Paradise Island in the World’s Most Dangerous Country
In one of the most dangerous areas in the world, rests a mysterious island. An alien planet on Earth, almost out of science fiction. But how can Yemen, arguably the most dangerous country on Earth, also be home to what appears to be a paradise? Almost impossible to reach for decades because of the war in Yemen, in recent years, a door has opened. Flights from the UAE, making it much more accessible. But is it actually safe amidst the pirate-infested waters and at an arm's length of a country in war? And who are the native people of this unique place on Earth? As we seek out the world's most remote and spectacular corners that we'll be spending the next four days exploring.
Paradise Island in the World’s Most Dangerous Country And we are back! And we are late. I don't know how this always finds a way to happen. The next flight is in four days, so we can't really miss this one, as this is a very remote island. There used to be only one flight every eight days or so. Now there's one every four. - Are we late? - Oh, yeah, yeah.
We're late? Everything okay? Everything's okay, there you go. He didn't even check my bags or anything. - Oh, yeah. - Good man. Well, always cutting it short, but always somehow making it. I've been trying to get to this island since 2019.
COVID stopped those plans, just haven't circled back to the idea. Finally making it happen. Wow, five years in the making! - Go Brandon! - Let's do it. - Wow, we're going far. - Dream team. - Touchdown.
- Thank you, guys. - Thank you. - Welcome - First steps in Socotra. That airplane is our ride back, but it leaves in four days. So now we are stuck at Socotra for four days.
- How are you, man? Are you good? - Oh, nice to meet you. We got the best local guide on the island. Did you think the first trip of the year will be to Yemen? Did you tell your parents you were coming here? Nope, I did not tell them, but I will be back soon. My name is Abdul-Rahman. - I'm Staffan, nice to meet you. - I'm Khaled Assalamu alaykum.
It's not even in Arabic. We are learning that the local language here is not Arabic, it's Sokotri. - Sokotri. - Your own language, and it doesn't exist in written language, it's only spoken. You know, in Arabic, "Shukran" means "thank you." Sokotri is '' Lelabik Allah. ''
Oh, that's completely different. - Are you proud to be from Sokotra? - Yeah, I'm proud. My main job is air traffic controller.
- Air traffic controller? - Yes, I work there. I am an air traffic controller. Tourism and tours, it's my hobby. I like to transfer the culture of Socotra to... That's beautiful! To other people and meet different people. - Let's start the adventure! - Yalla, yalla! '' The adhan is the Islamic call to prayer '' Wow, that is the most turquoise water I've ever seen in my life, period.
This is the definition of untouched. - These animals here, it's goats? - Yes. Small goats, and they roam around by themselves.
They roam around by themselves, and they are free, but every goat in the island owned by a person. Okay. Each one knows his goat, whether by mark or sometimes by call.
And each goat knows where to come early morning, where to come in the evening, so they know by themselves. There are nearly five times as many goats as people on the island. So this is like the island of goats. Yeah, the island of goats. Where are we now? We're on Aomak Beach. This side is Indian Ocean.
The other side is the Arabian Sea. Socotra is both fairly small and large at the same time, as reaching many of its most magical corners is extremely difficult, and didn't have any roads to reach them until just the last two years. If we can even call what we'll be driving on tomorrow, roads.
We have several things we're trying to accomplish while on the island. Our primary goal is to connect with locals and understand their relationship with the mainland of their country, which has been in and out of war since the 1960s, with the most recent war starting 10 years ago still going on. It seems hard to understand how they've remained peaceful while belonging to the world's most dangerous country. Life in Socotra is also a lot more simple as the internet is barely accessible, so we want to speak to those who live here and understand how they live. To accomplish this goal, we'll cover the island's various terrain, beaches, villages and find its dragon blood tree forest, the magical trees that only grow here, hidden deep in the island which requires an experienced team to reach.
And later, we'll be meeting a mysterious man who is kind of a legend on the island. There are basically no hotels here as tourism is still very limited. So we'll be camping everywhere we go over the next four days, starting here on this idyllic beach, the first stop of our trip. This is our home potentially for tonight. It feels like just a matter of time before this island would become a very visited place because of how beautiful it is. It's quite amazing to be here before any of that.
