Under The Olive Trees Of Jabal Al Akhdar: Oman’s Most Enchanting Harvest Is A Feast For The Senses at Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar

In the 1990s, high above Oman’s rugged interior, a rather extraordinary experiment was taking root. Trucks arrived at Jabal Al Akhdar carrying thousands of olive saplings from across the Mediterranean and beyond.

Omani farmers unloaded them onto the mountain and planted them into its terraced earth, trusting that trees more accustomed to Mediterranean landscapes might somehow find a home in Arabia.

They did.

Research from Sultan Qaboos University records the introduction of around 10,000 olive saplings in the 1990s, while subsequent cultivation transformed Al Jabal Al Akhdar into an emerging centre for Omani olive production.  

Today, the mountain supports numerous cultivars, including Arbequina, Picholine, Koroneiki and Picual, among others. 

The secret is altitude. Rising above 2,000 metres, Al Jabal Al Akhdar possesses an unusually cool, semi-arid mountain climate, with winter temperatures capable of falling below freezing — conditions remarkably congenial to temperate crops.  

In the Arabian Peninsula, it is an improbable Mediterranean pocket: a place where olive trees can flower, fruit and be harvested beneath an immense Omani sky.

And every September, that unlikely agricultural story becomes a celebration.

This year, the fifth annual Olive Harvest Festival at Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort unfolds from 23 to 27 September 2026, turning the mountain’s olive groves, kitchens and terraces into an exuberant five-day homage to the humble fruit. 

Imagine, then, an Australian couple arriving at Anantara on 21 September to mark their twentieth wedding anniversary. They have travelled to Oman expecting mountains, silence, extraordinary hospitality and perhaps a little romance. 

What they discover is something considerably more delicious: an entire festival devoted to one of their great culinary loves.

For two devoted epicureans, resistance is futile.

They sign up for everything.

The festivities begin on Wednesday, 23 September, with an olive-inspired welcome at Al Shurfa, where local olives, herbs and citrus introduce guests to the flavours of the mountain.  

Dinner follows with an Italian and Spanish feast featuring live stations by guest chef Martín Aristondo of Spain’s Basque Region — a fittingly cosmopolitan opening for an ingredient whose story has travelled across continents. 

Then comes the harvest itself.

Olive-picking competitions transform agricultural tradition into wonderfully convivial sport, while the Olive & Olive Oil Souk brings together locally grown olives, traditionally cold-pressed oils and artisan products.

 At Diana’s Point, Spanish cooking classes unfold against one of Jabal Al Akhdar’s cinematic canyon vistas. Meanwhile, guided olive-press tours and tastings with horticulturist Dr Ali Al Furqani reveal the science, craftsmanship and astonishing adaptability behind Oman’s burgeoning olive culture. 

Perhaps the most evocative experience is Olive Tales at Breakfast: stories of olive traditions accompanied by guided tastings, allowing guests to understand the fruit not merely as an ingredient but as a cultural artefact — one that has long travelled through the cuisines, trade routes and traditions of the wider Middle East and Mediterranean. 

Oman’s own relationship with olives is comparatively young commercially, yet already compelling; research notes their increasing importance in traditional food and medicine, while cultivation has expanded rapidly in the country. 

And naturally, there is eating.

At Bella Vista, an Italian dinner pairs Mediterranean flavours with the vertiginous drama of the canyon. The following day, an open-air international and Mediterranean market lunch brings Italian nibbles, Spanish tapas, artisan olive oils and seasonal mountain produce together beneath the vast landscape. 

For the Australian couple, it becomes an unexpectedly intimate culinary pilgrimage: olive oil glistening over warm food, mountain air sharpening every flavour, laughter echoing between canyon walls and twenty years of marriage acquiring a new taste.

“Our Olive Harvest Festival has become one of the resort’s most anticipated annual celebrations, bringing together the rich agricultural heritage of Jabal Al Akhdar with unforgettable guest experiences,” said Abdullatif Al Farsi, General Manager of Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort. “From meeting local producers and discovering the olive harvest to enjoying exceptional cuisine inspired by the season, the festival offers an authentic connection to the destination while showcasing the remarkable beauty and culture of Oman’s Green Mountain.”

That sentiment goes to the heart of Anantara Hotels & Resorts. Since 2001, the luxury hospitality brand has built its identity around connecting modern travellers with the places, people and stories that give destinations their soul. Its most persuasive luxury is therefore not simply a beautiful room or an impeccable table, but access: the privilege of entering a world that might otherwise remain unseen.

At Al Jabal Al Akhdar, that philosophy feels particularly potent. Here, hospitality does not merely observe the landscape; it participates in it.

And so, when our imaginary anniversary couple eventually departs for Canberra, they carry home more than bottles of Omani olive oil and memories of a spectacular mountain retreat. They leave with another chapter in their shared lore — one written in September, flavoured with freshly pressed olive oil and illuminated by the high golden light of Jabal Al Akhdar.

A love story, after twenty years, deserves a remarkable setting.

This one happened to be beneath the olive trees of Oman.

For reservations, please call +968 2521 8000 or email aljabalalakhdar@anantara.com.

*Photos courtesy of Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar.