SPLENDOUR OF SOCOTRA

Upon your arrival at Socotra Airport in Hadiboh, you will be greeted by our friendly local Socotri guides who will be joining you for our trip.

We will drive to Hadibo Hotel and have lunch in Shabwa restaurant. After lunch, a visit to Deleisha coast which consists of pristine white sand along the coast and dunes to the mountain, enjoy sunbathing and swimming, with a beautiful lagoon, dunes and mountainous background. There is also the possibility of witnessing a fabulous sunset from Deleisha.

Dinner and overnight in hotel.

After breakfast, we will drive to Momi Plateau to explore the Kelesehan Canyon. Momi Plateau is known for its array of bottle trees, some of the best displays and largest on the island can be found strewn about the Momi Plateau.

After a short trek and swimming in the canyon, we will make our way to Homhil National Park, a terrestrial protected area, you will be able to see the world-famous dragon blood trees, bottle trees, and other flora that is endemic to the island. It is home to the Boswellia elongata, socotrana and nana (Frankincense).

Visit of the Frankincense Forest, one of the ancient forests of Arabic gum. You can buy the incense of the frankincense and resin of Dragon’s blood trees from the local people in Homhil, as well as, their handicrafts.

Visit Homhil viewpoint – which overlooks the eastern coast amongst the dragon bloods,

Overnight at Homhil camp.

Following breakfast, we will hike down to an incredible natural infinity pool that overlooks the southern part of Socotra. You will be able to swim in this pool and marvel at its crystal-clear waters. Then after swimming, we will hike down to the north coat of Socotra through Wadi Shefa.

During the hike, you can enjoy in beautiful view of the coast side of from the mountain and find several of endemic trees such as commiphera ornifolia, socotrana and other endemic plants.

We will be driving to the North-East part of the island to Arher Beach, a picturesque spot where we will camp. Arher beach has amazing biggest dunes to the mountain and fresh water originating from the caves. First, we will visit Ersel fishing village, then you will be able to climb the biggest dunes.

You will be able to catch the sunrise from the magnificent sand dunes towering over the endless ocean, which are considered the largest on Socotra Island. You can swim in the sea or enjoy wading in a natural pool created by the run off from the mountains.

After waking up at our camp spot on Arher Beach and having breakfast, we will be driving to the base of Hoq Cave for a challenging yet rewarding hike.

Hoq Cave is one of the most ancient metropolitan cave sites of the Middle East spanning 2.2 km in length. We will be met by a local villager who will be guiding our trek up the mountain to the cave and it will take approximately 1.5 hours to reach the cave entrance.
Once inside the cave, it will take us about 40 minutes to reach the end of the explorable parts of the cave.
The cave has pools of water, stalactites and stalagmites, and even ancient cave wall paintings.
Please bring a headlamp or flashlight as the cave is extremely dark

Hoq cave is a protected area under the law. The end of the cave is still under study for future archaeological investigations. In 2001 a group of Belgian speleologists from the “Socotra Karst

Project” mapped and investigated the cave finding numerous graffiti’s and drawings on speleothems and floors. Subsequent research concluded that they were the work of navigators or merchants who visited the island at the beginning of the first millennium. The corpus of inscriptions is in Indian Brahmi, South Arabic, Ethiopian Ge’ez, Ancient Greek, Palmyrene, and Bactrian scripts. All the inscriptions are rather short containing personal names, hometowns, professions, or ethnic and religious affiliations.

After exploring this area, and lunch, we will be drive to the Dihamri Marine Protected area where we will be camping for the night. Dihamri marine protected area, is home to one of the richest coral reefs of the Socotra archipelago. There is much marine life to be seen whilst swimming/snorkeling such as Parrotfish, Moray eel, Sea urchins, etc.

At this beach, you will be able to rent snorkelling or scuba equipment to see the gorgeous marine life. There is also countless shells and corals washed up on shore for you to marvel at.

You will spend the day exploring and we will finish our evening with a traditional dinner watching the sunset over the Arabian Sea.

After breakfast. we will leave our campsite on Dihamri and make our way to way to the south cost of Socotra, to Nojid plain through wadi Defarhu crossing Hayf and Zaheq sand dunes.

Lunch will be had at Aomak sandy beach.

Following lunch, we will drive to visit Degub cave. We will then return to Aomak sandy beach, for relaxation and swimming.

Dinner and overnight in Aomak

After breakfast, we will drive to the Diksam Plateau and Shebahon viewpoint.
This area is renowned for the native Dragon Blood trees and Frankincense trees, the resin and incense of these trees are collected, used in and traded by the people of Socotra. The area is also home to the endemic birds.
The Shebahon viewpoint gives you breathtaking views overlooking Dirhour canyon, where we will see unusual yet beautiful rock formations.
We will continue our way to Wadi Dirhour. After marveling at the canyon, we will drive to Fermahin Forest home to the largest concentration of Dragon Blood trees on the island. We will take a 30-minute hike up the mountain to see the magnificence of the Fermahin forest which also presents an amazing photo opportunity.

Lunch will be among Dragon blood trees. After lunch we will drive to the protected area of Detwah Lagoon. The lagoon is renowned for its wonderous landscape and marine life. The waters in certain areas of the lagoon are quite shallow for people who do not want to swim.

Please be advised that the lagoon is home to an enormous amount of marine life, including stingrays. Please be mindful of this while swimming.
For birdwatchers. this is a perfect opportunity to see many seabirds that are endemic to the island

We will have dinner and camp overnight at Detwah Lagoon.

After waking with the sunrise at Detwah lagoon, we make our way to Qalnsiya, a charming and picturesque fishing town. You will be able to meet the friendly locals and explore the towns traditional houses and narrow alleyways. From here, we will take a boat tour with a local fisherman on his daily hunt to Shu’ab beach. This beach is the most stunning on the island, with its white sandy beaches and crystal-clear teal waters.

You will be able to see schools of spinner dolphins on our way to the island. The dolphins are quite playful. and enjoy putting on a show. Don’t be too distracted by the dolphins though. as you will see massive cliffs overlooking the water.
Once we reach Shu’ab beach we will be able to swim and sunlounge. The pristine beach is like no other, and is complete with mangroves.

Also, you have fishing trip on your way to shoub beach if you are interested in fishing, the boatman will prepare fishing tools.

In the afternoon driving back to Detwah lagoon and have lunch (seafood) with a caveman in the cave in front of the lagoon. After lunch, the caveman will guide you to the lagoon to show the octopus, oysters, crabs, turtles, pufferfish and marine lagoon.

At the end of afternoon, we drive back to Hadiboh to spend an evening at a hotel and explore the town
Overnight will be in hotel.

After a week of magical explorations, it’s time to say goodbye to Socotra Island. Your driver will transport you from the hotel in Hadiboh to the Socotra lnternational Airport. The return flight to Abu Dhabi departing times may differ.

We will be providing you with an updated travel itinerary and keep you informed of any changes in scheduling.

Group minimum 06

Rates:
EUR2210 Per person
Accommodation in tents.