I could see our kids hear about this island and it being... There's a hotel here, there's a Hilton with a pool and we're just here in some hut. And camping. - Samed, have you been cooking? - Yeah. Saeed is our cook. Nice to meet you, sir.
Vegetable and this is rice. As we enjoyed our lunch, we asked some of the more serious questions we have about Yemen. You travel to mainland Yemen? Yeah, I traveled to Yemen mainland on September. I stayed for two days in Aden.
But for us, because we are from the island and we are just here, it's peaceful and safe. Even though we don't want to see anyone carrying guns. For us, it's like strange and unsafe Because we were raised in a community where there are no guns, no weapons.
And even if we heard some shootings, for us it's like terrible. When you were in Yemen, you heard a lot of like... Yeah, a lot of clashes.
Like shootings from different directions. Like often? Yeah, most of the time. Oh, most of the time you hear gunshots. But for people of Yemen mainland, it's normal.
What about the issue of carrying weapons there? There are many right? About 40% or 50%. 40% are carrying guns. 40% of the people just carry a gun. There are trying to reduce the number. But compared to the northeern areas weapons carrying is at 100%. Have you ever been afraid that the war is gonna come here? Never, never.
No one will welcome the war here. It's from their heart, they don't like to be in conflict. And we cross fingers that it will be the same from generation to generation, insha'Allah. Yes, insha'Allah. We have an uninvited guest here.
Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me. He knows how to open it. - Look here, look here. - Excuse me.
This is how things go. There are vultures, goats that just stroll in. You are encouraging this behavior, Staffan.
I'm an enabler. This is so cute. For sunset, Samed took us to one of the island's most pristine sand dunes. We were shocked to arrive here completely by ourselves.
- Wow, man! - The sand dunes are enormous. It looks like a painting, a movie! I've never ever seen anything like this. How beautiful is this! Oh, hello, buddy. '' Soqotri language '' That's amazing! So you greet each other by touching noses. Wow! - Three times? - Three times.
These two are my oldest friends. This camel is trying to bite my hand off, but... That's okay. What's the best part of living in Socotra? The first important thing is the sea. The second: The palm trees. The third: The sheep.
The fourth: Is the wife. It's nice, man! Walking legends. Man, you can't find these characters more than like traveling here and talking to them. - Look at these sand dunes, man. - Wow ! We are kind of lost in these sand dunes. We kept walking.
I think we're supposed to go back that way. But I'd rather point out, I'd rather find out before it gets dark. I see foot traces here, so we can still see where we came from. But we've been walking for a while, and these sand dunes never end. They just get closer and closer to the beach, and you think you're almost there.
And then you get over a hill and there's just more of them. I feel very lucky and privileged to get to travel to places that are this remote and this untouched. To be here and not only get to experience it, but also get to share it with others.
I feel very lucky. It's now the time to go to the village. We have dinner with the local people there.
Oh, he's just hopping on? No, no, he's our friend. - Oh, how are you, man? - How are you? What's the name of the village we're in? Bedehola. You're welcome, I'm Ahmed.
Nice to meet you, I'm Thomas. I have no idea what's going on, but... Hello.
Wow! - All right. - This is Ahmed's house. - He's our friend. - Amazing! Ahmed invited us for a dinner with him. So it's our pleasure. Wow! Now we're talking.
This is a great moment. The traditional way of eating here is to all sit down on the ground around a shared plate. When there are guests, men and women eat separately. We eat with our hands food that grew on the island or was caught in its waters. It's places where you can hear the quietness.
This is one of those places, right? It's so silent, you can maybe hear a goat, you can almost hear the stars, then you can feel the culture and the hospitality. This is a traditional Scotra house. It feels very good to be here.
As-salamu alaykum. Cheers, man. This is the bread. It's made from the oven, and then they cut it. The fish is fresh.
Ahmed caught the fish from the sea. - He caught it? - He's a fisherman. - Today? - Today, yeah, it's a fresh one. The elderly man who was here before, your father, how old is he? He doesn't know how old he is. He doesn't know how old his dad is? Yeah, he doesn't know. Because people in Socotra, they don't know their age.
