Where the weird things are
Original post: Another World Adventures
Socotra is one of the most isolated places on earth. Home to an array of truly strange and unique animals and plants it’s a tropical desert that sits 350km across the Arabian Sea from Yemen.
Made up of a small archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean the island lies about 240 km east of Somalia and some 200 km off the Horn of Africa, 600 km due east from Aden.
In years past, Socotra was a legendary place etched onto the edge of maps of the known world. A National Geographic writer describes how for sailors it was a fearsome, with dangerous shoals, ferocious storms and residents who were believed to control winds and turn ships toward shore for capture and plunder. The same writer also perfectly noted that Socotra is “Where the weird things are”.
Socotra was once part of the continental landmass of Africa rather than being a volcanic island.
Its detachment many moons ago and deep isolation for thousands of years combined with fierce heat and drought have created a unique and spectacular endemic flora. It’s estimated that of the 900 or so plant species of Socotra, over a third are found nowhere else on earth.
One of Socotra’s most striking plants, its poster child of sorts, is the Dragon’s Blood Tree – “Dracaena Cinnabari” – this strange looking, umbrella shaped tree’s red sap is believed to be the dragon’s blood of the ancients and is sought after as a medicine and a dye.
Socotra is to the Indian Ocean what the Galapagos are to the South Pacific. Indeed, it’s known as the Galapagos of the east.
The flora of Socotra has been ranked by botanists among the ten ‘most endangered island floras in the world’, creating a site of significant global importance for biodiversity and conservation. And it’s exactly this wildness and curiosity for the undiscovered that draws intrepid explorers to the islands in the hope they can learn its secrets before the modern world changes it forever.
If you’d like to join a small group expedition to explore this legendary island we are working with an expedition that is set to achieve yet another ambitious journey by exploring the entire eastern portion of the island of Socotra Island by foot.
The goal is to travel south starting near Hadibo, the island’s main city, aiming to summit Socotra Island’s highest peak via the Ayhaft gorges and then looking to reach Erissal Cape via the Homil Plateau.
The trek will explore the island’s most-enchanting locations and give a real meaning to the reason it’s gained the nickname “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean” and why it was named a World Natural Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2008.
Socotra Island Expedition
Dates: 30th October – 10th November 2013
Price: £2,599
Length: 12 Days
Group size: 12 people
Accommodation: camping
Find out more about this once in a lifetime adventure to Socotra Island here