HADRAMOUT:

Mukalla City

Mukalla lies on the coast of the Arabian Sea about 777 km from the capital Sana’a . It is the capital of the Governorate of Hadhramout and has long been a seaport. It was formely known as "Khaisa" or "Bandar Jacob" . The name of Mukalla came late. The city was firstly settled by the fishers who came from neighboring regions. There the emirate of Al-Kassad was established, in the year 1115.A.H (18th century

A.D), as the capital of the  Quaiti Sultanate . The old city of Mukalla is characterized by unique architectural designs which prevailed in the cities overlooking the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the ports of the Red Sea such as Aqaba, Jeddah, Hodeidah, Mukha and Aden, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Over the years   all these cities lost their original architectural fabric and nothing remains but the Mukalla type, which combines elements of Yemeni architecture and the designs of southeast Asia. Mukalla is reputed for the production of gypsum.

Interesting places in & near Mukalla ·

Husn Al-Ghuwayzi ·
Is one of the most important sights of Mukalla at the entrance to   the city , built in 1884 AD. ·

Tabala
Tabala Leis on a highland, 7 km north of Shihr town. ·

Al-Hami
A coastal area 22 km from Shihr. · Thawban and Suwiaber are two small beautiful villages 5km west of al-Dees. ·

Ghayl Bawazir
Is some 35 km north east of Mukalla . It is a beautiful tourist area. It was a station on the  long caravan route  between the wadi and the coast of Hadhramout. Al-Ghayl is famous for growing the best quality of Yemeni tobacco. Ghayl means the under ground water, and the area has various water springs which water large areas of fertile lands.

Shibam City
The ancient town of Shibam lies in the middle of Wadi Hadhramout, at its narrowest point . It is 19 km from Say’un. It was one of most important souks in these regions. Shibam is a tight collection of some 500 skyscrapers, seven to eight-stories high, crammed into an area of only half a sq km. The city seems as a fortified castle on a hill almost 30 meters above the Wadi bed . Shibam is now the capital city of the Hadhramout Governorate. The Citadel of Shibam was the residence of the governor, dating from the 13th century A.D. The biggest of the six mosques of the city is the Shibam Mosque, built in the 8th century A.D. at the time of Caliph Harun ArRashid. Starting 1980, Shibam was declared by UNESCO as a world monument and  a program to safeguard its cultural heritage was initiated.

Shibam  is  known as "Manhattan of the Desert"

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