2022-09-01 National Geographic Interactive

S
TA N D I N G AT T H E B OT TO M of a Children forced from
dusty wadi, I crane my neck to take in the huge their homes by Houthi
structure rising above me: row upon row of pre- advances pass time
cisely cut stone, set seamlessly without mortar around a tree in a dis-
some 2,500 years ago, soaring 50 feet into the placement camp in the
fading desert sky. desert on the outskirts
of Marib. Once the
To call this ancient engineering marvel a seat of the powerful
mere dam feels almost derogatory. When the ancient kingdom of
Great Dam of Marib was built in what is now Saba, modern Marib
Yemen, its earth-and-stone walls spanned an has evolved from a
area nearly twice as wide as Hoover Dam. The sleepy oil town to the
still standing colossal sluices were part of a front line of a civil war.
sophisticated system that controlled the flow
of seasonal rains from Yemen’s highlands to
its parched desert in the east, nurturing agri-
cultural oases across almost 25,000 acres of
wasteland. And in the middle of it all, a thriving
economic hub: Marib, capital of Saba, the Ara-
bian kingdom most famously associated with
its legendary leader Bilqis, immortalized in the

106 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Bible and the Quran as the queen of Sheba. wealth now lies in oil and gas reserves beneath
At Marib’s peak, starting in the eighth century the sands of the surrounding governorate
with the same name. This makes the city a stra-
B.C., this dam was the source of prosperity for tegic target in the war between Yemen’s Houthi
the Sabaean capital—and the reason it existed as rebels and a Saudi Arabia and United Arab
a fertile, food-producing, water-abundant stop- Emirates–led coalition supporting local forces
ping point for thirsty camels and hungry traders. opposed to the Houthis’ expansion, a war that
has wracked Yemen for eight years. Since 2020
The kingdom flourished in southern Arabia, the ancient capital has been the primary front
where prized frankincense, myrrh, and other and one of the last metropolitan redoubts for the
aromatic resins were bought and sold at the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
affluent heart of an incense trail that stretched
from India to the Mediterranean. Saba was also In the failing light I wander around the remain-
a critical point of the caravan economy, where ing walls of the dam’s network of barriers, awed
valuables such as ivory, pearls, silks, and pre- at the construction of the massive earthen walls
cious woods were taxed as they moved between and wondering at the complex logistics required
East and West. to sustain a thriving city in southern Arabia

Fast-forward to the 21st century, and Marib’s

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O R Y 107

TURKEY TURKM.

FRACTURED LAND Medit. Sea SYRIA Tehran

Yemen has long been divided among various factions. In the IRAQ A AFG.
seventh century A.D., its disparate kingdoms gave way to conflict I IRAN
between Shiite and Sunni Muslim sects. Centuries later, its stra- JORDAN S
tegic trade location piqued the competitive interests of foreign KUWAIT
powers. Today a civil war is costing Yemen both its past and its A
present, as archaeological riches are destroyed and lives are lost. BAHRAIN PAK.
QATAR
EGYPT Red Sea

Riyadh Abu Dhabi

SAUDI ARABIA ian Sea

750 miles, U.A.E. OMAN
maximum range of
Arab
Houthi missiles
SUDAN 300 mi
300 km
ERIT. YEMEN
Sanaa
AFRICA

Houthi forces have launched Iranian-supplied
missiles into Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.

Farasan Sadah COHGNCOOTOUVRNTOEHTRLRINOMLENT Al Kharitah Sand
Islands Al Harf

Kingdom of Saba

Midi Harad From about 800 B.C. until A.D. 275,

the kingdom prospered through

the lucrative incense trade. Some

scholars believe the biblical queen

MAIN of Sheba hailed from here.

