Against the backdrop of southern Oman's lush mountains, men in traditional attire chant ancient poems in an ancient language, fighting to keep alive a spoken tradition used by just two percent of the population.

Sitting under a tent, poet Khalid Ahmed al-Kathiri recites the verses, while men clad in robes and headdresses echo back his words in the vast expanse.

"Jibbali poetry is a means for us to preserve the language and teach it to the new generation," Kathiri, 41, told AFP.

The overwhelming majority of Omanis speak Arabic, but in the mountainous coastal region of Dhofar bordering Yemen, people speak Jibbali, also known as Shehri.

Researcher Ali Almashani described it as an "endangered language" spoken by no more than 120,000 people in a country of over five million.

- 'Protected b

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