RP361 Witness the Strange and Wonderful

 RP361 Witness the Strange and Wonderful

Socotra lies about 380 km south of the Arabian Peninsula in the Indian Ocean. It is a small island, only 132 km long, and has been isolated from the mainland for about seven million years. It is this isolation that has allowed Socotra to become one of the world's most unique places. The island has diverse and distinctive plant life that gives it the appearance of an alien world straight out of the imagination of a science fiction writer.
Over 300 of the 825 plant species on Socotra can only be found on the island. Nowhere else in the world can boast such bizarre, otherworldly natural flora. Take the dragon blood tree (so called because of its blood-red sap) for example. Its branches sprout upwards in an umbrella-like dome while the leaves create a dense covering that resembles a well-mowed lawn. Hundreds of these trees dot the island like fleets of grounded UFOs.
Another even more alien-looking plant is the desert rose, whose leathery body bulges out from the rocks like an almost-bursting elephant's leg. The beautiful pink flowers that grow near the top seem almost clownish, while the thick body is perfectly evolved for storing water in the island's hot, dry climate.
Birdlife is also incredibly diverse and some rare species thrive in the fish-filled ocean surrounding the island. There are over 1,000 endangered Egyptian vultures living on Socotra— the most concentrated population of this dying species in the world.
The people of Socotra are mostly fishermen, farmers, and fruit growers, and while taking photos of the island's remarkable natural beauty is encouraged, it is considered extremely offensive to take any photos of the island's women.
Visiting the island can be tricky even though there are daily flights, they are often overbooked, meaning that it's not unusual to be delayed a day or more. Transport on the island has improved a lot over the past few years, but it's still inconvenient to get around, and the only places to stay outside the biggest town, Hadibu, are campsites dotted around the island. Sometimes, though, witnessing the strange and wonderful is worth a little inconvenience.