Red Hajjah Amran YE
Al Mahwit BA
Kamaran I. Tihamah A
As Salif KawkabaSnANAA S Great Dam of Marib

Al Hudaydah Once omvoere2t,0h0a0n f2e,0e0t 0lonfege,tthloisng,

Sea ethigishethig-chethnt-uceryntBu.Cry. eBn.Cg.iennegerinineger-

Dam ifnegatfeoaf thoef tShaebaSeabanaekainngkdinogmdodmis-
M dtriisbturitbeudtseedasoenaasol wnatl ewrsa,taelrlos,w-
ḨIMYAR Great a ainllgofwoirnigrrifgoartierdrigfaartmedingfaarmnding. Shabwah
Most
rib
air strikes,

over 1,700

Timna

Bayt al Faqih QATABAN

Dhamar

Zabid Rada A W S A N

Jabal Zuqar Ataq
Island

Al Hanish Ibb Habban
al Kabir I.

EA District with Taizz Al Bayda
R the highest total
IT air strike deaths, 348
R
E Al Mukha (Mocha) ed) u n c i l

National Resistance TArraabnEsmi itriLaotaehnsijbCaock Shuqrah
(U.A.E. backed)
Port of Aden
H S o u thern Jaar
(United This natural harbor has been a
ETHIOPIA Bab el MMaa ndeb hub of trade for over three mil-
yyuinsn(PMeruimra)d lennia. The Yemeni government
DJIBOUTI Aden moved to the city in 2015 after
Houthi rebels captured Sanaa.
Gulf of Aden

Brief history of yemen

1000 B.C.-A.D. 600 525-628 897 1839 NOV. 1967

Caravan kingdoms Religious strife Shiite north Age of empires Independence
Ancient city-states Spreading Jewish Followers of Zaidi Britain captures the Hastened by a
including Main, Saba, and Christian faiths Islam, a Shiite sect, port of Aden, which bloody insurgency,
Qataban, and Him- replace native poly- establish a dynasty in becomes a protector- Britain fully with-
yar flourish in the theism. They yield northern Yemen that ate. A decade later draws from South
relatively fertile high- to a succession of endures for centuries the Ottoman Empire Yemen. North Yemen
lands along profitable Muslim leaders in a variety of forms occupies the north, had been autono-
trade routes. starting in 628. until the 1960s. including Sanaa. mous since 1918.

MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NGM STAFF. SCOTT ELDER
SOURCES: ARMED CONFLICT LOCATION AND EVENT DATA PROJECT; CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE; RISK INTELLIGENCE; YEMEN DATA PROJECT;
ANCIENT YEMEN DIGITAL ATLAS, GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE; LANDSCAN 2020, OAKRIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY; DATA @OPENSTREET MAP

RUB AL KHALI

SAUDI ARABIA Empty Quarter

The Rub al Khali, meaning “quarter
of emptiness,” is a nearly Texas-size
desert on the Arabian Peninsula—
and holds the largest “dune sea”
in the world.

Ibn Hamudah Desert

Shiqaq al Maatif Sand

N OMAN

Shihan

Thamud h
il
E

M a Fatk Mountains
n
As Sayar a
M Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Formed from the Saudi and Yemeni
branches of the militant Islamist group,

the nonaligned AQAP remains active, car-

Shibam rying out sporadic attacks in the region.

Sayun Al Ghayzah Al Qamar
Al Mahrah Bay
HADRAMAWT

Haswayn

a m i E l i t e Forces

H a d r Q u a y t i Sayhut

Al Sea

Al Mukalla Ash Shihr Arabian

Civil war factions Deaths from coalition air strikes Ancient Yemen

Houthi populated area (Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., and regional Archaeologically rich area
allies backed by the U.S., 2015-2022) SABA Major ancient kingdom
Houthi Yemeni government
control populated area 300 fatalities in district

Government Force allied 150
control with government 50

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) District bombed, no fatalities 30 mi N
30 km

MAY 1990 OCT. 2000 SEPT. 2014 MAR. 2015 APR. 2022

Unification U.S.S. Cole bombed Rebellion Wider conflict Stepping down
South Yemen loses Al Qaeda attacks the Amid protests A Saudi and Emirati– President Abdrabbuh
crucial support U.S. warship in Aden’s against a planned led coalition enters Mansour Hadi, who
from the collaps- harbor. In 2002 the new constitution the war in support replaced Saleh in
ing U.S.S.R.; north U.S. retaliates with its and rising fuel prices, of the ousted gov- 2012, cedes power
and south join under first successful tar- Zaidi Houthi forces ernment and begins to a governing
northern leader Ali geted drone strike, seize Sanaa and the an aerial bombing council amid a
Abdallah Saleh. near Marib. port of Al Hudaydah. campaign. nationwide truce.