They don't concentrate on number, they just live. But you need to be happy in your life. Their happiness, where does it come from? Because people of Socotra are more connected to the nature. They love the animals, they love nature, sea, sky, the stars, the symbol of their life. Energy comes from the nature to the people.
What is this? This is a potato with beans. With what? - Beans, with beans! - Beans? Yeah. That's very different.
Yeah, I meant beans. I heard something else. I thought I was eating something very different. Wow! This is just the first day.
- Thank you. - Thank you. On that note, see you at the camping spot. We're back at the tent area, and some party is going on in the car.
Welcome to the party, Thomas. What's going on? As we begin our second day of exploration, we're starting to get a sense for the relaxed spirit of the local people here. They primarily eat fish from their waters, or goats that roam free in the mountains.
The pace of life is also slower, with barely any service or internet anywhere on the island, and they've survived through tight-knit local communities, making the sense of hospitality and togetherness very felt everywhere we go. Our local team is also never not in the mood to dance and play music between every stop we travel between. Quite the wake up. Wow! How'd you sleep, sir? I slept so good, man. You know, when we planned this trip, I didn't fully know we would be sleeping on these beaches, but this is the way to do it. This is really the way to do it.
Day two in Socotra begins. Hello, how are you? Time for breakfast. Quentin is having the time of his life in that car. Big fish! He's a fisherman. We'll get to the fishing village now.
He's coming to show us the... - How are you? - I'm fine, thank god. As long as he is here, all is good.
Yes good. What do you think about Samed? He is like my brother. Ahmed is one of my old friends. I visited him many times, even to his house.
'' STEROH '' Fishing village Alhamdulillah, you look like cool. Cool man! I love your Style. The first day they were all like a bit introverted, taking it easy, and now they are... now they're just vibing.
Look, I use this for fishing. We place it here and then... - Okay? - Yeah. Can you ask what does he want to work with when he grows up? A fisherman. - Fisherman. - Thank you. Do they want to come? You want to go to this big boat? - And check it out? - Yeah, to check it out.
Okay, we met him on the street, he jumps on the car, he takes us on the boat. Let's follow the flow. Nice, man! This is how our normal days are.
With the sea spraying on us. It's all normal. What are we doing guys? We pirated ourselves onto this fishing ship.
Oh my god, that's a big one! - You buy the fish from the locals here, right? - Yes. - And then you go to Yemen? - Yes. - And there you sell it. - Yes, we ship it. And they sell is in Yemen mainland. How is it to live in Yemen mainland? How's life there in Yemen? Tough in some areas.
Life is so-so. Hello. Oh my god, they got a massive one. They are parked here and they're waiting for these local fishermen to come and sell them these fish.
They put them in the ice, in the storage there, and then two days back to Yemen to sell them. They keep whatever they need for their village, and then the big ones that they can just sell, they sell them here to this boat. And I think they're about to sell some.
Oh, here we go. They weigh how many kilograms and calculate how much it costs. and then they pay them later.
- Wow! - Bye-bye. Come back again! Despite this hard life, they're still nice people. Yeah. Assalamu alaikum. A big part of the livelihood of many people on the island is fishing. It's how they've survived for centuries here, and selling their catch as a way to generate some extra income for their families.
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So click the link in the description below or visit betterhelp.com/yestheory for 10% off your first month. All right, now back to the mysterious island of Socotra. We are now driving into the center part of the island, where in its more remote corners hides the dragon blood tree forest. We quickly realized that the nicely paved roads we'd experienced so far were no more, and the risky driving was about to begin.
We're doing some serious off-roading right now. It's the only way to the dragon-blood tree forest, which is right across this valley. Are you nervous back there? Someone's looking for a seatbelt right now. I don't think that's what's gonna save us. We're gonna see the dragon blood trees up close.
- Oh my god! - They are beautiful! You see? it's like the red raisin... They use it for decoration or makeup, Ladies use it as makeup. I saw some ladies that had red on their faces on the plane. - Is it from the dragon blood tree? - Yeah, from the dragon blood tree.
