Socotra

THE MOST ALIEN PLACE ON EARTH

FEATURE & PHOTOGRAPHY AHMED NABIL

When I received an invitation to visit Socotra, my first question was, where is this place located? Socotra is one of the most isolated landforms on earth separated from Africa during the Miocene period and it became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. Its long geological isolation has created a spectacular endemic fauna and flora biodiversity. The unique dragon blood trees, cucumber, bottle and Franksten trees are exclusively found on this island, and it is considered the jewel of the Arabian Sea for good reason.

The island used to be a transit station for pirates in old times. I got very excited about this destination and similarly to Captain Jack Sparrow, I made a decision: Let’s go to Tortuga!

The island is reachable 9 months of the year. The autumn season occurs from June, July and August which happens to be the monsoon season during which the island is out of reach both by air and sea. What a wonderful place for pirates!

The adventure starts once you board your flight – there is only one flight per week to Socotra from the UAE, which leaves from Abu Dhabi. Our Spanish guide was with us from start to finish and has become a good friend to everyone in our group.

When you are above the island in your flight preparing to land, you get to witness a bird’seye view of the mountains and nature of the island which from up above, is absolutely breathtaking.

HOQ CAVE

While my main purpose for visiting the island was to dive, hiking the mountain of Hoq was an experience that cannot be missed. The hike is intermediate and usually takes 90 minutes to complete, but it took me 2 hours to reach our destination. The cave lies at 200m above sea level with magnificent views of the Arabian Sea and the northeast coast of the island. The entrance of the cave is large leading into the tunnel which is around 3km long – to which you are allowed to safely explore about 1.8km. At the end, we came across a fresh water lake.

The mountains that lie in the northeast of the island of Socotra are full of water resources due to the clouds competing with the mountain peaks. This is where I got my first look at the unusual and unique bottle trees.

DI HAMRI MARINE RESERVE

It was an excellent exercise to warm up for the next day’s dives at the Di Hamri marine reserve. ‘Di’ in the local language – Socotran – means ‘two’. While ‘Hamri’ is red, derived from the Arabic word of the colour red, ‘Ahmar’. It means the ‘Two Reds’ which are named after the 2 small red coloured hills in the area.

The dive industry operators on the island are still emerging. There are no speed boats or zodiacs, all the vessels are traditional fishermen boats. Our local guide was a little wild, similar to everything else on the island.

I recommend bringing your own dive gear with you, as I always do. The dive equipment available is limited and there is no guarantee you will find everything in your size.You must have a minimum of 10 dives with an Advanced certification in order to enjoy your underwater adventures in Socotra.

After a short 10 minutes by boat, we reached our first dive site. There is only one way to enter: backroll. The sea water salinity was moderate and the water temperature was 27ºC. A 3mm wetsuit or a 1.5mm will give you adequate warmth. This area falls under the Indian Ocean and Red Sea marine classification. Groupers, Trevally, Surgeon, Parrot, Angel, Box and pufferfish are typically expected. For the megafauna, sting rays, dolphins and sharks are commonly seen. Unfortunately, we missed the Whale Shark that was in pursuit of a school of sardines in the area. The corals were in healthy condition with all keystones species in their right place. It was excellent!

Shutterstock image of a nurse shark provided by Socotra Trip.

Shutterstock image provided by Socotra Trip.

You have to be careful as sting rays are found in the benthic zone every dozens of metres. They are just huge in size. Our trophy was found at 32m where a group of Whitetip Sharks were resting at the bottom. It was thrilling to approach them from the distance to have a better view and shoot some video. As always though, the bubbles from our scuba equipment disturbed them and we watched them peacefully leave, one by one. It was too late to get a close-up!

The dive level is moderate with small surges and no strong currents. When we had surfaced, our fisherman’s boat was quiet far away. Divers, please get trained on deploying an SMB and invest in owning one as part of your gear essentials as these are vital in these situations to be clearly seen. It took a couple of minutes before our boat captain noticed our SMB and steered the boat towards us. As with every zodiac/small boat re-entry, we handed over our weights and equipment to the boat captain before practicing our fitness hauls up onto the boat. One kick, 2 kicks and we were back onboard.

We spent our surface intervals with the fishermen, welcomed by their local hospitality, drinking unlimited cups of tea and enjoyed listening to their stories of fishing and heritage. I can’t stop admiring the old days when the fishermen used to explore the oceans with their small boats cut from the trunk of a tree. They fished sharks and large fish geared only with simple tools and strong spirits.

Our second dive was a shore dive with a relaxing dose of adrenaline. We were surprised to find the shore laden with pufferfish. The strong currents and waves had seemingly thrown the weak fish to shore where they lay to die. Diving booties were in this case a must to protect our feet.

BACK ON SHORE

We returned back to shore hungry after a long dive, and it was a pleasure and surprise to find our humble guides had prepared lunch while they had waited for us. We were served the most delicious and flavourful Kingfish with rice in true local style. A dish I will not forget any time soon.

We spent the remaining few days exploring the large area in more detail. Socotra is without a doubt a fantastic experience, leaving me to feel like a pioneer diver in the old days.

FACTS

Area: 3,792km2

Length: 132km

Width: 50km

Highest Elevation: Haggier Mountains at 1,503m

Capital: Hadibo

Population: 80,000 (an estimate as there is no official data on this)

FOR BOOKING ENQUIRIES:

ALPHA SHOP CO.

Ahmed Nabil

Tel: +971 50 348 7863

Email: alphadivinguae@gmail.com

Facebook: @alphadivinguae