Fourty degrees in the shade are standard in summer. In winter it is hardly cooler. In the desert country Oman rain is an exception, natural rivers or lakes do not exist. Nevertheless, people living there have managed to make the desert flourish in many places – even the pink blooming field rose can be found. This is possible thanks to the more than 1500 year-old channel system, the so-called Aflaj, which consists of a huge network of gutters and lockings and water ways. The water conducted in this system for many kilometres awakes the stone desert to a new life every year.