Wow, you see that? It's all red. They use it as alternative medicine before, a long time ago, when there was no chemical medicine. Beyond its immaculate and untouched beaches, what gives Socotra its magical reputation is the fact that 30% of its vegetation exists nowhere else on Earth. Having been isolated in this highly unique terrain for millions of years, many species here are considered living fossils, having remained unchanged. The dragon blood tree gets its name from the red raisin it produces when lightly tapped, which is used to this day as medicine and as a special kind of makeup for women. Thousands of years ago, the Romans even came here to forage for this dragon blood tree raisin and their beloved frankincense, which grows abundantly here.
Today, Socotra is considered the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, with many of its birds, reptiles, and plants existing here and only here on earth. The rawness of the nature here feels unlike anywhere else we've ever traveled to, and our fascination for this island is only growing by the day. Samed, how does it feel for you to come back here every time? - I appreciate it. - Yeah. I always appreciate it. I feel like it's my first time here.
Each time I look, I enjoy, I take photos. For me, I always appreciate it. I never get bored with this nature.
We are exploring the dragon blood tree forest. Probably the most serene place I've ever visited. And it is just covered in these incredible, spectacular trees. It feels literally like walking on another planet. It doesn't feel like planet earth.
It's like a whole new alien place. We are actually going to be camping in this forest tonight, and I think we're gonna have the best sleep of our lives with this quietness. It's spectacular.
It's hard to put into words, to be honest. How is this place real? Look at this. It feels like we're on a different planet. I've never had that feeling on planet Earth before. Magical! The only words I can think of.
We've been having a spiritual experience appreciating these trees that are lit up at night. I Took a few pictures, we can show them. We literally have the craziest camp spot in the world. The Dragon's Blood Tree only exist here, moonlight, and we're surrounded. Truly one of the most special places I've ever visited.
From its culture and its people, it's just been absolutely unique and spectacular. How am I going to sleep now knowing that this is outside? - How is anybody sleeping? - Oh my god! - It's so beautiful! - Our tents. So over here we are sleeping. I think I can speak for all of us that this is the most mystical and magical place we ever put our feet on. Good morning, start of day three.
I can't believe this is the view outside of our tent right now. Good morning, sleepy heads. Good morning.
I slept so good, man. - Yeah? - Oh my god! We started the morning by visiting a local man and his family who run a small dragon blood tree nursery. Exciting to say hi to people in this village. As new ones almost never grow in the wild anymore, because the goat population eats all the vegetation it comes across, it never gives the new trees a chance to truly flourish. Having a nursery like this one, taking care of these trees for years, sometimes decades before planting them in the wild, is the only way we can actually ensure that the forest stays abundant. And this nomadic man and his family are some of the few people performing that important work.
So this Bedouin village owns the land that has the dragon blood trees? Yeah, they are the owner of the dragon blood trees. But they're also kind of like the caretakers, right? Yeah. Over there, are they nursing? Yes, they're nursing, of course. How long does it take to grow one? Each of the dragon blood trees like 200-300. You said 200 - 300 years? 200 years the bigger one.
- 3 years old. - 3 years old? This small! So, goats are the main problem? Yes, exactly. When they grow up, they move them to this nursery, see there's a fence. - Yeah, yeah. - You see the pillars and the fence? They move them to the nature. And plant them in the ground.
Like if you plant it, you might not be alive to ever see it. You probably will not. - You'll never see it as a tree. - Yeah.
And if you will, it will take 200 years. So you plant it for your great-grandchildren. You have to hope that generations from now, those people will keep caring to keep it alive. After a truly magical experience in this forest, we drove north, and Samed, without words, took us to the most beautiful and serene beach we'd ever seen.
We're going to stay here tonight. Oh my god! These guys are a well-oiled machine. We've just set our feet on the ground. There's already a table, chairs.
Because there's no tourism infrastructure here, you travel with the tourism infrastructure. There's no restaurant here, you bring the restaurant. Living in my dream. After laying our eyes on this idyllic coastline, it is not surprising to think that someone would have chosen to settle here.
