Photograph Shibam in Golden Light and other Shibam, Yemen Things to Do Tips

You get the best photographs of Shibam in late afternoon, if you cross the main road and pass the wadi area where the children are playing football. Walk up behind the houses to the hill and climb up the path until you get the view of the old city with the mountains behind.
As the daylight starts to fade the whole scene takes on a golden glow.

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The houses in Shibam are up to 9 floors high and made from traditional mud bricks which are used for building throughout the Hadramaut. Mud brick is highly prone to weathering and needs repairing every year and after the rains. The shabbiness of parts of the city add to its charm, and although it is being restored it is very rundown in some areas.
What makes Shibam so spectacular is the height of the houses, the colour of the mud brick and the setting against the mountains. The tallest house is 30 meters high and there are over 500 of them, all set within the city walls very close together. It is fascinating to walk around and look at the amazing architecture of this place.

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Take a look at the doors and windows of Shibam as you are vwalking around - they are really interesting.
The windows have ornamentally carved screens made from local wood.
The doors are heavy and carved in different patterns, but are not very high and have a distinctive lock which can be opened from inside the house with a huge key. A cord runs up to the upper floors from the lock so the door can be opened without having to go downstairs. Some of the doors are well preserved or restored, and some are in a bad state of repair. Some even have graffiti on them!

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Women in the Hadramaut area wear all black and the ones who work in the fields wear tall conical shaped straw sunhats, like witches hats, which contrast quite starkly with their black clothes. Everybody wants to photograph them but unfortunately women in Yemen do not like being photographed, those in Hadramaut more so.
We saw some women working in the fields wearing the hats and stopped to try to get a photo. They started shouting at us, waving their sticks and threw them on the ground.
Luckily the ones in the photograph were more concerned with finding a lost goat so I managed to get the photo.
It won't be too long before they realise it's the hats that are the attraction and start taking them off when tourists approach.

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Shibam Main Square is in the centre of the city and all the streets lead from it.
It is very dusty, but quite charming with the mosque on one side, a small shrine and a shop at the end. There are goats lying around and the few times we found ourselves in the square there were not too many people.
The mosque is small and looks quite old. We didn't go inside.

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