
Access to this village on one side requires visitors to be world-class rock climbers.

Haid Al-Jazil in Yemen sits on top of a huge rock with vertical sides in a dusty valley – and looks for all the world like a settlement in a fantasy film.

The boulder, which is about 350 feet high, is flanked by Grand Canyon-style geology, which makes the location all the more dramatic.

Haid Al-Jazil in Yemen sits on top of a huge rock with vertical sides in a dusty valley – and looks for all the world like a settlement in a fantasy film

The environment is one of the harshest in the world – Yemen doesn’t have any permanent rivers.

Instead people rely on wadis – channels that fill with water seasonally.

These incredible pictures show how Haid Al-Jazil is positioned right above one such feature.

When it rains, shepherds and their flocks of goats wander the valley floor.

The environment is one of the harshest in the world – Yemen doesn’t have any permanent rivers

The houses in Haid Al-Jazil have been built using mud brick, which are susceptible to being washed away.

That would account for the structures being located well away from the wadi.

Yemenis have been known to make such lodgings 11 storeys high, which is about 100 feet.