For generations, in fact, a family had been living in a cave on this beach, and the last man to be born in and having grown up here still remains. His family now lives in the nearby village, but he himself can't resist coming back to his childhood home daily to fish, soak in the nature, and live within his beloved elements. He's become a sort of local legend on the island, and somehow managed to pick up a bit of English just from other travelers coming to see him over the years. This is where he lives. Are those whale bones? What? And he's coming.
Salam! - Welcome. - Thank you. How are you doing? All is good. - You are welcome. - Hello, how are you? All is good, thank god.
- Welcome my friends. - Nice to meet you. I want whatever he's having. How do you have so much energy? Where does your energy come from? Eat seafood! - Eat seafood? - Yes. What is your name? My name is Abdullah.
So you grew up in this cave? Yeah, my grandfather and grandmother lived here, then my father and mother. But 40 years ago, everyone preferred staying in the village because everything was close by. Food, electricity, school, and water are all nearby. People go there to rest and relax. Now I'm 62 years old.
- 62? - Really 62, yeah. I was born here, and my brother was born in the water, when my mother went fishing every morning. One day, when she came back from the fishing, she gave birth to my brother. You look younger than us, and you have double the energy of me and Thomas. For me, I am very happy. I don't care where I find my food.
I don't care what I find tomorrow. For me, it's easy. Can we explore a little bit? Where do you watch the sunset from here? Yeah, from here.
He's showing us around here. Abdullah, what do you have around your neck? Yeah, this is Orca teeth. - Orca teeth? - Yeah.
I found this whale in 2009. She died. I bring the skeleton.
After one week I take this, teeth. Sometimes some children come for water, drink my water, when we go to fishing, You see this with a scary face like this, it scares them. You might think it's a crocodile and then you go back.
So it's good, it's your security system. And what about the whale? We could see whale bones. He just told us about it. Okay.
He just explained it. I just told you that a moment ago. Right.
- You're living the dream out here, man. - Yeah. Yeah, this is beautiful. Amazing! Do you know any Socotra legends, stories? Yeah, yeah. Sometimes, when we go fishing at night, I hear someone speaking, but I don't understand what they're saying.
Ghost. - Yeah. - It's ghosts. When we were walking there, I heard ... When we I see like this, I look again, but there's nothing.
Yes, nothing. I try to determine where the voices are coming from, I know it's a ghost. And I heard someone speaking, but I didn’t understand what he was saying. It was like us speaking, but it was him speaking like this...
Sometimes... As we fish and try to trace the voices, they vanish. - Does it happen many times or just once? - Yeah, sometimes, every two or three months, you might see one. I want to ask you, a lot of people in Socotra look very happy.
Why do you think people here are so happy? Yeah, because here, people are like goat, they're happy when the rain comes. they say: Oh, Alhamdulillah, oh, rain is coming. They are very happy when the grass starts growing. And when the goat has milk, Oh praise be to god, this is good. They look very happy. So happy for the things that comes.
Yeah, we really don't care about anything else. He's taking us to the lagoon. We're going to see right at sunset how he catches clams and oysters and God knows what else. He's so fast! He's walking on these sharp rocks barefoot, and we're struggling to keep up in shoes.
Watch yourself. This oyster is very sharp. Staffan, that's why he said doing it down. Watch out, it's even sharper down here. How you do this? Oh, that was... Yeah, there's a trap.
Oh my, oh my god! - Wait, how did you just... - I put it there. - Oh, it's a trap! - Yeah. For tomorrow's lunch, I'll eat that... He has set traps here in the water so that when he wants an easy lunch, he's got pre-caught crabs and things that are in the water that keeps them fresh and they're alive. - This is like his supermarket. - It's brilliant. It's like having a pizza in the freezer.
- You eat it like this. - Yeah, you can try it, it's good. Do you want more? - That was really good. - Very good. We're having oysters here. - Wow, that was really good! - You are welcome. We've never been... Nice to meet you my friend.
- You're a free man. - You're a free man. I'm very happy. The next day. For our last day, we went to explore the town of Hadibu, the capital and biggest city on the island.
