Fortress Villages of Yemen

Middle East » Yemen » Sana'a
April 27th 2006

Published: April 29th 2006

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Hababah

Yemeni wedding dance - see what I mean about the knives

Getting out of the city this morning to visit some of the villages to the north of the city, cant find anyone to share the cost so going alone, the the driverat the hotel says $16 USD for the day. It wasnt an overly long trip to the first destination, the countryside along the way is barren and rocky except ofcourse for all the qat fields. Havent seen a dog since I have been here but there are heaps running around feral out here, who knows what they eat.

The first place we visited was Thilla which turned out to be probably the best preserved of the villages, it is built into the mountain side and is a really pretty town with a stone stairway that leads up the cliff face to a fortress on top. I wandered the alleyways for a while before starting the 2.5km climb up, the views over the town and the plateau were spectacular. I then was dragged into the shops, I could not find any suitable gifts, the problem being the goods are either imported shit from India or expensive "antiques" there is not much to choose from. Then it was down to the

Village North of Sana a

square and off to the next village.

Hababah was a pig sty, the Yemeni have not worked out what to do with plastic and cans, so they chuck them anywhere. Many of the huge multistory buildings were also in ruin. I talked to some of the kids, kids the world over seem to learn english and took a few snap shots.

On the way out of town we came across a Yemeni wedding dance, it consisted of circle of men and boys all dancing with those big bloody knives in their hands, my driver Saeed gave me his and I joined in, it was a bit of a laugh.

Shibam was next, it like Thilla is built up against the mountains, we went to a restaurant there for a traditional Yemeni meal which consisted of an incredible thirteen courses, even in my more glutonous days I wouldnt have made a dent in that lot, still I tried everything ($6). My French friends turned up towards the end of the meal you should have seen their faces when their's came out, classic.

On the top of the mountain overlooking Shibam is the fortified village of Kawkabam, you

Qat Field

Man with a gun in that little house

used to have to climb up the mountain to get there and you still can, but we went up in the car so we could take some shots from the new tourist road, some of which are spectacular by the way. The entrance to the village is fortified and looks really impressive as do the ancient cisterns, the rest of the village is ugly and ramshackle. I took some pictures here of the town below and had the driver take a shot of me on the edge of the cliff another shocker, you can see part of me but not much else.

The French couple and I then took the trail down the side of the mountain it took roughly an hour, and a part from all the garbage was attractive and fun. The French guy took a photo of an old woman carrying a bundle of sticks up the mountain, when she drew level she belted him, totally hilarious. When we reached the village at the bottom some kids ran up asking for a pen, when I said I didnt have any they started picking up stones I yelled at them and they stopped, the French however werent

Fortified Village

so lucky though.

When we got to the Souk I said farewell to the French and headed back to Sana a, only to get a bit of shock on arrival, they told me the tour was not $16 but $60 I suppose thats what I get for trying to do things the easy way. Still it was a great day and well worth it.

I have decided not to do the trip I was planning tommorrow due to the cost $210 US is to much to see any bloody bridge no matter how good it is, plus they take hostages up there :-) and I cant go independantly because of the permits etc.

To Geoff the Sharjah Stadium is closed now, they have built a new one in Dubai, I could see it in the distancethogh when I went to the animal park.

To Ruths mum and dad if I had known about womans day I could have got the robes and the hejab and gone in indisguise.

To Nige Tassie is more dangerous mate or at least it was till Bryant got locked up, hope you had a huge one.

Thilla

Stone Stair

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North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen. Three years later, the southern governm...more history