Photos

This is a view of Shibam in Wadi Haudremaut. I think it must be the most photographed location in Yemen, for obvious reason.

The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks, but still there are about 500 tower houses, rising 5 to 9 stories high. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century. However, many were rebuilt over and over again during the last few centuries.

Shibam is often called "the oldest skyscraper-city in the world", or "Manhattan of the desert" which is a claim with quite a bit of consistency. (thanks Wiki).

I like this view of the town as it is from the same POV as a shot taken by Wilfred Thesiger in the late 1940s and included in "Arabian Sands"

I was disappointed to find that the neg had been damaged with water or perhaps mould at some point and there was a bit of PS needed to get the sky looking reasonable.