Above Salalah there's a pretty spring with natural water, Ain Garziz. On the algae of one of the ponds many Dwarf Honeybees, Apis florea, were congregating presumably to collect water. Pretty sight.
Then we drove up the hill - about 800 m high - to what is called Job's Tomb (see inset).
The connection to the Old-Testament and Quranic prophet may not immediately be evident. But there's an Islamic tradition - especially prevalent in the Muslim areas of the once Russian Empire - that elaborates on the more iconic Biblical and Quranic accounts. There it is said that the painful worms that plagued Job from his insides - a trial of his faith from the Almighty - were changed by that same Cruel Tester into Silkworms and Bees as a sign of the latter's mercy. And the little circle of Bees here would seem to be akin to the friends of Job around him discussing his adversities...
Loading contexts...