AREAS OF CONTROL ARE SHOWN AS OF JUNE 2022.

Members of a wedding
party made up of local
tribesmen visit the
ruins of the nearly
3,000-year-old Awwam
Temple, where Sabaeans
once worshipped their
god of irrigation and
agriculture, Almaqah.
The temples of Marib
are at risk as Houthis
fight to seize the city.





LEFT

Almost twice as long as
Hoover Dam, the Great
Dam of Marib was built
in the first millennium
B.C. and sustained life
in Yemen’s eastern
desert for more than a
thousand years. Today
only the towering lime-
stone sluices remain;
the North Sluice was
damaged by a coalition
air strike in 2015.

RIGHT

A young man living in
the nearby Al Rawdah
displacement camp
stands by the shore
of the modern Marib
dam’s reservoir. Since
the latest war began
eight years ago, more
than 19,000 Yemenis
have been hurt or
killed by coalition
forces’ air strikes.
Over four million have
been displaced from
their homes.

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O RY 113

thousands of years ago. Then the familiar sound A sandstorm shrouds
of artillery broiling in nearby mountains echoes the pillars of Marib’s
across the wadi. Baran Temple, where
Sabaean priests and
“Did you hear that?” Ammar Derwish, my priestesses once
Yemeni assistant and translator, whispers in the clouded the air with
near dark. The next blast is a little louder, and the incense. The trade in
answer comes before his question is repeated. precious woods and
fragrant resins fueled
“Yes, I heard it.” the ancient economy
that built these monu-
Y E M E N ’ S C U R R E N T W A R runs parallel ments, which are slowly
to, and in some places directly over, being engulfed by sand
the treasures of its past. Its ancient that archaeologists say
kingdoms—Saba, Qataban, Main, will help protect them
from looters.
Hadramawt, Himyar, Awsan—are
NEXT PHOTO
the genesis of the Arabian Peninsula’s civili-
Coalition air strikes
zation. From feats of hydraulic engineering to destroyed an archae-
ological museum in
meticulous inscriptions, this history tells of a Dhamar, a city roughly
60 miles south of
merchant people and a sophisticated, settled Sanaa, in May 2015,
after Houthis had
civilization far removed from the long-held turned the building
into a weapons store-
stereotypes of desert-wandering Arabs domi- house and prison.
The more than 12,000
nant in 19th- and 20th-century Western popular objects in its collection
were buried in the rub-
culture and its depictions of the region. ble. Volunteers recov-
ered what they could,
The war began in 2014, when northern Houthi including fragments of
one of the oldest min-
rebels took the capital, Sanaa, with the help of bars (pulpits) in the
Islamic world.
loyalists of former president Ali Abdallah Saleh.

His successor, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, was

put under house arrest. Hadi fled to exile in Saudi

Arabia, prompting the Saudi kingdom to launch

an aerial bombing campaign with the support of

a regional coalition backed by the United States

and other Western nations. All sides have shown

little regard for the 30 million civilians at their

mercy, and the threats to Yemenis and the dan-

gers to their heritage go hand in hand. O VER MILLENNIA , the queen of
Sheba’s capital evolved from the
Museums have been leveled by air strikes; largest city in southern Arabia to a
dilapidated, 21st-century provincial
hundreds of distinctive, centuries-old, multigen-

erational family homes destroyed; pre-Islamic

temples bombed; and Sufi religious shrines town synonymous with gun-toting,

razed by militants. kidnapping tribesmen enraged by a central gov-

In the face of the devastation, a small but ernment that whisked away revenue from its oil

dedicated network of Yemeni historians, and gas reserves with little to no local benefit.

