Info about Shibam :

1. Shibam is a very old city. It was also a capital of the Hadramout region for some period. And a major city on the overland spice and incense route.

2. Shibam is a tight collection of some 500 skyscrapers, seven to eight-stories high, crammed into an area of only half a sq km. Some of these houses are many centuries and the tallest reaching 30m. The city seems as a fortified castle on a hill of almost 30 meters from the wadi bed.

3. It's unique architectural heritage of 500 mud brick houses is an extraordinary example of traditional Yemeni building skills.

4. The first known sky-scraper city, is ironically dubbed as 'Manhanttan of the Desert'.

5. The city was added to UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1982