Yemen: The Ultimate Tourist Destination
Any one who has ever been to or visited Yemen will say one thing about that: an unforgettable experience. Yemen is also unique, exotic and enchanting. Rolling, green, cool high mountains; fantastic valleys; pristine beaches and blue, pure seas; vast expanses of deserts - some mountainous and some flat filled with Mars like features; radically distinctive islands; and the friendliest people.
Due to some few incidences, associated with the so called 'terrorism' - Yemen has been (wrongly) made to appear dangerous and unsafe.But contrary to what some or many think, Yemen is very safe. Where else can one stop by on any high way and rest or help others, so easily, without fear? Where else can one walk the streets at any time of day or night without the fear of being mugged or robbed? Very few countries can claim or boast that.
Most tourists who come to Yemen these days are cultured, elderly Europeans; those seeking the authentic and unusual. Yemen provides that. Yemen appeals to those with a taste for adventure and the ancient. "Yemen offers stunning, ancient cities like Ma'rib, which was the capital of ancient Sheba. The country also boasts soaring mountains and pristine coral reefs. Yemen's architecture is dramatically different from the suburban sprawl and urban boxes of most of the modern world. It has buildings made of mud, straw and dung that can rise eight stories, and the mosque minarets are frosted with gypsum." It offers too: the stunning, UNESCO's, World Heritage city of Shibam. And much more.
"It's a very beautiful country and it has some of the Arab world's most interesting, best preserved, medieval ruins. And it's also got a living culture which is exotic in the true sense of the word," John Andrews, a Washington correspondent for "The Economist," once told CNN.
As recently as last December The New York Times had this to say:
And from the Arabian Wildlife: Yemen is a very attractive place for the committed eco-tourist to visit, not only because of its interesting geographical features, flora and fauna, but because the traditional lifestyle of its people has remained relatively untouched by the 20th century.
Other Posts On This Site On Yemen
More Links On Yemen: AME Info, Arab.net, Yementourism.com, al-bab.com, Yemen Times, Yemen Observer, Saba News, Google News, Google Scholar, Google Earth
Due to some few incidences, associated with the so called 'terrorism' - Yemen has been (wrongly) made to appear dangerous and unsafe.But contrary to what some or many think, Yemen is very safe. Where else can one stop by on any high way and rest or help others, so easily, without fear? Where else can one walk the streets at any time of day or night without the fear of being mugged or robbed? Very few countries can claim or boast that.
Most tourists who come to Yemen these days are cultured, elderly Europeans; those seeking the authentic and unusual. Yemen provides that. Yemen appeals to those with a taste for adventure and the ancient. "Yemen offers stunning, ancient cities like Ma'rib, which was the capital of ancient Sheba. The country also boasts soaring mountains and pristine coral reefs. Yemen's architecture is dramatically different from the suburban sprawl and urban boxes of most of the modern world. It has buildings made of mud, straw and dung that can rise eight stories, and the mosque minarets are frosted with gypsum." It offers too: the stunning, UNESCO's, World Heritage city of Shibam. And much more.
"It's a very beautiful country and it has some of the Arab world's most interesting, best preserved, medieval ruins. And it's also got a living culture which is exotic in the true sense of the word," John Andrews, a Washington correspondent for "The Economist," once told CNN.
As recently as last December The New York Times had this to say:
TO the untrained thrill-seeker, Yemen would seem to promise the kind of adventures that only James Bond would relish: kidnapping by tribal factions, riots over gasoline prices, cheap and plentiful AK-47s, and taxi drivers who pack daggers and pistols. Plus, there’s the specter of terrorism: the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Aden in 2000 presaged much bigger attacks.
But in contrast to the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, which is mostly hot, dry and barren, Yemen is practically a cool green paradise, with crisp mountain air, enormous acacia trees, pristine coral reefs and verdant fields bursting with khat, a psychoactive plant that induces mild euphoria.
In recent years, tour operators have started to capitalize on Yemen’s exotic geography as the new frontier in adventure travel. New outfits offer grueling treks to mountaintop villages, four-wheel-drive safaris through untrammeled deserts and sailing voyages aboard ancient dhows to isolated, Galápagos-like islands. And unlike Dubai, the Oz-like emirate on the other side of Saudi Arabia, Yemen is nothing if not authentic.
And from the Arabian Wildlife: Yemen is a very attractive place for the committed eco-tourist to visit, not only because of its interesting geographical features, flora and fauna, but because the traditional lifestyle of its people has remained relatively untouched by the 20th century.
Other Posts On This Site On Yemen
More Links On Yemen: AME Info, Arab.net, Yementourism.com, al-bab.com, Yemen Times, Yemen Observer, Saba News, Google News, Google Scholar, Google Earth
Comments
Good blog masha'Allah. Can you please visit and link up the Haq Islam site here, jazakallah.
ahlan wasahlan,
I'm an American student and am coming abroad to Yemen this summer to work on my Arabic. I have some questions that you hopefully wouldn't mind answering. Thanks
Brett
brettduva@hotmail.com
Haq Islam - I would like to link to your site, but I don't understand why it takes too long to load. Most times, it simply doesn't load.
