Socotra: The Island of Wonders & Mysteries (English)
[Music] between the ocean and the sea it hides from the eye where the warm pinky rocks the deep caves the grass gardens and the frankincense trees enclose ample mystery other wondrous secrets still lie dormant inside the depths of caves the realms of wonderment i've been very very impressed with what we found and the freshness of water dragon's blood tree tells part of the mystery while another part lies in home caver it is one of the most for important islands on earth surrounded by many meth and much more fans it is a jewel unique this is the island of wonders this is socatro [Music] the island of bless or the sacred land 500 kilometers distant from the nearest yemeni coast a unique island hidden in between the arabian sea and the indian ocean we will try together to explore some of its mysteries secrets [Music] welcome to the yemeni island of sucatra which is regarded as one of the most four important islands in terms of its biodiversity and as one of the most beautiful spots on earth [Music] our danny and to sukatra will be an overlock to endless areas of a charm and beauty and the movement between its various topographies that make the island distinct and unique try to forget all the places that you may have visited before and be ready to get a glimpse of what is different extraordinary and variegated [Music] it's amazing island it's it's hard to say to express all my well feelings towards socotra beautiful when god whoever is god make the earth he play a special game here in socotra made it quite different but beautiful well it's amazing since 1000 bc socatra was famous as god's production center for the religious ritual of the ancient world it was then a common plea that the land producing sacred goods such must have been a sacred and pleased land without a doubt at that juncture what was commercial overlapped with what was sacred and meth were told over the edges socatro island covers an area of 3650 kilometers making it the largest arabian island of all time the island alongside a small group of isles situated thousandly form an archipelago despite its limited space socatra has a spectacular diversity of topography that vary between high sloping mountains flat plains plateaus valleys bays and evan wilderness and there is a small and unique desert belongs to sukhatra [Music] through its diverse topographies sukhatra represents a small model of the mainland yemen the central plateau occupies most of the island's area as well as commands of you of the coastal plains in a gradually downward fashion the mountains are scattered over different sites on the central plateau surface the most important of which are the mountain range of hajir and the highest peak of wedge is that of iskand mountain about 1505 meters high numerous canyons run through the island follow several passages and directions according to the surface topography and range from 7 to 24 kilometers in [Music] length the bay has form natural harbors especially when some parts of the island are exposed to strong winds that blow over at the plains and its eastern and western parts usually from early june till late september socatra's tropical climate and diverse topography have contributed to its character as one of the most biologically and botanically diverse wildlife spots on earth peter harrison a biologist and wildlife advocate visits sucatra for the first time without any moment to spare he's busy exploring the place he spent a whole lifetime waiting to visit i am so delighted to be here on socotra island i have waited all my life to be here socotra island has been a cradle of evolution in the hills and mountains behind me there are creatures there are wildlife there are vegetation forms that are found nowhere else on the face of the planet this makes this island absolutely unique the vegetation cover of socatra is astonishing by all measures thousands of globally rare species and hundreds of extinct species found nowhere else in the world the island's long geological isolation and its remoteness from external effects are important factors that resulted in the enormous level of its biological settlement [Music] we never felt bored at all while wandering around the island of bless and joy everything here is just amazing stunning and unique [Music] nowhere is there another socotra people talk of galapagos island people talk of antarctica but in all of africa this is the most important island to preserve it has life forms found nowhere else on the planet there are birds there are the famous dragon blood trees there are cucumber trees that goes on and on and on in tsukatra there are over them thousands of species of the world's rarest plants so far 380 species of these plants have been counted as existing nowhere else except in this island therefore the island has a great ecological importance not only to yemen but to the world at large zukatra has tin plant species which are endemic the international union for the conservation of nature has recorded seven species of them in a tread list of threatened species [Music] among the most striking endemic species that abound in socatra are the dragon's blood tree [Music] the anta tree the frankincense trees and the aloe and cactus plants as you wander around socatra you will come across many thrills and wonders at this tree that will make you feel as though you are on a different planet this tree is widespread all over the island standing as one of the most striking landmarks of the archipelago the tree is characterized by its huge trunks of gray or golden colors and its stellar shaped leaves its different kinds are locally cold as fed as feed tremor and cereal which have various uses the sukatris use some of its kinds for medical purposes other kinds for livestock feed during dry seasons and those kinds with long stocks are used to support their houses rules the frankincense tree is the source of one item of the sacred goods that adds up to the island's mythological dimension it is really astonishing to know that 9 out of an overall 25 kinds of the frankincense tree are found nowhere else but in sukhatra moreover