archaeologists, and others passionate about Marib also became associated with al Qaeda,

the country’s past are pursuing their own qui- after militants from the group’s Yemeni branch

etly determined mission to preserve Yemen’s claimed to have carried out attacks on oil and

antiquities—ancestral artifacts that are locked gas pipelines and on foreigners. Yet, since 2014,

in the nation’s museums, hidden in warehouses, these stereotypes of lawlessness have been

and still buried safely beneath the sand. Mindful replaced with another. Today’s Marib is almost

of the priorities of their fellow citizens and the unrecognizable from the dust bowl town of eight

millions of people displaced by the conflict, they years ago, with scores of new houses, a brand-

focus their endeavors on future preservation for new beltway, and hotels and restaurants built

present-day Yemenis who have a more pressing by those fleeing Houthi territory and fighting.

concern: survival in the midst of war. Marib is now Yemen’s wartime boomtown.

114 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Instead of camels carrying incense of years intensified earlier this year. The city is now in
past, trucks laden with bags of cement for range of rebel missiles, dozens of which have
houses and hotels trundle back and forth landed in districts where dusty displacement
across the desert to Marib. Oil production that camps, home to more than 200,000 Yemenis
shuddered to a halt in 2015 gradually resumed and migrants, sprawl as far as the eye can see.
and now supports an economy that makes the So far, the destructive airpower of the coali-
city effectively independent from the rest of tion forces—in addition to killing and injuring
the country. more than 19,200 civilians countrywide since
2015—has kept the Houthis at bay. As the front
The population of Marib and its surrounding lines shift, Marib’s residents await their fate,
governorate—fewer than a half million before one that may mean seeking shelter for the third
the war—has increased up to sevenfold, swelled or fourth time in this war. This year has seen
by displaced people escaping Houthi-controlled the longest period of respite from the violence.
areas and contested territories. An estimated A two-month cease-fire that began in April was
85 percent of the Marib governorate’s popula- extended for a further two months in June, in
tion are those displaced by the conflict. the hope that political talks might bring the
war to an end.
The city’s change in fortune, however, is
once again under threat. A Houthi offensive The conflict’s most active front line is of
launched in early 2021 hit the mountains greatest concern for the civilians it threatens,
that loom behind Marib’s ancient dam and

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O RY 115





What value can Saba’s affluence made Marib a target for rival
be put on history, kingdoms and conquering armies. In the first
to preserve it for century B.C., Rome, after vanquishing Syria and
future generations, Egypt, diverted the lucrative trade route from
when the children overland to sea, bypassing the city. Two Roman
of the present are legions and auxiliary troops had tried and failed
dying from hunger? to take Marib after besieging it around 25 B.C.,
but once trade was rerouted, Saba’s power dete-
and the damage already done to Yemen’s cul- riorated. The neighboring kingdom of Himyar
tural legacy demonstrates that those fighting annexed Saba in A.D. 275.
this war have no hesitation in turning esteemed
heritage sites into battlefields. In May 2015 a Well before the latest war, Yemen’s royal tem-
coalition air strike hit one of the sluice gates ples were targets of looters and of voracious for-
of the Great Dam of Marib, tearing through its eign archaeologists who assumed ownership of
remaining tower. A cascade of rubble is left in any finds. Arguably the most famous—to some,
its place. infamous—of the latter was Wendell Phillips, an
American who excavated several sites in south-
To the east of the modern city are Saba’s sto- ern Arabia from 1950 to 1952.
ried temples, the Baran and the Awwam, the
queen of Sheba’s throne and sanctuary, respec- “Time fell asleep here, and the husks of
tively. Spaced less than a mile apart, these ancient civilizations were buried in deep sand,
unique temples—dedicated to Saba’s chief preserved like flowers between the leaves of a
deity, Almaqah, god of irrigation and agricul- book,” Phillips wrote in his 1955 book, Qataban
ture—are the source of much of what precious and Sheba, about his first visit to Yemen. “The
little we know about the Sabaean world. land looked forbidding, but it was rich with the
spoils of time, and I wanted to unearth some of
Details of how the Sabaeans worshipped those riches, digging down through sand and
and prayed are murky. What is known is that centuries to a glorious past.”
the frankincense and myrrh traded at Saba
were widely used in rituals of several religious Dig Phillips did, most famously at the
denominations of the day. Traders and pilgrims Awwam Temple, where he was the first to
continually passing through would venerate uncover the treasures of the Sabaean complex,
Almaqah as they stopped at Marib’s oases on exposing soaring pillars, an enormous walled
their long, treacherous journeys across the des- enclosure, and a cemetery that held 20,000 of
erts of the Arabian Peninsula. Saba led the way the kingdom’s citizens. Excavations revealed
in writing and language. Its cultural influences the temple dated from the early first millen-
on architecture, iconography, and decoration nium B.C. Awwam, along with Baran, has
spread throughout southern Arabia, carried become one of the most widely known histori-
farther afield by traveling merchants. cal sites in Yemen, associated with iconic stone
pillars, bronze and alabaster figurines, and dis-
tinctive inscriptions.

