Socotra Island

ForestsSocotra,Yemen

A Yemeni island isolated so long that a third of its plants grow nowhere else, chief among them a tree that bleeds red resin.

September·Closed

May–Sep

From May the southwest monsoon seals the island off: dry winds near 80 kph through June–August make camping and travel impossible and the seas impassable. Charter flights stop, and there is no practical way in until the wind eases around October.

Year-round Socotra's dragon's-blood forests and star-thick skies are here year-round, but the island is reachable only from October to April — the summer monsoon shuts it off.

Socotra is an island in the Arabian Sea, 350 kilometres off the coast of Yemen, isolated for so long that a third of its plants grow nowhere else on Earth, chief among them a tree shaped like an umbrella turned inside out that bleeds red resin when its bark is cut. The tree is the dragon's blood tree, and on the Diksam plateau it grows in loose forests on open red rock, some right at the rim of the canyons that cut through the plateau with nothing but air behind them; its upturned crown is a survival tool that combs moisture out of the mountain mist and funnels it down the trunk to the roots. A local scores the pale bark and catches the thick crimson resin that seeps out drop by drop, the dragon's blood that gave the tree and the island its name, traded for two thousand years as a dye, a medicine and a varnish. The forests are thinning, with few young trees, and those standing are old. The rest of the island is as strange. Bottle-trunked desert roses cling to the cliffs with fat grey trunks and pink flowers, peaking in March; cucumber trees stand on swollen stems; and in the granite Haghier highlands at the island's heart clouds snag on jagged peaks and cold streams gather in rock pools. At Arher, on the northeast coast, white sand piles hundreds of metres up against a wall of dark cliffs and a cold freshwater stream runs down through the dunes into the sea; at Homhil a natural rock pool sits at the lip of a cliff like an infinity pool above the coast; and Hoq Cave runs three kilometres into the mountain past forests of stalagmites and pools of still water. The beaches are white and empty, and the sea is full of fish. Socotra is reached by a weekly flight, its people speak their own language, and the war on the mainland has kept it both cut off and untouched. Socotra is an island that evolved on its own, and the trees on it bleed.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Come between October and April — the summer monsoon, roughly May to September, whips up strong winds and rough seas that cut off much of the island.
You cannot simply show up — Socotra is reached only through licensed tour operators, who arrange the permits; independent travel is not allowed.
Firmihin holds the densest dragon's blood forest — go at first or last light, when the umbrella crowns cast long silhouettes and the low sun reddens the whole slope.
Detwah Lagoon is the classic swim and wade — a protected turquoise inlet where sandbars surface at low tide; bring shoes for the coral and expect long empty beaches.
Come prepared for rough edges — facilities are minimal and much of the island is wild, so pack sun cover and plenty of water, and travel with the guide your operator provides.

Things to do

1
Stand among the dragon's blood trees on Diksam
On the Diksam plateau these trees grow in loose forests on open red rock, some of them right at the rim of the canyons that cut through it, with nothing but air behind them. Come at the end of the day: as the sun drops, each crown flattens into a black umbrella against an orange sky and the canyon below fills with shadow. Walk in under one of the oldest trees and the branches close overhead into a roof dense enough to lay a clean circle of shade on the bare ground.
2
Watch the dragon's blood being tapped
Watch a local score the pale bark and catch the thick crimson resin that seeps out drop by drop — the 'dragon's blood' that gave the tree, and the whole island, its name. It dries into hard, dark-red beads in the palm of your hand.
3
Hike into the granite Haghier highlands
Climb into the jagged granite peaks at the island's heart, where clouds snag on the ridges and cold streams gather in rock pools. This is the wettest, greenest corner of a mostly dry island, and shelters endemic geckos and birds that live nowhere else on Earth.
4
Climb the Arher dunes where sand meets sea
At Arher, on the northeast coast, white sand piles hundreds of metres up against a wall of dark cliffs, and a cold freshwater stream runs down through the dunes into the sea. Climb to the top for the long view over the water, then cool off in the stream at the bottom.
5
Swim the infinity pool at Homhil
Hike up to the Homhil plateau, where a natural rock pool sits right at the cliff's lip. Ease into the cool water and look straight out over the coast far below, with dragon's blood trees and bottle-trunked desert roses standing around the rim.
6
Descend into Hoq Cave
Follow a guide three kilometres into Hoq Cave, past forests of stalagmites and pools of still water. Deep inside, the walls carry inscriptions scratched by sailors two thousand years ago, when Socotra was a stop on the trade routes between Africa, Arabia, and India.