Swedish explorer Strandsberg concludes first phase of Yemen expedition

Swedish Explorer walks from west to east of Yemen to prove Yemen is well By Mohammed al-Kibsi For supporting Yemen and to prove Yemen is well despite all unrest during the past 10 months a traveler from Sweden decided to walk from Tihama region in the west of Yemen up to Sana’a city the capital of Yemen. Mr. Mikael Strandberg started his journey from Zabid on December 7, 2011 and he arrived in Sana’a on Wednesday 21. Mr. Strandberg hired a camel from Zabid that is located in the western coast of Yemen and has to train the camel to be able to cross the mountains as the camel has never been to mountainous areas before, said Mrs. Pamela Strandberg. Upon his arrival in Sana'a Strandsberg said that he chose Zabid to be his starting point of his trip because Zabid represents a landmark at the Yemen's scientific and civilization history and also for existence of the original camels in Zabid. Mikeal Strandsberg said that the aim of his journey was to prove for the whole world that Yemen is a stable and safe country and that it is a civilized country and that the Yemeni people bare all noble humanitarian values. " I was out of Yemen when the current crisis of Yemen erupted and I found that all what the international media were publishing about Yemen is that Yemen is a country of problems, fighting, war, terrorism and endless troubles" said Mr. Strandberg. "But as I knew Yemen before I tried to convince people that Yemen is not a country of troubles, war and terrorism and that there are lots of beautiful things in Yemen that the world should look to so from this point I came up with the idea of the track from Zabid to Sana'a," he said. " I want to show the world the truth about Yemen . Yemen is a safe and enjoyable country," He said that it is true that there are problems in Yemen though in contrary there are a lot of good enjoyable things such as the wonderful and very kind Yemeni people, the civilized culture, the good traditions, the noble values, the splendid beautiful nature, the amazing tourist sites and many other things. He added that he had smilar journeys in more than 25 countries around the world but he affirmed that Yemen was the most country that attracted him. Mikeal said that the most difficulties that he faced during his track was the scarcity of the camel food that caused him a headache. Strandsberg is to leave Sana'a to his country due to some business issues but he said he would come back to Yemen so as to resume his track with the camel from Yemen to Oman. Strandsberg is a well known Swedish traveler and he is married to an American woman that he said is pregnant now. He said if she delivered a boy he would call him Hemyar after the name of the Hemyar Yemeni dynasty. . The Swedish traveler was accompanied by a police man during his journey; however the policeman was wearing civilian clothes during the whole trip. When Mr. Strandberg arrived in Sana’a crowds of people and particularly kids followed him on the streets of Sana’a cheering and applauding for the brave man and at the same time were staring at the camel that some of them seen for the first time walking on the streets of Sana’a. When talking to Mr Strandberg he was just arrived in Sana’a and was tired and surrounded by carious people so he could not talk about the whole trip. He said he would hold a press conference on Thursday morning in Bab al-Yemen to brief the press about the aim of his journey and about how nice and peaceful the Yemeni people are. Mrs. Strandberg said that her husband and she loves Yemen so much and like the Yemeni people who are very charm and very sweet and nice people therefore her husband and she decided to come back to Yemen to arrange for her husband trip from Tihamma region to Sana’a. “I’m so happy that Mikael could make it to Sana’a,” she said happily. Strandsberg held a press conference in Bab al-Yemen neighborhood, that is the gate of the Old Sana’a city on Thursday morning. At the press conference he asserted that the main cause that pressed him to start this track at this certain time was when he watched many negative news about Yemen. He said he came to Yemen along with his wife Pamela and his young baby daughter Belqis that he named her after Queen Belqis of Yemeni ancient Sheba dynasty. “I spent over two weeks along with my guide Amin and the camel walking from Zabid through the different districts of Yemen up to Sana’a without facing any problem. Everything was safe in contrary of the media negative reports about Yemen,” said Explorer Strandsberg. He said that during his stops for rest along the track from Zabid in the southern west of Yemen up to Sana’a, locals used to come to him, welcoming him and offering him food, bread, tea and coffee. “Now Im here in Sana’a and is safe. This is Yemen,” he said. The Swedish explorer Strandsberg has made many expedition journeys to many countries across the globe. The most significant of them was his famous journey on a horse that he started from the very south of South America up to the far north of North America and back on a motorbike from the very North of America to the very south of South America.