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Two hundred twenty miles off the mainland Yemen is an archipelago to which a small island of an alien-looking beauty belongs.
A home for eight hundred rare species of flora and fauna, Socotra Island of Yemen is a home for any fantasy devotees.
LOCATION
Located at the edge of the map is the Socotra Island that belongs to Socotra Archipelago 220 miles away from the mainland Yemen.
It rests in the Arabian Sea and of the Northwest Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden.
CLIMATE
Socotra has a subtropical desert climate, which means it is hot and arid with low precipitation that can only support scanty vegetation. So how does this island contain hundreds of ancient floras?
The warmest month is May with an average maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius and the coolest is January to February with an average minimum temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.
TRANSPORTATION
The recent boom of tourism in 1999 has paved the roads – literally – of Socotra for easier travel procedures. Tourists can fly to Sanaa orAden Airport, of the mainland Yemen, which is – don’t worry – safe.
You can go to Socotra Island through airstrip that travels three times a day regularly, but flight cancellations are famous here. So yeah, gear up with a backup plan that includes staying at Sanaa and touring the Old Town. Not bad, right?
WHAT TO SEE
The Socotra Dragon Tree
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The Socotra Dragon Tree has inspired myriad of articles and lead archaeologists, biologists, environmentalists, and the likes to book a flight going to mainland Yemen to get a glimpse of these exquisitely detailed flora that is endemic only to Socotra Island.
The sap of these trees are told in legends to be the dragon’s blood; hence, the name. Many locals make these saps as incense or perfumes that were a practice as old as the Greek and Egyptian Empires. A whiff of these will let you taste what it like is to be in an Egyptian Temple or Greek Parthenon in the time where they still stood gloriously tall.
The Desert Rose
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Adenium obesum sokotranum is sub-specie of Socotra Dragon Tree that is also endemic to this island.
There are other similar plants like this in African and Arabian mainlands; however, they are smaller and not as bountiful. These fuschia-colored plants store its water in its trunks.
The Cucumber Tree
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Dendrosicyos socotrana belongs to the cucumber family. It’s note-worthy that this vine plant grows in abundance in a subtropical climate desert.
Socotra Island Landscape
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The landscape of Socotra is composed of ragged limestone and rock formations interrupted by the Socotra Dragon Trees and other floras that can be seen to have stretched miles.
This provided color to a rather gray-scale landscape of Socotra.
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