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Tours to Socotra Island and Mainland of Yemen

Yemen Tours In 2019, Yemen's coastline was adorned with a string of islands. These ranged from the small, flat coral-fringed islands in the southern Red Sea, such as Kamaran, that developed on salt domes, to the less common, smaller islands along the Gulf of Aden. Most of these islands were close to the coast and were essentially extinct volcanoes that emerged from the sea during the late Neogene period. However, there were also more distant islands, such as the Socotran Archipelago, which were fragments of displaced continental crust and separated from the mainland approximately 27 million years ago.

The Socotra islands, located some 190 nautical miles off the southern coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, are uniquely foreign. Despite their relative isolation, they resemble a miniature Galapagos with their exclusive flora and fauna. Furthermore, the Socotran people have their own language, which does not have a script, and possess a unique culture, cuisine, and architecture that is neither Arabian nor African but distinctly Socotran.

Socotra is the most extensive island in a cluster of four islands that comprise the Brothers (Samhah and Darsa), Abd al-Kuri, and two rocky islets located on a micro-oceanic volcanic ridge in the Indian Ocean, 500 km southeast of Mukalla and 170 km off the Somali coast. It spans approximately 130 km in length and 35 km in width.

Yemen Tours The name Socotra is said to originate from the Sanskrit term dripa sukhao, meaning 'isle or abode of the blest,' or the Arabic phrase souk qotra, which translates to the market of dragon's blood - referring to the resin produced by its most well-known tree species.

In ancient times, Socotra was renowned for its strategic location at the primary gateway to the Red Sea and is referenced in the earliest stories of the world. The Greeks of the first century AD identified it as the legendary Island of Dioscorida, while Marco Polo referred to it in the late thirteenth century as the Island of Socotra - the market of the dragon's blood. Over the centuries, it has been known by various names, including the Island of Bliss, Isle of Tranquility, Island of Mists, the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, and the Galapagos of the Arabian Peninsula.

Yemen Tours The Babylonian epic hero Gilgamesh passed through the Bab al-Mandab straits, known as the Waters of Death, at the southern end of the Red Sea and ventured to Socotra to acquire immortality secrets from his relative, referred to as Uta Napishtim.