Aden - Notes

Capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) until reunification in 1990, Aden suffered badly during the civil war of 1994 when a cholera epidemic killed more residents than the fighting. The city was a British colony from 1839 until 1968 when we were unceremoniously kicked out by supporters of the new state of South Yemen. A brief but bloody civil war in 1986 left thousands dead and caused extensive damage in Aden. The city has little of architectural interest (although the Soviet-style housing complexes built by the British during the 50's in the Ma'alla district have a certain curiosity value) but its setting around the base of a long-dead volcano is extremely dramatic. The climate is not for the faint-hearted, especially in Crater where the intense heat and high humidity are aggravated by the the semicircle of dark volcanic cliffs which screen the town from any breeze and seem to focus the sun's rays like a concave mirror. Good sea-food can be found in some of the sea-front restaurants and cafes but it's a constant struggle to eat your dinner quickly before the dense swarms of flies get it.

That Britain clung on to this uncomfortable lump of rock for so long is perhaps a measure of how important Aden's port was as a staging post for ships bound for India and the far east. Aden's economic fortunes were always inextricably tied to a narrow strip of water more than a thousand miles to the north-west: it was the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 that made what had originally been just a temporary garrison to punish the Sultan of Lahej for attacks on East India Company ships into the most important port in the Empire. Almost a hundred years later, it was the canal's temporary closure during the Six Day War which hastened the Brits' departure. My main reason for going to Aden was to photograph the house where the French poet and adventurer Arthur Rimbaud lived for 11 years (1880-91) before embarking on his disastrous gun-running trip to Ethiopia. Unfortunately I never did find the house - the only local I met who'd even heard of it was a cashier at the local branch of Banque Indosuez who assured me that it had been destroyed during the last civil war.

Aden has some fine beaches but the numbers and voraciousness of the local shark population mean that swimming opportunities are limited to one or two small but well netted bays. I would advise anyone wanting to stay in Aden to head to Steamer Point (At-Tawahi) where there is at least a gentle sea-breeze to ameliorate the heat, as well as some quirky old colonial-relic type hotels (the Crescent had recently been renovated when I was there and was pretty good - spacious and cool.)