Wadi Daw’an

Introducing Wadi Daw’an

It is hard to imagine how anywhere in the Yemeni desert could be more spectacular and mysterious than the Wadi Hadramawt, but sitting quietly in the sidelines, there is one such place. The Wadi Daw’an might only be small, but it packs one hell of a punch – everything you thought breathtaking about the Wadi Hadramawt is here in force, but unlike the camouflaged mud villages of the main wadi, these villages come in a lush patchwork of shades and colours.

For most people Wadi Daw’an is experienced as a brief glimpse through the windows of a car racing along the back road between Sayun and Al-Mukalla, but it would be much more rewarding to spend a day or so here getting into the slow, agricultural groove of the valley.

Some of the wadi’s most attractive villages, in a north to south direction, include Al-Mashhad, which, with the 15th-century Tomb of Hasan ibn Hasan, is a local pilgrimage site and a near-deserted village. Next down the line, and clambering up the side of a cliff, is maybe the most impressive village of them all, Al-Hajjarayn, which is also among the oldest villages in the region. One of the biggest villages in the wadi is Sif, whose pastel- fringed houses sprawl across the wadi bed, and whose old quarter sits proudly atop a knuckle of rock. Al-Khurayba is the final village in the wadi and is famous for its massive acid-trip ‘palace’ of rainbow-coloured squares. It was built by a Saudi businessman with roots in the area, who is also responsible for a wave of new schools, clinics and roadworks. It’s sometimes possible to spend the night here. The village has another claim to fame that it’s a little less keen to promote: it’s the ancestral home of the extended Bin Laden family.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009