Kamaran Island

Kamaran lies low and quiet off the Tihama coast - Yemen's largest Red Sea island, its name tied to the moons ('qamaran', two moons, legend offers) and its history to pearl diving, salt works and the quarantine station era when pilgrim ships paused here en route to the holy cities. The villages build in coral block and palm thatch, mangrove bays hold herons and turtle grass, and the fringing reefs keep fish life at snorkelling depth in water that stays bath-warm. It is the Red Sea at its most unhurried - fishing, tides and tea - within the country's standing arranged-travel frame.

Background

Kamaran covers 108 square kilometres, measuring 18 kilometres from end to end and 7 kilometres across, and about 2,200 people live there. It is a shelf island, rising from the shallow continental shelf of the Arabian Peninsula, and coral reefs ring it on three sides. The land is mostly level, with some hills toward the south, where Jabal Yaman, the highest point at 24 meters, stands roughly three kilometers from Ra's al Yaman, which is the southeastern cape. The pilgrim quarantine station kept working until 1953, when a station in Jeddah took over its role. Daily highs run from 27.8 °C in January to 36.7 °C in July.

Source: Wikipedia, "Kamaran"

What's there

• The coral-block villages - island building tradition in reef stone.
• The mangrove bays - herons and green shallows.
• The fringing reefs - snorkel water off the sand spits.
• The pearl-and-quarantine history - the island's layered maritime past.

When to go

October to March avoids the Tihama's fiercest heat. Arrange the trip through specialist local operators.

Before you go

On the island: facilities are village-simple, self-sufficiency the kit, and the conservative courtesies of the coast the etiquette.

Nearby

Salif's salt port and the Tihama shore.

Key facts