frankincense reduces is still a major source of circulatory income as well as a very marketable commodity besides it is still the main source of the very famous ancient substance the dragon's blood tree is emblematic of sucra island and its most mysterious sacred the tree had been associated with a lot of myth and tales psychiatrists have taken it as source of cosmetic and medicine as well as an amphlem of their own identity according to one meth the tree grow from the drops of abel's blood who was killed by his brother cain the tree had been found on earth for more than 50 million years more likely in the mediterranean region however succua island has now become the trees only habitat on earth the dragon's a blood tree can survive in times of drought for its ability to retain water in an excellent and unique way the tree ranges from six to nine meters in height sukatris have to cut through the tree's stem in order to exude its red resin which is called phonics of blood [Music] and then it is converted into powder which is always in great demand for traditional medicine in yemen and some other arab countries the part which is used from the tree is that epoxier is in material the effective element of which is called draco of which the tree may contain an average of 55 the draco has been in use for therapeutic purposes both in ancient and modern times the draco has been used for therapeutic purposes both in ancient and modern times in sukhatra there are 52 big and splendid caves hiding many geological and human details during the wind season that engulfs the island most of these caverns become a form of inhabitation for the zuccatri islanders the longest of these caverns is still under scientific discovery where experts estimated its total length to be over than 25 kilometers in the middle of which there is a big lake that could be an important resource for potable water on the island socatras caverns or other gateways to more mysteries and secrets our journey will take up to two hours to reach the longest most important and stunning cave in the island namely in order to get to the cave we had to cut a distance of 3000 meters up so sukhatra makes you a passionate mountaineer on our way to whole cave we stopped thinking about the hardship of going up hell all along the way up there are rare trees an incredibly spectacular plants some of which germinate from the rocks the peak of the mountain commands of you to a vast water area and a breath taken recurring scenery that will last for a lifetime hulk cave is considered one of the wonders of nature worldwide it is more than 5000 meters long and some parts it is 30 meters wide and 15 meters in high and all the spanish lake has reached the cave before us she and her group genuinely expressed their astonishment from the splendor and glamour of what they have just discovered she wished to reach further than what she had reached already with the help of a local guide and enough lighting we decided to proceed as far as we could inside this rocky place of wonder on the walls of the cave you will definitely be amazed by scenes of the limestone depositions the stalgamites and the stalkatites and the transparent glassy configurations that reflect different phases of natural changes every centimeter of the limestone column took about 10 000 years of formation according to scientific estimates historical facts confirm that the cave was used in the ancient past at their religious place of worship enroute for asia and africa through sukhatra the travelers and sailors used the cave for sheltering and for purposes of trading and searching for medicinal and sacred trees that were enshrined in the literature of ancient religions many scripts and palettes inscribed in most net alphabet clay vessels once used different instances and other aspects of living were found in the cave [Music] despite warnings that our succutary guide was telling us based on fairy tales about ghosts and demons inhabiting the cave our team however carried on crossing into the heart of the cave over thousands of years the water drops have been able to make ponds of potable water and their depositions have formed marvelous artistic configurations of limestone the archipelago of sucatra represents an independent marine ecosystem the island's shoreline is stretched for 300 miles these shores have unique features in terms of geographical structure that differ widely from shore to shore some of these shores are palm french and all of which overlook the ocean water which is free of pollution factors making them optimal sites for recreation and scuba diving the d hamrie reserve located in the north of sukhotra is an important natural museum of marine life it is considered one of the prettiest spots in northern sukhatra and characterized by its sandy rocky undergraduate custom line [Music] these beautiful beaches and other natural manifestations on sucatra shroud a whole new world of mysteries secrets and grandeur a world of coral reefs and marine life that attracts many tourists and divers into coming over from all around the globe the hemorrhage is located in the eastern north of sukhotra the d henry cave in the rocky extension of mainland where two red granite mountains lie over it the area took its name from these two mountains and in sukhatri language the word henry meaning red for two in the intensified case you know what's so unique about this system is that very easily accessible from the shore a shore access you walk into very clean very shallow conditions with excellent corals and a wide variety of fish i mean if you've dived elsewhere in the indo-pacific you'll know that that this is rich a very rich coral reef fauna the hard corals are in good condition the coral reefs of the henry are evolutionary and support the ecosystem of many living creatures and other marine habitats the d hamrie reserve represents one of the most important marine protected areas in terms of the great diversity of its coral reef species more than 80 species of coral reefs have been found having various kinds and different shapes such as their rounded shaped or reef nose frenchy shaved cortical