We wanted to get a sense for what the city life is like here and see if we could stumble upon some more locals going about their daily lives. Hi. You can feel a difference from the pristine beaches and nature to the main town here.
It's a bit more things going on. I feel like I lost a little chicken here. Samed is taking us to some Yemeni sweets.
Oh, there's a goat in here. Just in this place? Oh, there's two goats. The goats, they take over the island. They rule this place. We're learning that now.
Look at this guy! He's a customer here. - He's a regular. - Candy, Socotra candy. This is old school candy. Oh! And now two professional travel hosts give an in depth description of a foreign dish. Oh, it's like candy.
I don't know how to describe this. It's good! It's like candy, but made with... I don't know. I don't know what it's made of, but... "Take a guess!" "Say anything!" I don't know how to describe this. I've never had a ton of candy, I just want to describe what it is. - Is it spicy? - Does it taste like watermelon? '' It's good! '' He's a preacher in the mosque.
We want to ask you about... What is your favorite thing about living on the Yemen mainland? Everyone undoubtedly loves and prefers their country, even if it's not in good condition. Even if it's not a good country, you still love it.
Do you think living peacefully is possible? Of course, I'm sure of it, God willing. It will happen, God willing. Because people are tired of these conflicts People are constantly asking me this question here and I tell them that most problems that arise in Muslim countries are caused by the misunderstanding of Islam.
False understanding leads to harm. That's why I'm optimistic that we'll live in peace one day God willing. One thing that exists in Western countries is freedom of religion, which is what Islam wants He thinks it should be like that everywhere? But the freedom to choose religion is supposed to be in the whole world, right? Yes, it needs to be everywhere. In Egypt, Syria, and the Levant, there are mosques, churches and synagoques.
What would you say to those causing harm in the name of religion? Well, they're more dangerous to Muslims and Islam itself. We, as Muslims, lose the most in this matter. Islam is the last divine message, Judaism came first followed bu Christianity, and then Islam You can say that Islam is the latest version. Islamic Sharia is full of mercy and compassion but those people distorted it. Freedom, respect, mercy and love.
Violence lovers distorted this message. What message would you say to young people out there? It would be the same as Prophet Muhamad's ''PBUH'' that we need to live in peace, harmony, and mercy This is a gift. Oh! Thank you. Thank you.
I ordered it, and he simply paid for it. - Oh, he paid for this? - Yeah, he paid for everything. He just bought two full bags. Oh my god, there's so much candy! Islam is freedom, a religion of freedom. You accept the other, even if you are living together, you accept Christians, Jews, and Muslims. It's the rules, and it's everyone's right.
- You feel that way too? - Yeah, it's true. - How are you? - Alhamdulillah. Socotra feels like a very special place. Even me, I feel it's like a special place for me. I can't live anywhere except Socotra.
I feel lonely when I leave Socotra. But here, I feel a strong connection with the local people, friends and family. And people out here are peaceful and very nice people. They are willing to talk. His brother is in the Dragon Blood Tree forest.
We met him at the nursery. He owns the land here with his brother. Wow, thank you for letting us stay in your land. Thank you for taking care of us.
It's our duty, the place is yours. We'll always welcome whoever comes to us Hi, again. It's getting out of control, the kids are multiplying.
I don't know where they're coming from. They're everywhere. In Yemen, people quickly open their hearts. And they welcome you, talk to you right away, making you feel like you've known them for a long time. While it's only been a moment. Yeah.
We knew we'd find breathtaking landscapes on the island, but we didn't expect to find such depth in its spirit. There was a calm here that doesn't really exist in many other places on Earth. This one? Oh, wow! They come and gather here by the water. It's very communal here; everything... You eat around a circle, play games around a circle... It's very enriching.
Humans sadly tend to have a way of destroying untouched beauty like this. But we truly hope that Socotra's traditions and majestic landscapes will remain unharmed for all generations to come. If this story makes you want to travel here, we'll leave the links to Rocky Road Travel who took us down below.
But please, make sure to come here with respect and humility so we can preserve this mesmerizing magic that still hides on this island.
2025-02-11 04:40
