Sana'a Pictures
Yemen

The walls of medieval Sana'a at Market Gate. Sana'a is the capital of North Yemen.

North Yemen is an almost perfect picture of medieval Arab life. It has a long history, buildings are ancient, unique and spectacular, the people are fierce but friendly and social habits are curious. But until a few years ago tourists were not allowed to travel in this extraordinary country.

Sana'a's mud-brick housing

We have to thank Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait for the opening of Yemen to foreigners. When the government supported Iraq during the Gulf crisis, thousands of expatriate workers in Mid-East countries were sent home, cutting off one of the country's main sources of foreign currency.
Tourist dollars were the easiest and fastest way to replace the lost income. So, with the end of the Gulf War came the beginning of tourism and though the infrastructure for tourism is not well developed, the attractions are clear.

Sadly, just as Yemen tourism was beginning to flourish Al Quaeda emerged and the country became hazardous to the health. Then came the Arab Spring democracy movement in 2011 which is not yet resolved. We love the country but cannot recommend it for tourism at present. For up-to-date terrorist information please check the excellent Foreign Office (FO) world travel safety site or US State Department.

The most dramatic feature of Yemen today, especially in and around the capital of Sana'a, is the buildings. Sana'a, 2,300m above sea level, is considered to be architecturally unique and has received hundreds of millions of dollars from UNESCO for its preservation.

Many houses are over 400 years old, and most are built in the style of 1,000 years ago. Five or six floor, brown mud and brick houses grow out of the brown land, like huge square vegetables.

A Japanese tourist in Sana'a central market, before Al Quaeda.

Yemen people are as colourful as their homes. Large, curved, silver daggers are the Yemen equivalent of the western necktie, while Kalashnikov machine guns are carried with the same frequency as cellphones in Tokyo, only with a deadlier communicative purpose.

A Yemeni woman, walking towards the camera.

Since Yemen is a staunchly Islamic society the women appear in public fully covered, mostly in black like negative ghosts, and do not communicate at all with foreign travellers. Trying to take pictures of them is probably the most dangerous action a traveller can do in this country.

Dinner in a Yemeni house.

The weapons the men carry are not just for show but they generally keep their gunplay away from foreigners and are the perfect hosts. Inviting strangers into their homes for tea or sharing some narcotic qat leaves with a curious traveller is not unusual.

The usual afternoon or early evening Qat party.

Qat (also known as kat, khat, quat) is a another unique feature of the Yemen. A narcotic bush, cousin to the coca plant in South America from which cocaine is produced, qat is chewed in some other countries, but not to the same degree as in Yemen.
The whole country seems to be fueled by this legal drug, a euphoric stimulant, with 90% of the population chewing it for up to 5 hours a day.

Afternoon or evening qat parties are a part of daily life where groups of men, or women - but not both together - gather on the top floor of a house, or in a cafe, or their workplace; they lean on cushions, drink cola, smoke, chat and chew the qat.

Leaf by leaf, they stuff their faces until their eyes are bright, their blood pressure is up by 20%, their conversation is wild and their cheeks take on the shape of oranges.
Newspaper articles argue endlessly about the bad and occasionally about the good effects of qat on the body, but what is indisputable is that Yemen is poor country with very little rain.

A Qat farm outside Sana'a. Next, Sights outside Sana'a in North Yemen.

Most of Yemen's countryside is barren earth or rock, with a few small plots of carefully, expensively watered land, yet 50% of this tiny land area is used to grow qat, since people would rather chew the leaf than eat.
Many families spend one third of their monthly income on this drug, but the government doesn't dare to mess with the habits of so many fiercely independent, well-armed citizens.

Yemen weather: Sana'a is at an elevation of 2,400m (7,200 ft) so it's cold in winter. But it's also extremely hot and dusty in summer so the shoulder months of spring and autumn are the best time to go to this part of Yemen.
The west coast of Yemen is mostly hot, humid and rampant with malarial mosquitoes. The south coast is hot and dry but apart from Shibam there's little to see. The port of Aden is hideous.

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