Qualla: Majlis al Jinn

Majlis al Jinn: Introduction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. The ceiling is only forty meters thick. Stand on the Selma Plateau at 1,380 meters above sea level in eastern Oman, and beneath your feet lies a single cavern large enough to hold several football stadiums stacked on top of each other. Majlis al Jinn -- the Meeting Place of the Spirits -- measures 310 meters by 225 meters, with a domed ceiling soaring 120 meters overhead. Three holes in the roof are the only way in. There is no way out except back up.

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Image: The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Majlis al Jinn: Into the Dark

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jclaver, Public domain. American hydrogeologist Don Davison discovered the entrances in June 1983 while working for the Omani government's Public Authority for Water Resources as part of a karst research program. The first descent came on June 23 of that year, when Davison rappelled 118 meters through w...

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Image: Jclaver | Public domain

Majlis al Jinn: A Cathedral of Limestone

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. The cave formed in fossiliferous carbonate rocks of the Middle Eocene Dammam Formation. The Selma Plateau is a shallow syncline on the northeastern limb of the Jabal Bani Jabir anticline, and Majlis al Jinn is one of five vertical cave entrances on the plateau, but the only one w...

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Image: The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Majlis al Jinn: Climbers in the Cathedral

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. In 2014, rock climbers Stefan Glowacz and Chris Sharma descended into Majlis al Jinn and attempted something that had never been done: climbing out. They chose a route up the interior of the dome, a steeply overhanging wall of limestone that curves outward as it rises. They claim...

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Image: The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Majlis al Jinn: Between Tourism and Preservation

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. Oman's Ministry of Tourism began exploring plans to develop Majlis al Jinn as a show cave after their first show cave attracted 75,000 visitors in its inaugural year of 2007-2008. The tension between access and preservation is acute. The cave's remoteness has been its greatest pr...

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Image: The original uploader was Michaelmcandrew at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0