I didn’t sleep very well, waking at 0130 then dozing till 0630. Breakfast was served in our room and consisted of a sesame flat bread and a honey bread. You can’t go wrong with sweet stuff!
Kim and I hesitantly used the horrible toilet, somewhat in fear of even worse ones on the road. Eelco braved himself and had a shower!
At around 0845 we embarked on a hike downhill to a village where our 4WDs would be waiting for us with our bags. It started with a walk around Shihara and we visited the prison, after which we continued to the stone bridge.
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- Our accommodation.
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- Shihara in the morning light.
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- Around our accommodation. It’s a long way down.
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- Around our accommodation.
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- Around our accommodation.
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- Looking across to another mountain, there is a village on top.
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- Breakfast.
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- Shihara.
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- Exploring Shihara by foot.
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- Shihara.
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- Shihara.
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- At the prison.
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- At the prison.
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- Shihara.
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- Shihara.
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- Shihara.
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- Shihara.
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- Shihara.
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- Around Shihara.
After the stone bridge, we made our steep descent to meet the 4WD. The total hike was around 2h45.
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- Shihara’s stone bridge.
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- Stunning views near the stone bridge.
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- Stunning views near the stone bridge.
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- Yemen is full of villages on mountain tops.
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- Stunning mountains on the hike down.
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- Passing through a village on the hike down.
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- Passing through a village on the hike down.
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- Passing through a village on the hike down.
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- Stunning mountains on the hike down.
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- Qat appears to be the main crop.
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- We have come down a long way.
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- Qat appears to be the main crop.
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- Making our way to the 4WD.
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- Scenery on our hike down.
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- Making our way to the 4WD.
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- Curious locals.
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- Getting ready to leave in the 4WD.
We continued our journey back to Sana’a from here with a lunch stop. We took the stop at a different place. We had a rather bitter salta, lamb shanks in foil and rice. There were plenty of flies around. The return journey was faster because we had walked part of it and I guess it was downhill. We arrived back in Sana’a around 1600.
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- Curious locals.
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- Our escort vehicle.
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- Shepherdess.
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- Shepherdess.
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- Lunch stop.
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- Lunch stop.
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- Lunch stop.
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- Our escort at lunch.
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- Lou at lunch.
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- Lunch all gone.
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- Looking down to where we’re headed.
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- Looking down to where we’re headed.
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- Looking down to where we’re headed.
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- We all take a turn with the AK47.
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- We all take a turn with the AK47.
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- We all take a turn with the AK47.
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- Sami and Eelco with Qat.
I couldn’t wait to have a shower. Oh, the bliss! Then tea on the balcony. Kim and I took a simple dinner of fuul (beans), egg and rashush bread. In the night, we exchanged photos from the amazing trip before retiring.