Muscat: A giant Ferris wheel-style chicken grill has become an unexpected crowd-puller in Oman, with viral videos of hundreds of chickens rotating over charcoal fires captivating social media users and attracting visitors during the country’s annual Khareef season.
The attraction is located at Al Hashi Camp on Ayn Razat Road in Salalah, where organisers hosted a three-day event from July 30 to August 1. Described as the world’s largest Ferris wheel-style chicken grill, the installation combines large-scale barbecue cooking with amusement park-inspired engineering.
At the centre of the attraction are towering circular grills that resemble Ferris wheels, slowly rotating metal racks filled with whole chickens over charcoal fires. The venue also features a roller-coaster-inspired conveyor system that carries chickens through different stages of the cooking process, along with cylindrical rotating grills capable of roasting large batches at the same time.
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The unusual setup has turned a traditional barbecue into a live spectacle, with visitors gathering to watch the rotating grills in action and capture videos and photographs.
Organisers also launched a social media campaign encouraging attendees to share footage of the attraction and tag the event’s original creator. Participants were entered into a raffle offering two Mercedes cars and other prizes.
The attraction gained widespread attention after videos shared by Omani content creator Ahmed Al Saadi, known for his outdoor cooking and travel content, spread across social media platforms. At the time of publication, one of his Instagram reels had recorded more than 1.71 million views, 27,745 likes, 4,261 saves and 762 shares.
The Khareef season transforms Oman’s Dhofar Governorate each year with cooler temperatures, mist-covered mountains and lush greenery, attracting thousands of visitors from across the Gulf. This year, alongside the region’s natural beauty, the giant rotating chicken grill has emerged as one of the festival’s most distinctive attractions, blending culinary theatre with mechanical design to create a spectacle that continues to generate online buzz.