horny and soft coral reefs and other more 150 fish species exist in the d henry reserve most of which are coral reef fish making up 25 of the overall number of the fish species recorded in the position of sukhadra but what's so impressive for me here is that obviously as a result of of this being a marine protected area many of the fish that disappear with with excessive fishing and spear fishing red snappers angel fish parrotfish are here in big numbers and easily seen either by snorkelers or by divers the d henry marine reserve also contains 16 species of crabs lobsters and shrimps the reserve is privileged with some special species of coral reefs sea fish and shellfish whose value lies in the fact that they are found nowhere else except here in sukhatra [Music] another beach with a different aesthetic features the beach of arahar [Music] which is marked by the beautiful white sand dunes as well as the fresh water that runs from the cave and directly pours into the sea all year round crossing the support beach low and behold the fabulous view [Music] [Applause] [Music] here you are going to see other species of marine organisms and funguses and you will wish to stay longer and longer [Music] study surcatra can rank at third or second in terms of biological diversity the islands is listed in the unesco reserves parts which are in the rashmore list of wetlands one of which is the protected area a recent study of 22 important to bird locations in sucatra archipelago recorded 107 species of birds 41 of which are prolific species permanently inhabiting the archipelago another study by the international bird protection organization in collaboration with the council of environmental protection revealed that the sukhatra archipelago contains 13 species of endemic perps which are found nowhere else in the world on a windy day our team took the risk of reaching the birds island which was within a space of three hours from the mother island what is called here the rock of seattle shop is nothing but a stronghold of a huge numbers of birds some of which are inhabitants of the island while others are migrant visitors passing through the island from different parts of the globe in this tiny aisle you will come across a huge variety of birds that adds up to the paramount importance of sucatra as a global natural reserve among these bird species are the hovering falcon the african spoon bell the puppet the common nightingale the socatra werpler the egyptian vulture his swedish seagull and other more the egyptian vultures are globally rare and an endangered bird species it often accompanies the visitors of the island the vulture waits for its turn to feed on table crumbs and food remains the vulture does not allow any remains or refuse on the island that's why the sukha tree call it by the title of mayor of the island are themselves another sacred of this island of mystery rather they are like a great secret of its mysterious nature and the single most important part of the wondrous sukhatra nearly 100 thousand inhabitants constitute the island's overall population the sukatri have their own mother tongue a subset of the maharya language being an island of mystery and wonders its inhabitants heavily depend on meat and dates as their only staples oddly enough it is interesting to know that the high land dealers do not eat fish but little unlike dollars of the island's coast [Music] the circuitry islanders are good and peaceful people they basically work in hunting herding and other miscellaneous crafts they are keenly aware of preserving the nature of their island and to never do it anymore not only do sukha trees have similar houses but also similar facial complexions usually because their lineages meet at one grandparent they welcome the island's visitors with rare hospitality their simple houses are mostly built of stone and thatch and its doors are made of armed fronds [Music] a typical cicatri house consists of a group of sacred rooms connected by a stone fence houses exist in perfect harmony and without any precautions as a matter of fact the socatory style of building the house's doors and walls accounts for another historical secret of this extremely safe island across whose history a single crime of murder or burglary is unheard of the island is completely divided of any predators vermin or biting insects that's why sucatra is an ideally open and rich posture where people do not need to guard their lifestyle rather they recognize it the exact same as they do with their children actually it's well according to my opinion it's the most alien island you can ever visit it's it has the most wonderful nature and it's endemic you cannot see things like here nothing in the world like there is no such nature anywhere um and also like these are the most friendly people you can also meet is also land of fools and fresh water in sukhatra there is a number of waterfalls most important of which are danjin falls in the city of hadibu and mummy falls most of these waterfalls originate from the mountain rages all the year round presenting one more manifestation of the charming nature of the island here we realized the actual meaning of the purely fresh water every year thousands of tourists flock to this unique island through its airport besides being a tourist resort sukhatra has turned into a paradise destination for researchers and environmental specialists i have fallen in love with this place what is important for the people of arabia but not just arabia the yemen and in particular socotra to understand is how wonderful the island is how pristine the tops of the mountains are the mountaintop streams the birds the animals these are things that are found nowhere else on the planet and must be preserved and it can only be preserved if the people of sokotra understand the value of the place they live is for excellence the icon of earth the catalog of nature the museum of universe the pure virgin it is also the archipelago of frankincense its mythology are still there between the mountain and the sea the same as when adam left behind and the same as when we did [Music] [Music] you
2021-01-10 16:06
