Stories

Field writing from the island

Millions of years of isolation left Socotra with species that exist nowhere else. These are the longer pieces: what lives here, what grows here, and what the coast actually looks like when you get there.

Nature

The Dragon Blood Tree: A Field Guide to Dracaena

Where to find them, when the light works, and why the biggest forest on Earth is a population with almost nothing growing underneath it.

9 min read

Nature

Socotra's Animals: What Lives Here, and Where

The endemic birds, the monk-hooded chameleon, the blue tarantula. What lives on Socotra, where each one is found, and which sightings a normal week will not deliver.

9 min read

Nature

Socotra Plants: The Trees That Grow Nowhere Else

A working guide to Socotra's flora: the bottle tree's three week bloom, eleven endemic frankincense species, and the regeneration crisis nobody photographs.

9 min read

Coast

Socotra's Beaches: Which Ones Are Worth the Drive

A working map of Socotra's coast: which beaches earn a full session, which are a photo stop, and which ones you reach only by boat.

9 min read