Eventually, Phillips fled Marib following rising
tensions with local authorities and tribes who
accused him of incompetence, failure to pay
local workers, and trying to smuggle artifacts.
Phillips was reluctantly received by the British
who controlled Aden to the south; the governor
of the British protectorate later described him as
“a danger and unscrupulous.” Phillips’s work at
the Awwam Temple was followed by European
and American archaeological teams that contin-
ued to unearth more of the site, finding artifacts
and detailed inscriptions that made Marib one of
the most popular destinations on Yemen’s once
busy tourist trail.

Today the rare visitor can tread solo across

118 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

the protective sand, dusting it back with an During our walk through the city’s remains, the
inquisitive hand to reveal the smooth stones ground bleeds 2,000-year-old pottery sherds
of the temple’s floor, polished by pilgrims over and more recent additions: spent shells from
the centuries. One can also admire the ibex AK-47s and tanks, and the brassy hulls of 50-
sculptures standing sentry at broad ceremonial caliber machine-gun bullets. Empty ammu-
staircases and track the puzzling contours of nition boxes litter foxholes dug down into the
the distinctive—almost Star Trek-ian—inscrip- ruins of Timna’s main temple dedicated to
tions that tower and wind around the inner Athtar, a god of thunder known to be vengeful.
enclosure of the sanctuary. Even in the glaring The Houthis utilized the tactical benefit of the
light of a desert day, Awwam feels mystical. But raised ground Timna was built on, turning it
the temple’s most important artifacts are now into a military position and inevitably drawing
at the National Museum in Houthi-controlled the bombs of Saudi and Emirati fighter jets.
Sanaa, closed because of the conflict, or thou-
sands of miles away in the museums and private The heart of the Athtar Temple has been torn
collections of the West and the Persian Gulf. open, hemorrhaging gray, blue, and red hues
of stone that set Timna apart from the yellow
The final expedition to the Awwam Temple, Jurassic limestone of Marib. A 33-foot-wide,
led by Phillips’s sister, Merilyn Phillips Hodg- 10-foot-deep crater is all that’s left to see on
son, ended after a 2007 al Qaeda car bombing the sanctuary’s eastern flank. The gaping hole
that killed two Yemenis and eight Spanish from the coalition air strike dwarfs two young
tourists at the site’s entrance. In the years after, children skipping over boulders thrown by the
a 2,300-year-old inscribed alabaster statue bombing’s explosive force.
base was ripped from the temple floor; it last
appeared at an auction house in Paris. The Italian Archaeological Mission in Yemen
excavated at Timna from 1990 to 2005 and
The past 15 years of archaeological neglect, funded construction of a new museum there
however, has also been a blessing for the exposed that was empty when they left amid deterio-
antiquities of Marib’s sanctuaries: In the Awwam rating security. The building is littered with
Temple, more than six feet of sand has reburied rubble, walls blown out by battle damage. Before
critical areas of the sacred precinct. “It’s better Yemen’s most recent unrest, foreign tourists
that everything is under the ground. The sand came daily to Timna, according to Abdallah
is safety,” ruefully concludes Sadeq al Salwi, the Dawam, the site’s longtime chief security guard
Marib director for the General Organization of and our guide around the ruins.
Antiquities and Museums (GOAM), a Yemeni
government agency.

