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Friday 2007-04-06 - Marib, Yemen
Under escort
It seems there has been some unrest in the Marib area for years (not that there was anything in the news about that). In spite of the (supposed) situation, we got a permit to go there — in a long row of jeeps with tourists, under police escort. We all gather at the checkpost on the edge of the city at 9:00 and soon find out it all sounds a little more serious than it is (at least for now): there seems to be only one police car at the head of the row, no one behind. We soon spread out a little. Still, we’re not allowed to stop and take photographs, or even take photographs of the road (as if it has military value) except at a few (apparently designated) photo stops. There are also lots of checkposts along the way.
One thing we note immediately is that they are building a power line: at first, still near Sana’a, we see only the lower halves of pylons, further on they have heads and arms, and close to Marib they have actually started drawing cables. There is an oil field near Marib, so it looks like this will be used to supply power to the capital. In fact, oil has been found at several places, but there is not a whole lot of it: just about enough to cover the country’s own energy needs for several decades, certainly not enough for export. However, natural gas has also been found, which they plan to export in the form of LNG: a pipeline is being built, a well as liquefaction plant near the coast.
The landscape is beautiful, with at first rough mountains of a loose sedimentary structure, quite bare except where there is irrigation and it’s suddenly green. But as we travel it changes around us constantly; the loose sedimentary mountains make place for enormous exactly horizontal slabs of stone, in several layers, all of equal thickness: it looks as if they are huge paving stones. Later, we see sand dunes of warm golden sands, set off by black hills and here and there a layer of little black pebbles, a beautiful contrast. Then the gold-and-black is behind us again, and we’re suddenly in a valley with a lot of greenery.
We stop for tea at a junction. There are two places next to each other, one where the tourists go, one for the locals. Of course we go to the latter (we don’t need plastic chairs, we can do as the locals do and sit on the floor on a mat). The tea is delicious, made with some cardamom for a nice aroma; it’s always drunk with sugar here. The men here are very photogenic, beautiful faces, elegantly clothed in robes with matching head scarves, their weapons (jambiya, rifles) proudly on display. They are also willing subjects, so we end up making a lot of portraits.
Just inside Marib we (just our group) stop at a local restaurant for lunch: rice, flat bread, vegetable stew, a quarter chicken; mineral water on the side, and tea afterwards. Then, still under police escort, we go to our hotel, inside a walled garden, with guards at the gate. Now our drivers get a little well-earned rest — and qat. Once inside our room, I try to call my parents, but although the signal is good, I never get an international line. Strange…
At three we leave for a tour of the local sites. All tourist cars in a row under police escort again (more police now), and strictly regulated with groups distributed so there are never “too many” tourists at the same site at the same time. Is this really for our benefit or are they just nervous when so many strangers are on the same spot? Our group goes to the new dam first. Two big raptors circle overhead — a kind of buzzards (Buteo) probably. Our police escorts happily pose for us on their car with a biggish gun in the back of the pickup truck; along the mountain on a little ridge a row of men is sitting, chewing their qat: this is Yemen!
On the way to the old dam, an unauthorized photo stop for a view of the south building of the dam gets us a reprimand from the police. We go to the north building, from where we also have a nice view of the south building, but of the actual dam in-between nothing is left; both buildings were a kind of sluice, this one lovingly restored. We do see remnants of one of the canals leading from the north sluice. It’s all quite impressive, all this water engineering at such an early time.
Next we visit two temples from the Saba era (the queen of Sheba!): the “moon temple”, named the Almaqah temple of Bar’en or Baran temple, is nicely restored, and you get a good overview of the whole complex. Of the original six square pillars at the center, five are standing, of the sixth only about a third is left. There are also some stones with inscriptions in the original Yemeni script. We need to pay an entrance fee of 200 YR, but it’s worth it, and you can freely roam around. The next site is called “Bilqis Palace” or “throne room of queen Bilqis” (of Sheba), but it’s actually another temple, still in the process of being uncovered from the sands which seem to have preserved it beautifully. But you cannot visit the actual site (yet), and have to pay 100 YR just to get a somewhat closer view. That’s not worth it, and I take some pictures through the gate.
We want to be in time to see the old city of Marib in the light of the setting sun, but can’t leave — we have to wait for another group taking their time at the last temple; the police won’t let us go alone. When we can finally go, our drivers pull a nice stunt: they take a shortcut along a trail, and we arrive ahead of the crowd that left before us. Old Marib is a ghost town now, but still impressive with its huge buildings built of clay, a lot still standing. We can freely roam around (provided we stay on the paths — and we are being watched), but the evening light is disappointing: the sun quickly sinks behind a thick bank of clouds, leaving only gray twilight.
There is “curfew” in Marib, for tourists at least: we’re not allowed outside the hotel after 7:00. Unfortunately, only quick look at the hotel menu convinced everyone that we didn’t fancy eating there: western food at western prices. But our drivers have a solution: they manage to persuade (hmmm…) them to let us go out to eat at a local restaurant! They escort us, of course, so we invite them to have dinner with us. They also happily agree to have their pictures taken, sharing a table with our drivers. After an excellent dinner we head back to the hotel (escorted) but we still need to buy water for tomorrow’s trip through the desert. The shop is on the left side of the road, so our drivers smoothly switch to the “wrong” side of the road, heading in the wrong direction, to stop at the shop and buy water — under police escort, of course.
We never quite understand what the “curfew” is for, but have a suspicion it might be just to keep the tourists at the hotel so they send more of their dollars there.
Saturday 2007-04-07 - Marib, Yemen
A sad parting
Our room in the “fortified” hotel in Marib is very stuffy: the single window cannot be opened, there is no fan, and the airco is broken. Last night I laid down under just a sheet, but still had trouble falling asleep. Seemingly just after I’ve finally dozed off, I’m woken up by an unexpected sound: knocking — on our door? It’s bad news: Carla’s aged mother has passed away; she’ll have to break off the trip and go home.
Everything is arranged very quickly: a permit for the trip back to Sana’a, in a private taxi; there she can go to our old hotel and fly on to the Netherlands the next day. We’re both dazed for our own different reasons, but still manage to catch some sleep. Our group has to leave at 4:30 in the morning, but Carla gets up at 4:00 as well and informs the group. Now, with pain in my heart, I watch her standing there, at the exit of the little annexe of the hotel where we stayed. She waves us goodbye when we drive away, and we all feel strange and sad to leave her behind like this, all alone, waiting for her taxi which won’t arrive until 8:00. We’ll be far into the desert by then…
