The wild magic of Socotra

A lonely island in the Arabian Sea some 150 miles off the Horn of Africa, Socotra figures in ancient texts as a place of mystery and enchantment. It seems Greek and Arab sailors once spoke of it as an earthly paradise, perfumed with frankincense and bristling with magical trees.

They weren’t far wrong, says David Pilling in the Financial Times. The island’s mountain wilds really do look like a “wonderland” – a place from the dreams of Dalí or Dr Seuss – and are stippled with odd-looking “dragon’s blood” trees whose deep-red sap is said to have extraordinary properties, and was used by Stradivari to varnish his violins. Getting there has never been easy, and the civil war in Yemen (to which Socotra belongs) has only made it harder, but a trickle of tourists has recently been returning.

The UAE has governed it since 2018, when it landed troops on the island, claiming to do so on behalf of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, although the latter called the move “unjustified”. Most tourists now arrive on infrequent charter flights from Abu Dhabi. Booking tickets can be complicated, making it easier to travel with a tour operator such as Untamed Borders (from roughly £3,500 for a week) or Cookson Adventures (which is at the more luxury end of the market).

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Trekking in the island’s interior is tough but rewarding. Socotra’s mountains are “as jagged as a sea monster’s back”. Over-grazing by goats has caused deep ecological damage, but you can still see the wonderful endemic flora and fauna for which the island has been dubbed “the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean”.

The island’s culture is distinctive, from its language (Soqotri is an ancient Semitic tongue) to its folk beliefs. And its coast is “wild and sublime”, with “vertiginous” sand dunes, “blinding white” beaches and “lapis lazuli” seas teeming with life, including whale sharks, huge pods of dolphins, and such an abundance of smaller species that fishing is almost too easy.

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