F O L LO W I N G T H E C A R AVA N route T I M N A’ S U N F I N I S H E D, bombed-out
south into Shabwah governorate shell of a museum is one of three
and Saba’s ancient neighbor and such institutions in the governor-
rival, the kingdom of Qataban, is ate under the care of Khyran al

Zubaidi, the director of GOAM’s

Shabwah branch. There is also one in Bayhan,

its former capital, Timna. It’s less shuttered for 25 years, and another in Ataq, the

than 40 miles as the crow flies from Marib but provincial capital of Shabwah. The government

more than a three-hour drive in wartime Yemen. allocation for the three museums is just 16,000

Ammar and I count the skull-and-crossbones Yemeni riyals (less than $20) a month.

signs warning us of minefields as he guides Much like his colleague Al Salwi in Marib,

our SUV across a sand squall. Camels, emerg- Al Zubaidi has been an archaeologist in Yemen

ing like ghostly figures along the roadside, pick for more than 35 years, and he’s been the head

at shrubs. This area has changed hands more of antiquities in Shabwah since 1986. As he reels

than once between Houthis and coalition forces off the dozens of foreign-led excavations he’s

during the conflict. Locals carefully avoid speak- been part of, it’s apparent the wealth of first-

ing ill of either side, not knowing who might be hand knowledge he’s gathered likely makes

in control next week or next month. him and Al Salwi the world’s leading experts

At Timna, the damage to the country’s cul- on the Sabaean and Qataban kingdoms.

tural heritage is revealed at its destructive worst. Al Zubaidi’s passion for history is infectious

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O RY 119



LEFT

Malik Ali Najib, a third-
generation master
builder of traditional
Yemeni homes, inspects
a renovation in Sanaa’s
Old City. The modern
capital remains an
occupied political
prize and a target of
air strikes; however, a
two-month cease-fire
that began this past
April was extended for
a further two months in
June, in the hope that
political talks might
end the war.

RIGHT

Mjaheed Adeeb,
employed by UNESCO
to refurbish buildings
in the city of Shibam in
the eastern governor-
ate of Hadramawt, lifts
handfuls of raw mate-
rial: mud. The World
Heritage site boasts
towering earthen
structures, earning it
the moniker “Manhat-
tan of the Desert.”

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O RY 121



A man wends through
the narrow alleyways
of the capital’s Old
City. Its distinctive
architectural character,
featuring multistory,
mud-brick buildings
decorated with ornate
geometric patterns,
won it recognition
as a World Heritage
site in 1986.

