Dr. Seuss in the blue lagoon... my weekend in Yemen

Around the time I moved to the UAE I saw some list making the rounds on FaceBook: 35 places to see before you die, or the 29 most amazing places, or something like that. In the list was a Yemeni island called Socotra and especially the Dragon's Blood trees, the specific variety that grows there grows no where else on earth. Well, Yemen is in the neighborhood but the travel logistics sounded a little daunting and, I mean, Yemen. Was it OK to travel to Yemen?

Happily, a group I'd heard good things about, Escape Travels, announced a trip!- a long weekend just before ZU's spring break- perfect. And, there would be camping involved! I have been missing the whole sleeping outside thing quite a bit. I was intentionally vague when describing the trip to mom ahead of time, I think I managed to avoid entirely mentioning it was in Yemen or that we'd be flying a Yemeni airline and making a mainland stop. As hoped, all of that went smoothly, the most daunting part being staying up late in order to get to the Sharjah airport for a 4AM departure! In the pouring rain. An aside, I was surprised to discover a well stocked duty free at the airport in the dry emirate of Sharjah and they had the smartest things (which I of course availed myself of): wine in plastic bottles!

Upon arrival at the Socotra airport we cleared customs- only 4 flights per week land on the island, makes me wonder what the immigration officials there do the rest of the time. We split up into about 10 SUVs and headed directly for Delisha Beach. The waters surrounding the island are turquoises aquamarine, azure and indigo... so remarkably beautiful that words fail. Shells and brainy textured hunks of coral are scattered on the fine white sand. Quirky
Egyptian vultures with punk rock yellow mohawk hairdos started stalking us before that first lunch, they, along with goats, were pretty constant companions. One goat is rumored to have eaten a visitor's passport. We snorkeled and floated and napped in the shade until it was time to head for our first night's campsite at Arher Beach along a freshwater stream and next to a tall snowy white dune. For several months of the year, Socotra is blasted by near constant 120 kph winds that blow the beaches right up the mountainside making for dramatic slopes. We had a taste of the wind the first night and most people were desperate for sleep after the 4AM flight ordeal so after the sun went down and a bit of ooohing and aaahing over the magnificent starry night, many people, me included, hit the tents.

In the morning we hiked up a steep trail at Homhil. Most of the group hit a freshwater rock pool at the top, some of us limped back down before the summit for a quick run to the beach. We saw some of our first Bottle trees and Dragon's Blood trees on the hike but far from our last.

Attentive FaceBook or blog followers may notice that the Bottle trees look a little familiar. They are a variety of the Desert Rose which is the same plant I used for my first Dubai Christmas tree.
The ones on the island grow especially bulbous bottoms making them look exactly like something dreamed up by Dr. Seuss. My Christmas plant wasn't so Seuss-y but the blossoms that opened up after the holiday were exactly the same.

We made our way up to the Dicksam Plateau on winding roads, both paved and dirt, making a stop at one of the only 2 gas stations on the island. The plateau is where the Dragon's Blood trees grow and where we made camp the second night. Four of our goat friends joined us for dinner that night, as the main course and while our chefs were doing the prep, we headed down into a wadi (canyon) to a green rock pool with a natural slide. wheee!

Camping night two among the Dragon's Blood trees (called that because of their bright red sap which is harvested, dried and used for medicines and make up) included a campfire and marshmallows. (After the fresh goat which was quite tasty.) So much fun to share a first experience roasting a marshmallow with people from all over the world. My tent-mate is Bulgarian, one fellow
rider in Ali's party SUV (we sang and danced along to pop songs top volume driving up and down the mountain roads- including repeated renditions of the odd 90s "Barbie Song" by one hit Norwegian wonder, Aqua- not what you expect on a remote middle eastern island!) is Hungarian, I shared a taxi to the airport with a Spaniard and an Indian but on the ride home swapped out one for an Aussie. I count at least 13 different nationalities in our group. A lovely mess of accents.

Day three had us coming down off the plateau, back to the blue blue waters of the Indian Ocean but I think I'll cover that in a part 2 post so as to be able to get this one out in a timely fashion! More pictures first!