Archipelagos hold impressive secrets thanks to their composition and isolation from the world’s biodiversity. In them we can find creatures and beings that are extremely different from the ones we are used to seeing. The clear example of this is the Archipelago of the Galapagos Islands, which served as a natural laboratory from where Charles Darwin devised his theory of natural selection. But on the other side of the world, in the distant nation of Yemen, is the Socotra archipelago, where each island that makes it up is a worthy representative of natural eccentricity.
Considered the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, the four islands that make up the archipelago, despite belonging to Yemen, are closer to the Horn of Africa than to the Arabian Peninsula. Located between the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, unique plant and animal species congregate in this site. Thanks to the prolonged isolation and the peculiar climatic conditions, its beauty seems more dreamlike than terrestrial.
Image: Kristina Makeeva
And although it is one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the world, the island of Socotra has been very little explored. The first time that researchers from the United Nations arrived to explore its immense wealth was in 1997. It was not until 2008 that the group of four islands were considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, due to their landscapes that seem to have come out of Other worlds.
Unique biodiversity on the planet
The UN itself explains that in this paradisiacal corner it is possible to find unique species on the planet. “37% of Socotra’s plant species, 90% of its reptile species and 95% of its land snail species, are found nowhere else in the world,” says the United Nations.
Image: Kristina Makeeva
On their lands we see the large Dracaena cinnabari tree inhabiting, a poetically visual species that borders on the dreamlike. With their grand canopy of twisted, intricate branches that are stacked on top of each other, Dragon’s Blood Trees command attention with their eccentric beauty. But such a special tree could not be the same as all the others, when it is cut, its sap of an intense red color flows from its bark, giving it the title of «dragon’s blood». Although only the most experienced villagers are allowed to extract the sap from the dragon trees, as they are the only ones who know how to do it without damaging their bark.
Wars and climate change
Thanks to its remoteness of 380 kilometers from the open sea, the Socotra archipelago has kept itself away from the conflicts that are now plaguing the nation to which it belongs. The country is the scene of a conflict between the Yemeni government and the Shiite Houthis, a resistance movement that was born in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s religious influence and has kept Yemen mired in civil war.
Image: Kristina Makeeva
However, and despite the fact that it has stayed away from war conflicts, there is a phenomenon from which it has not been able to escape; climate change. In November 2015, Socotra was hit by two cyclones that caused devastation among the species that inhabit it. In addition, it is one of the most sensitive ecosystems to the effects of climate change. The flora of the island of Socotra is considered by the botanical community as one of the 10 most endangered floras in the world.
Socotra reminds us that nature manages to adapt even to the most remote corners of the planet and is capable of emerging ineffable landscapes, in the middle of nowhere. The archipelago is one of the most inaccessible to humanity and may have to stay that way. Only in this way will it be able to survive and continue its evolution towards landscapes almost unknown to us.
Image: Kristina Makeeva
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