"Mud glorious Mud" Muhafazat Hadramawt by TheLongTone

The Hadramawt mainly consists of a large sandstone plateau. Into this some hundreds of millions of years of rain have carved a vast valley, some two hundred and eighty km long and varying in width between five and thirty km. The run-off from this vast area keeps the valley green, a classic oasis with date-palms sheltering fields of wheat and animal feed.

The landscape is extraordinary, lush greenery backed by sandstone cliffs reminiscent of the background to a million Westerns. And punctuated by myriad tower houses built from mud. The Hadramawt is one of the great centres of building using mud brick, and although many of the buildings are in a sad state of dereliction, the tradition of building in mud is nevertheless alive and well in the region: brickyards are a common sight and new mud buildings are in evidence alongside concrete construction.