as he shows us around Ataq’s museum. Taking respite from
The archaeologist’s 32-year-old son, Ahmed, Yemen’s protracted
civil war, men and chil-
points out that concern for Yemen’s cultural dren dance to the beat
heritage is low on the list of priorities for the of drums at the Al
authorities. The lack of electricity and water Taweel family wedding
and concerns over security are bigger prob- in the streets of Sanaa’s
lems. “But this,” Ahmed says, referring to his Old City in July 2021.
father’s dedication to Yemen’s heritage and
holding his hand over his chest, “this is in his A L Z U B A I D I ’ S G R E AT E S T find during
heart.” One thing is for certain: The archaeolo- his years of work was in Shabwat,
gist isn’t doing the job for the money. Even with capital of the Hadramawt king-
his decades of experience, Al Zubaidi is paid dom. It was a distribution center
approximately a hundred dollars a month by
the Yemeni government, slightly higher than for the frankincense produced
a soldier's income.
there and famed in its heyday for its numer-
More than 70 percent of Yemenis need
humanitarian aid in a country that before the ous temples. Local sheikh Hassan Rakna walks
war imported (paying in U.S. dollars) up to
90 percent of its food. Starvation is being used Ammar and me through Shabwat’s ruins, stop-
as a weapon of warfare, and the United Nations
has repeatedly warned of famine conditions ping to rest at the top of a 30-foot-wide stair-
in Yemen, despite food being plentiful in the
markets. A de facto blockade by the anti-Houthi case. He describes the discovery of a stunning
coalition has seen imports plummet along
with the currency; meanwhile the Houthis have winged lion—with horns of an ox and a cobra for
been accused of hampering aid distribution
and ramping up taxes to fund their war effort. a tail—that was found at the site. Al Zubaidi was
The price of basics such as wheat, flour, and
rice has increased by 250 percent, while the part of the excavation team that unearthed the
value of the Yemeni riyal has fallen nearly
80 percent against the U.S. dollar over the stone griffin, believed to be from the third cen-
course of the war. To make matters worse,
almost half of the country’s wheat comes from tury A.D. Along with many of Shabwat’s most
Ukraine and Russia. “People will sell anything
to fill their bellies and feed their children. precious artifacts, the piece has been locked away
It’s a matter of life or death,” Al Zubaidi says
of the increasing problem of looted artifacts. for safekeeping in the vaults of the National Bank

In his own attempts to save objects, he has of Aden, a 230-mile drive to the southwest.
wandered local markets, negotiating to try
to claim back for the museum any antique Another eight days’ camel walk south from
pieces he can. Last year he used his govern-
ment salary to give a reward of approximately
$450 for some 20 pieces he estimates are from
around 700 B.C., including several complete
vases and alabaster figurines. He’s still wait-
ing to be reimbursed by the government for
the objects, which are now on display in the
museum. The people selling these objects
don’t know the value of them, Al Zubaidi notes.
But what value can be put on history, to pre-
serve it for future generations, when the chil-
dren of the present are dying from hunger? His
question hangs in the air.

124 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

Shabwat along the ancient caravan route, the flat- Aden, Ammar and I drive through another sand-
tened peak of an extinct volcano rises hundreds storm, and the lonely sound of an oud trickles
of feet from the white sands where the Arabian through the car stereo. The melody entwines
Peninsula meets the Gulf of Aden. Climb to the with verses from Yemen’s most famous modern
summit to face a blustering easterly wind rush- poet, the late Abdallah al Baraduni, whose words
ing through the rubble of an old watchtower, and feel so much more relevant to Yemen today than
you can imagine what this place might have been the prosaic waxings of colonial archaeologists
like two millennia ago: merchants, porters, and who saw the country’s history as frozen and
customs guards in the busy royal port of Qana; static, as blossoms dried in a book.
ships destined for Egypt and India with price-
less payloads previously off-loaded from camel “In the caverns of its death my country nei-
trains into black stone warehouses, the remains ther dies nor recovers. It digs in the muted
of which still dot the cliffside. graves looking for its pure origins,” Al Baraduni
laments. “For its springtime promise that slept
But daydreams about bygone kingdoms can behind its eyes. For the dream that will come for
be fleeting here, as armored convoys and bat- the phantom that hid.” j
tered pickups mounted with guns and fighters
still speed down paved highways where Saba’s Iona Craig has reported from Yemen since 2010,
storied caravans once crossed. winning multiple awards for her coverage of the
ongoing conflict. Magnum photographer Moises
On the long desert road out of Shabwah to Saman has worked extensively in the Middle East.

S AV I N G Y E M E N ’ S H I S T O RY 125

A cotton candy vendor
plies his fluffy wares
at Cox’s Bazar, a
roughly 60-mile
stretch of beach on
the southernmost
tip of Bangladesh.

A
BEACH
FOR
Flower vendors, ALL
livestock,

and well-dressed
beachgoers

crowd Cox’s Bazar,
Bangladesh’s

beloved holiday
destination.

