Farayand Virtual World

* ROCK PALACE - YEMEN

Dar al-Hajar stands atop a protruding rock formation in Wadi Dhahr, a fertile and pleasant valley of small villages and clay-walled orchards. Pictured in many books about Yemen, it has become a symbol of the country itself.

Imam Yahya (1911-48) built the five-storey palace in the 1930s as a summer residence. Building a palace in such an extraordinary place was not his idea; there were already ruins of a prehistoric building on top of the hill. The well penetrating the rocks next to the house is said to date from then. This summer palace of Imam Yahya is actually a group of palaces famous for its delightful location and its beautiful gypsum ornamentation in the Sana'a style.

Imam Yahya ruled his feudal country as an absolute monarch with a handful of advisers, mostly tribal leaders, religious scholars, and members of his family. Yahya's method of government was simple. He held a daily public meeting ( jama'a ) seated under an umbrella outside his palace, receiving petitions from anyone who wished to present them, and signing approval or disapproval in Himyarite red ink. He personally supervised tax collections and kept the national treasury in a box under his bed. He sought to preserve Yemen's independence and was determined to keep foreign influences out of the country and to resist change in any form. However, to train an army that would be stronger than tribal levies, he had to send officers abroad for training. Upon their return, they formed the nucleus of opposition to the Imam. In 1948, Imam Yahya was murdered in an attempted coup.

This lovely, green valley is situated some 15 km NW of Sana. Ask a city taxi to drive you to the Rock Palace of Wadi Dahr. Make clear that you need only one way - that is, if you like to stroll there for a few hours. Say e.g. 'Sana - Wadi Dahr, ma (= not) Wadi Dahr - Sana'. The arabic for the Rock Palace is Dar-al-Hajar. The ride cost us YR 120 one way.

For birding we preferred the area to the east of the main dust road passing by the Rock Palace. Take small roads and paths between the mud walls surrounding the gardens and orchards up to the rock wall that you see from the base of the Palace. Walk north along the rock wall, and from there cross the more open fields to the west. From several points you can see the towering Rock Palace, so that's where you have to go back at the end. Wait for a taxi on a stone bench under the big tree at the Rock Palace. There are two small shops for a drink.

Yellow-vented Bulbul is common here. Further we saw a.o. Red-breasted Wheatear, Little Green Bee-eater, Graceful Warbler, White-breasted White-eye (tit-like in behaviour and sound) and several Arabian Serins (endemic).

(Source:www.Gulf News.com)