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Magic
Mountains of Yemen
Utmah - The terraced mountain
landscape As a compensation for the pain of the road came 60 km of some of the most spectacular scenery of mountain peaks rising to 3000 meters and deep valleys that seemed to have no bottom. However the most spectacular feature of these mountains was the ancient agricultural terraces that begin at the bottom of the valleys and climb to the top of the mountains. They come in all shapes and sizes and possess elaborate irrigation systems.
The villages are hard
to see because they are built of dark stone from the land itself and
therefore blend into the landscape beautifully. These villages sat on
narrow ridges or hung from the side of a mountain as if by magic. The Utmah area has a population
of about 120,000 people, almost all farmers with cultivated terraces
and livestock (cattle, small sheep and goats). It was the people of
Utmah through their local leaders who promoted the idea of establishing
a protected area, and towards that end a National Meeting was to alert
everyone, particularly the decision makers in the Government, to the
growing dangers and threats to the natural resources of the Utmah area.
Thanks to the above meeting, a Decree was issued by the Council of Ministers
on 2 June 1999 declaring Utmah a Natural Protected Area. Jebel Al-Lawz is a large highland plateau where the air is cool and pure, and as the name indicates, planted with countless old and new almond trees (lawz). The rain has been poor these past two years and the area looked quite arid, but the almond groves were being plowed with small wooden plows pulled by donkeys, in anticipation of the coming rains. In fact, it rained while we were there, and it was indeed a refreshing sight to see. The potential protected area we were meant to see was just across a deep valley and covered an area of about 30 sq. km. From the description of our guides we understood that the area is full of old trees, mostly ar'ar, and numerous shrubs and herbs. Animals mentioned as living there include the mountain ibex, mountain gazelle, rock hyrax, baboon, partridge and wild pigeon, to name a few. There are also a number of natural caves that need to be explored. As we stood on the edge of a fearsome escarpment, with a vertical drop of over 600 meters, our guide took off his "kaffiye" or head cloth and threw it into the great emptiness of the valley below. As if by magic, it reappeared in all its glory carried up by the continuous air current that is well known to the local villagers. He repeated his performance again and again. What a show! The area is currently used by medicinal herb collectors who come regularly and spend days to fill their sacks, herders who allow their goats and sheep to graze and browse the trees and shrubs (we were told that during the wet season the grasses grow waist high) and hunters who have a good, but diminishing, selection of animals to shoot.
On the way back to Sanaa, Sheikh Ali told us that there were many beautiful mountain areas in Yemen, but he was confident that we would not find anywhere that can match the scenery of Jebel Al-Lawz. I fully agree. pact assessment for the touristic sites and projects, gas emission standards, the infrastructure, in addition to controlling the capacity of touristic locations. Text: Faisal Abu-Izzeddin
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The
principal game is the ibex and the terrain of this region is ideal for
it. Unfortunately, because the water holes or springs from which it
can drink are few, it becomes easy target for hunters. In fact, we visited
one of the prominent hunters and saw ibex horn trophies shot in the
area. We talked about the need to conserve all species of wildlife,
particularly after the establishment of a protected area. I had the
feeling that if the hunters are trained and motivated, they could become
very effective protectors.