Khadija and I just came back from Libya and Yemen. Amazingly, both have two governments that are in conflict with each other. Neither is in a hot civil war, but the factions have quite a way to go to reunite. While both countries are low in any stability index and have few tourists, they were safe where we were and extremely interesting.

Libya was a new country for both of us and Yemen for me. This trip brought the number of UN countries visited to 146 for me and 144 for Khadija.

LIBYA:

We spent a week in West Libya under the control of the Tripoli Government, located in the northwest, around 1/3 of the country and a majority of the population. The Benghazi government of East Libya controls the rest.

Libya has some of the most impressive Roman ruins in the world. The photo below shows the remains of the jaw-dropping theater of Sabratha. The city was largely destroyed by the estimated 8.0 earthquake of 365 AD and mostly abandoned when invaded and controlled by the Vandals (a Germanic people). It was later reconquered and resurrected by the Byzantines (Eastern Roman Empire) for less than a century, until the Muslim invasion of the Maghreb.

The Old Town of Gadames, a World Heritage Site, is a city that was abandoned in the 1980s. It’s located 600 km / 375 mi from the Mediterranean Sea with occupation dating from the Paleolithic era, before there was a Sahara Desert. The residents left to take advantage of nearby government-built homes with modern technologies. The circular settlement covers 38 hectares / 95 acres. The mud-brick walls were built on stone foundations and braced with palm trunks, with lime used to whitewash walls. We walked 4 km / 2.4 mi without retracing our steps through a maze of covered streets. There are periodic skylights to provide ventilation. Women were only allowed to travel on the ground level when the men were at prayer, the rest of the time they had to travel across the rooftops.

YEMEN:

Khadija didn’t join me in Yemen, as she had been there multiple times while working with the UN.

I spent a week in South Yemen in the Hadhramaut Governorate under the control of the Aden Government, which controls all but North Yemen with the capital of Sana’a. The latter is the northwest of the country, about a third of the land and a majority of the population. Amazingly, this is the same contours of the two governments in Libya.

While the U.S. and UK were bombing Houthis in North Yemen for disrupting cargo traffic in the Red Sea, I might as well have been in a different country. Nobody I was around mentioned it and life was seemingly unaffected.

A highlight was seeing Shibam, the “Manhattan of Yemen.” The town has incredible architecture dating back to the 16th century. The houses are all made from mud brick and stand 5 to 11 stories high, some of them over 30m / 100ft high, with each floor having one or two rooms. With only one gate and high cliffs behind, the city was well fortified from invaders.

While the vertical, mud-brick structures and stark landscape of wadis and cliffs were unforgettable, so was the interaction with the local people, such as playing with these children in the town of Al-Hajarayn in the Dawan Wadi.

RECENT POST:

Read about our experience in Azerbaijan. The attractions of Azerbaijan range from cutting edge architecture in the capital of Baku to Zoroastrian temples; from mountain villages known for its coppersmiths to an area with thousands of petroglyphs and fields of percolating mudholes. We uncovered something new and engrossing every day of traveling through the country .

UPCOMING TRIPS:

We’ll be visiting Bhutan, Bangkok for the Extraordinary Travel Festival, Brunei, Bali, East Timor and Taiwan. Except for Bangkok, these are all new places for us.

​

PHOTOGRAPHY:

My beautifully printed black and white “Station to Station: Exploring the New York City Subway” coffee table book is still available. Click here or email me for a signed copy, not available anywhere else!

RECENT BOOKS​:

The Orchard of Lost Souls (2013, 352 pages) is a novel by the Somali-British author Nadifa Mohamed. It’s set in Somalia at the beginning of the civil war which eventually lead to an independent, but not internationally recognized, Somaliland with Hargeisa as its capital. Seen through the eyes of three women, the story highlights the conflict among people of the same ethnic group, religion and language, but different clans. The civil war is also known as the Isaac Genocide and the Hargeisa Holocaust, referencing the systematic, state-sponsored massacres of Isaaq Clan civilians between 1987 and 1989 by the Somali government. In 2014, The Orchard of Lost Souls won the Somerset Maugham Award, awarded to writers under the age of 35.

SOCIALS:

My website www.ExploringEd.com with detailed posts on our trips.

FB: @Ed.Hotchkiss.3 and @Exploring Ed Travel | IG: @Exploring.Ed.Travel​

DONATE:

A recent article in the NY Times reported the world’s food supply is under threat because so much of what we eat is concentrated in so few countries, and many of those countries are increasingly facing a water shortage. One study, published by the World Resources Institute, found that one quarter of the world’s crops is grown in places where the water supply is stressed, unreliable or both. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water, found that half the world’s food production is in areas where water availability is projected to decline (see the easy-to-understand summary). On top of the lack of water for agriculture, in some developing countries drinking water is contaminated and causes cholera and other diseases.

Here are three charities that focus on solving hunger and harmful environmental changes. I just contributed to all of them and urge you to do the same.

The World Resource Institute uses research-based approaches and unique coalitions, focusing on people’s essential needs to protect and restore nature, and to stabilize the climate.

The US Water Alliance inspires and sustains a diverse movement to advance transformative solutions to pressing water challenges so communities can thrive.

The Water Project provides reliable water facilities to communities in sub-Saharan Africa who suffer needlessly from a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.

Happy Traveling and Happy Halloween 🎃… Exploring Ed