After breakfast, we hit the road.  We made a stop at Omar’s house for tea.  Marie and Kristina went outside to chat with some of the local girls. En route to Qalansiyah in the west, we passed a lot of Dragon Blood trees.  The route then took us via a wadi and an oasis. […]

  After a breakfast of bread, jam and cheese the others went out for a camel ride.  This didn’t have a novelty factor for me so I stayed back and relaxed.  The tide was now better at the beach which made for a lovely swim. Text continues after this gallery.     From the campsite, […]

  This morning, we packed up and continued by our Toyota 4WD to Ras Arher.  This is where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian sea.  We had a nice time swimming and playing here.  [Edit:  Later, I couldn’t locate Ras Arher on any map but the flat peninsula near Arher appears to be Erisseyl.  Maybe they’re […]

  This morning, Omar packed up the 4WD and found us a guide.  The guide would take us on a hike downhill while he drove to our appointed meeting spot. It was a pleasant hike along a wadi that included a swim in a freshwater pool.  It would have been even better had there been […]

  Today we moved away from the comfort of a hotel for five nights of camping, each night in a different place.  Driving out of Hadiboh, our first stop was the Dihamri Marine Protected Area where we swam and snorkelled amongst the fish.  It was heavenly.  We ate freshly caught fish for lunch. Text continues […]

Flying to Socotra I got picked up at 0230 to go to the airport.  I had only landed there less than 24h ago.  Today, we are bound for Socotra or Suqutra.  Note:  The spelling for the island and the various places on it can vary greatly. Socotra?  It’s an island that’s part of Yemen (south […]

Above: Military helicopters at Sana’a airport. Leaving Yemen Leaving Yemen was sad for me.  Sana’a had been my home for 5 weeks.  I’ve never been to a school that’s been so cool.  Where in the world would you find your teacher wearing a gun holster (with bullet holders) to class? I also loved the climate […]

Visiting Jibla While Ibb is an important town for the region, the historic and touristic value of the area is actually at Jibla about 30 mins away by van. It was a nice hillside town.  It is famous for its museum which was the Palace of Queen Arwa (1048–1138). She was reputed to be a […]