BY

NINA STROCHLIC

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

ISMAIL FERDOUS

127



N E PA L B H U TA N ASIA
INDIA BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH INDIAN
OCEAN
INDIA Dhaka

M YA N M A R

Cox’s Bazar
Bay of Bengal

Visitors can ride horses TO THOSE OUTSIDE BANGLADESH,
or walk along Cox’s
Bazar, which still bears Cox’s Bazar is the world’s largest refugee camp, home to nearly
the name of a local a million exiled Rohingya who fled what the United States has
market founded in declared a genocide in neighboring Myanmar. But many Bangla-
1799 to commemorate deshis know Cox’s Bazar as a favorite tourist destination—and
a British East India as one of the world’s longest natural sand beaches, hemming
Company officer. about 60 miles of shoreline along the Bay of Bengal.
Each year millions of
Bangladeshis visit These disparate Cox’s Bazars are separated by a ridge of hills
the sandy strip. and checkpoints that place the beach and the refugee camp in
“two different worlds,” says Ismail Ferdous. He knows both well.
The National One of Ferdous’s earliest memories is of riding a train to Cox’s
Geographic Society, Bazar for a family beach vacation. More recently, as a photog-
committed to illumi- rapher, he has documented the Rohingya crisis.
nating and protecting
the wonder of our On a winter’s day early in 2020, Ferdous took a break from
world, has funded working at the camp to walk along the beach, 18 miles away. The
Explorer Ismail Ferdous’s temperature topped 100°F, and the shore was packed. Sprawled
work since 2019. or strolling along the beach were garment workers, telecom exec-
utives, street vendors, and madrassa students. Some had ridden
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY 10 to 15 hours on an overnight bus just to spend the afternoon
in the water.
NGM MAPS
Ferdous grew up in the capital city of Dhaka but lived abroad
for a decade. When he returned to the shore of Cox’s Bazar, he felt
a surprising jolt of culture shock—the scene was so different from
beaches in Europe and the U.S. He embraced this perspective,
training his lens on rent-per-ride horses and modestly dressed
swimmers under the blinding midday sun. With the ocean as a
backdrop, the crowded beach looks deceptively serene, even empty.

He returned twice more. On his last visit, in February, Ferdous
brought his parents, sisters, brother, and two nieces along for a
vacation. It had been more than 20 years since the family had
been there together. “My mom still writes me about it, saying,
‘Thanks for doing this,’ ” he says. j

Staff writer Nina Strochlic last wrote about the Appian Way.
Ismail Ferdous documents social and humanitarian issues.

A B E A C H F O R A L L 129

Countless selfies and photos of beach games and sunsets are snapped at Cox’s Bazar every day, but
photographer Ismail Ferdous knew his simple portraits with the sea and sand as settings would stand out.

130 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

“The things people overlook, I paid attention to,” says Ferdous, noting the tremendous variety of
beachgoers at work and at play. Here, “you’ll meet people from 64 districts with 64 accents.”

A B E A C H F O R A L L 131

Freely roaming cattle
are a common sight
at Cox’s Bazar and
throughout Bangla-

desh. These cows may
have been attracted
to discarded food—
or perhaps, like the

humans around them,
they appreciate the
cooler air near the

water and the beach’s
soft sand.



INSTAGRAM CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHERS

WHO While Hamilton James was on assignment near Manú
National Park—one of the planet’s most biodiverse
A National Geographic places—he heard about the Blanquillo clay lick, where
Explorer focusing on con- macaws gather each morning. Scientists suspect that
servation, natural history, these colorful, intelligent animals consume the clay
and anthropology because it helps them digest plant toxins and provides
mineral salts. To capture this image, Hamilton James
WHERE arrived at the wall before the macaws did. He swam
across a creek at dawn, then set up a remote camera,
Peru’s Manú Biosphere stepped away, and waited for the birds to fly in.
Reserve

W H AT

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7
with a 14mm lens

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This page showcases images from our accounts: @natgeo, @natgeotravel, @natgeointhefield,
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