akhdar took place. This multi-day event aimed to promote local products, traditions and tourism on the Jabal Akhdar plateau. Guests were greeted by the smell of rosewater, fruits and mishkak. On the entertainment side the festival presented horse shows, concerts, and traditional dancing.

My personal (visual-) favorite was the sword dance, which fortunately took place just before sunset. In this traditional dance a group of drummers and dancers perform a choreography consisting of drumming, singing, a kind of line-dance and show-fighting. The festival attracted a large crowd and caused some major traffic problems on the main road leading to the plateau. Encouraged by the success of the festival the Ministry for Heritage and Tourism decided that more festivals in other regions will follow.

The Jabal Akhdar plateau with it’s main village of Sayq lies at an altitude of 2000m above sea level, with the highest peaks reaching up to 3000m. The “green mountain” as the name means in Arabic gets its name from the abundance of greeneries and agricultural pockets. The lower temperature at this altitude combined with above average rain quantities provide an ideal climate for farming.

Different seasons are know for different products on the Jabal Akhdar. While the most famous season is the bloom of the roses in spring, August is know as the season of the pomegranate. Similarly to the rosewater in spring, a large part of the pomegranate harvest gets processed into products like juice or syrup.