Anonymous - whatever questions you have, I can ONLY answer them here and NOT through email.
Abdul Habib - yes, add Suqutra. And Mahra, the province east of Hadhramout. Next time you come to Yemen, do visit Hadhramout. And see the contrast between Sana'a and here and Mahra. Very contrasting topography and climate.
I completely agree with you, Yemen was an unforgettable experience. I am an Australian living in Bahrain and took a week out to visit Yemen during Eid. The hospitality was amazing, much tea was drunk, we explored the northern mountains with a guide who, on reflection, is one of the most inspiring people I have met all year. I found Yemen to be a noble country, proud of its traditions and generous in everything. I have attached a post I wrote about Yemen on my return.
http://westgarth.nomadlife.org/2006/11/powerful-country-yemen.aspx
It has been an interesting year living in the Gulf, however that paled in comparison to my one week in Yemen.
Cheers
W
I am humbled by your superlative words about Yemen. Sadly, with all these mordrenistion going on - it won't be long before Yemen changes. Beautiful, old houses are now being pulled down and being replaced by ugly, box like buildings. But, we, the people, and Yemen's natural magic and wonders will remain the same.
I'm coming to Yemen for the summer at the Language Center in Sanaa. What advice would you give to an American woman?
We'll also be going for a few days to your neck of the woods. Can't wait!
Jess
and
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/middle-east/yemen/
Abdul Habib - yes, I did forget. Next time try going further than the normal tourists trails; try visiting 'Rub el Khali' the vast desert streching the border of Saudi Arabia - some places are trully fantastic. And Mahra.
Yemen is wonderful, but it doesn't make it easy to be a tourist, even to the common destinations, to say nothing of the out-of-the-way ones. There were large areas of the country I was simply not allowed to go to.
I didn't know it was that difficult. I can undersatand the Yemeni government's concern - as bad as Yemen's reputation is for tourists, the goverment is trying to avoid any thing happening to make it worse. Enemies of Yemen can use tourists to make it hard on Yemen. But as I said before - Yemen is very safe.
But still, it is inshallah one of my top destinations that I would want to visit someday when my children are a little bit older. I want to see my relatives, my homeland and also learn about my history. Alhamdullilah, I can still trace my lineage as my paternal uncle still lives there,he was in kenya just briefly with his dad and his sister but after a while, he decided to go back and resettle( I think he stayed in kenya for less than 5-6yrs)My grandfather decided to stay with his young daughter and later remarried and my father and uncle were born in kenya.Now,my khala is also there and my cousins who are mahra and very proud of their heritage. One day inshallah, we'll visit. Just keep us posted about Yemen. sf
I would also love to visit it again and again and again... soon.
Thanks for stopping by my little blog. I appreciate your comment and of course I look forward to the day I can visit Yemen and soak in the culture and country.
The documentary that you saw, must have only focused on certain regions of Yemen. Mahra is very similar to Hadhramout, in that women don't 'chew'. When, Insha Allah, you come visiting here - you will then realise that most of what you heard about Yemen are contrary to what you will see. I am certain you will love it. And you too will then be even more proud to be Yemeni.
I agree, it's very safe. And even if taken hostage, still safe- you're treated as an honored guest! It's very very rare that anyone is killed in those cases. So I think it all the more stupid that the police wouldn't let me go, though I told them I would willingly take the risk on myself. There is much greater risk when traveling in my own country than there. I think they fear the U.S. breathing down on them because the U.S. thinks terrorism is everywhere, and wants to blame the countries that it happens in. Unless, of course, it happens in Oklahoma City.
It's like saying gambling is practiced in all places of the US. Simply because of what we read about Las Vegas and such.
1) I've never seen anything saying all men chew- what I've seen regularly says 90% of men.
2) My (brief) experience in Yemen certainly bore that out. I saw it constantly in Sana'a and Taizz and the surrounding areas, by almost everyone. Though, come to think of it, I can't remember it as distinctly when I was in Hadremowt. (And I wonder if the legacy of the previous Communist government has anything do with that?)
3) The experience of Westerners I met in Yemen, who live there, also supports a high rate of chew for men- but again, their experience is mostly in the West.
4) Actually, incredibly high numbers of Americans now gamble. It's no longer limited to Las Vegas and Reno and New Jersey. Now Native Americans, in a rather ironic reversal of taking advantage of the white man's vices that I secretly enjoy in a schadenfreude manner, have the right to run casinos, and so so all over the U.S. And constantly there are Americans playing state-approved gambling games called the Lottery, the most regressive tax on the poor. Certainly not all Americans, or close, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's now a majority.
5) It's hard to compare the two, but I don't know that gambling isn't perhaps worse than qat.
Completely unrelated- would you be willing to add dates to your comment postings? It would help me at least keep track of postings.