Honey

Da’wn Valley is considered to be the most important and famous Wadis.

Its two parts, the left and right, with its villages makes the biggest and most wonderfull wadis in Hadhramout.

Most of the settlements of the Hadramaut are on the flanks of the valley, under the cliffs above the normal level of floods

The mud brick buildings have thick walls the mass of the walls is ideal for keeping the inside of the building cool; window openings are kept small and located to avoid direct sunlight and have ornate wooden lattice which provide shade as well as privacy.

Sbikh village from the left wadi in Da’wn

Tall buildings have a shaft adjacent to the main staircase which acts as a chimney for “pulling” a breeze thro’ the building, cooler air at ground level being drawn up thro the building. The layout of the buildings -close together, means they provide shade for one another and also shade the ravine like streets in between.

Most buildings are coated with a high quality lime render called “nurah”. The nurah is also used decoratively: around windows and doors and it is also nurah from which the intense decoration of Zabid in Tihama is made.

The tall hats of Wadi Hadhramout women, which gives them a mysterious witch like apperance.

Beekeeping is deep-rooted in this valley with a very old and rich tradition. It is an activity which has come down through time like an inheritance.

Bee hives infront of Sabikh village from the left wadi in Da’wn. The best quality honey comes from the flowers of ‘ilb, in November and December. After this, bees visit various flowers and plants, resulting in the honey, marâ‘î. Towards June a sec ond

The Sidr tree, (also known as Christ's Thorn, Jujube or Nabag tree. “Ziziphus spina-christi”) is an ancient tree and one of the Three major Acacia trees of the Arabian Penensula. Its has a special beauty and more modest blossoming of the ‘ilb flowers takes place, with a honey called ‘asal baynî, which means between ‘ilb and marâ‘î. The marbâ‘î is a spring honey (rabî‘ 'spring'), from sumar flowers. grandeur.

Da’wn honey is Sidr honey and its the most expensive honey in all Yemen for its curative and nutritive benefits. The kilogram can go up to USD80. renowned for its unique buttery flavor, rich aroma and high viscosity —and for its medicinal qualities.

The Sidr tree flowering in Nov. To appreciate this highly revered honey, one has to understand the bees relation to the Sidr tree. Typically, bees of a certain hive make 37,000 trips just to Sidr flower become exhausted after making few trips! The bees cannot withstand the potency of the nectar of this potent remarkable Acacia tree, which is also called ALB in Yemen. make half a kilo of honey but bees fed solely on the nectar of the

Honey is often served in banquets. Honey and eggs are considered important for fertility and physical strength and therefore are given to young bridegrooms or circumcised boys.Yemeni tradition prescribes honey together with melted butter for consumption by mothers immediately after childbirth. It is widely used in folk medicine.

The variety of honeybee found in Yemen is the small dark bee which thrives in hot weather. The bee keepers bring up the bees themselves from nature. Theye capture wild swarms in the mountains and the rest they buy at the annual bee market along Wadi Daw‘an. In March, there is a market out on the main road just prior to the spring season, known as suq al-mib. The bee keepers continue to call the female bees queen 'father' (ab).

The exchange of honey was used to put a seal on the resolution of disputes and the creation of pacts between both tribesmen and tribes.

After extracting the Sidr honey in the winter for about forty days mostly in November, they move camp by truck few hours to a different location with many vegetation without Sidr trees, for the bees to have rest and to nourish the bee. Then they move to the area of the Samar trees.

Sidr wood door decorated with metal Hadhrami style

The Ibex horns are placed on buildings as a protection against the Evil Eye and as status of wildness and power. Until recently the returning hunters would the horns of his pray dancing through the streets, shouting, clapping, going back words and forwards or turning in circles.

Saiff, village hosts pilgrimage to the tomb of Shaikhan Bin Ahmed on 8-12th of Rabie Al- Thani every year.

At Hodoun village, the pilgrimage is usually made to the tomb of Hadoun son of Prophet Hood on 15th to 16th Sha’aban every year. The village is located 142 to the west of Seiyoun.

Hodoun village

Al Khoraybah from the right wadi of Da’wn. The village was a main center for the old yemeni caravans between the coast and the valley.

An old castel from the right side of the wadi

A mosque in Al-Ribat, Rabit Ba’ishin, the village of the Bin Laden family

Al Quierah from the right the right side of the Wadi, with its freashly painted mosque dome in April 2007

Al Quierah from the right the right side of the Wadi

The date palm trees of Sbikh village from the left wadi in Da’wn

A family going to Sabikh village from the left wadi in Da’wn to visit for the big muslim holiday.

Sbikh village from the left wadi in Da’wn

Khaylla Bugshan village

Khaylla Bugshan rest house

Houfa village from the left side of the wadi

Houfa village

The houses of Hayd Al Jazeel with its 20 houses.

Hayd Al Jazeel far end of the left wadi in Da’wn, as seen from the higher plateau.

Myrrh, Ollibanum tree trunk bleeding before it form the hard gum resin. This plant can still be found in Hadramout and Dhofar (Currently in Oman).

Ollibanum tree are still found on the high elevation of wadi da’wn edges.