The Most Alien place on Earth - Socotra island, Yemen
Socotra the last true adventure on Earth with less than 4,000 tourists a year very few get to experience this untouched Paradise hidden away between Somalia and Yemen this alien island is only accessible from two weekly flights and is one for the true Adventurer welcome to Socotra Good Morning from one of the most unique forests on planet Earth we are surrounded right now by thousands of these Dragon Blood trees only found here in Socotra in about 30 minutes time we're going to be leaving forest and heading down the mountain to some of the other locations on the island everything you see here is going to be packed up put in our 4x4s and then we're going to be going down the mountain all right let's go guys we've got a lot of exploring to do today Hani are you ready for our long drive today yeah yeah yeah it's our number one driver okay it's quite the experience coming down this mountain there's rocks everywhere this is proper off-roading you could definitely not get here in a usual car we've come a long way down the mountain now right into the canyon and as you can see here we've just come across a waddy it's not very deep at the moment but there's a lot of rocks here we go so if you don't know what a waddy is basically it's like a River Canyon which often dries up in the very dry season so right now there's not loads of water apparently down here there's a little bit more we can go for a little swim this is the first time we've actually seen palm trees on this island and that's because of all the water around here yeah when we woke up this morning it was so cold up the top of the mountain but now I'm literally sweating I don't know if you can tell but the sun is so strong and I think because we're in the canyon the Heat's just like staying there's no wind to cool us down he said this bit's not so good for swimming because it's got a lot of algae in so we're going to go over there a little bit [Music] chilly it is so refreshing in here is an oasis of paradise we don't have lots of time here so we're going to dry off and head back to the car cuz we've got a lot to cover today we have just reached the good road again and honestly I've never felt a smoother service in my life it feels like we're flying at like 60 km in an hour now Abdul has just spotted a chameleon whoa I've never seen a comedian before he's currently the color of the road and if he goes into the green he'll turn green oh my God Amelia you're being really Brave he doesn't want to go me no problem no problem no problem Amelia you are a brave girl your mom will be very very impressed he's trying to climb your hair though okay is it tickling can he change any color or just any color any color any color what green white so here in Socotra 90% of all the reptiles you find are actually only endemic to this island so you won't find them anywhere else chele it's an endemic I actually can't believe that they change color and can adapt to any color that's surrounding them how crazy is that that that exists in nature back on the road we go driving along the empty roads the mountains flattened to vast empty lands we reached the southern coast one of the least populated parts of the island it's really echoing that's how you get rid of the birds in the cave this is dig up cave 40 years ago people actually used to live in here this cave entrance is absolutely massive you can fit a whole town in here could you the reason people were living here just 40 years ago is because of the big Monsoon every day in July and August it's raining up in the mountains in the plateau they come here to Shelter From the rain and it's a massive cave so it almost feels like you've got a massive house wow we have just seen our first hello [Music] wow we have just arrived in the middle of the desert look at this sand June behind me and this is where we are going to be cing tonight the amazing team have got here before us and have set up our entire Camp including our seating area where we have our freshly made lunch and just keep in mind that they don't grow fruit and veg on this island but they have provided us with so much and they've obviously had to import this so we are very grateful for this in this one it looks like we have fresh fish the fish here is honestly so good I think it's caught really locally there's only a few things that actually export from cotra and one of those things is the fish I'm stuffed after all that food literally every meal we've had here with traveling Socotra has been unreal it's got to about 4:00 and the sun sets so early here so we're going to head out onto the big dunes over here have a little watch of the sunset if you've ever climbed a sand June before you know it's not flipping easy oh here we go a bit more sun in our face now when I put the Drone up earlier you could see just how far these Junes just go on look how cool the camp looks behind me it literally looks like we're in the middle of nowhere and we basically are let's sit down and enjoy this beautiful sunset [Music] colors in the sky right now just look incredible like you can't really see on camera but it's like orange to pink to blue to purple and then there's stars coming out the next few days are going to be [Music] incredible what a beautiful warning we've got a bit of color in the sky there's a camel behind me and we are just woken up in the middle of nowhere the sun is just coming up behind me and it's so peaceful this morning there's no more wind and it's just silent all you can hear is the waves in the background as the sun rose over the Junes a group of camels arrived and we met Hassan a local camel herder who offered to let us ride a camel all right it's time to ride this camel doesn't that's quite the sound is he is he okay okay he's okay he's making some funny noises oh my gosh how is it it's all right it was a little bit scary getting up but this is nice it's much easier than walking on the sand now I've been on this for like a minute I'm actually like like I'm fairly comfortable look I can almost take my yep I've got two hands off camel probably shouldn't do that the camels here in sakota are actually not native they brought them in to help them carry stuff and help with the farming Amelia's been brave as well she's on the camel good good good good good good good Angela good even though we didn't know what Hassam was saying we loved his energy hold on good good good good good good good yeah good yeah what's that mean everybody is good everybody's good yes this is once again the team has packed up all the tents and now we're heading back in the 4x4 and heading on to our next location so this thousand is only half a USD and then this 500 is only a quarter of a USD and the problem here in Yemen is the money fluctuates so much that it's very difficult whoa I'm rich because of the war in Yemen the money fluctuates a lot so it can be very hard to know how much stuff is because of the fluctuation which makes it really hard for people to AFF to afford things all of this money is only 3 USD which is quite insane and the one thing to know is if you look up online it'll probably tell you the north yeny reel which is a different currency and a different exchange rate to the one in South Yemen and here in [Music] sakota it looks like we have a problem unfortunately guys we have a flat tire but of course the team already already on it I think they've got a spare tire just underneath the car here so we'll be absolutely fine just a little break whilst the team sorts it out hey number one this is the car on the other team who have all our tents and stuff so they probably come to help as well good flat tires are common in scota with the rough roads usually getting one a week but it can be as many as four and we're all sorted now I think that must have only taken 10 minutes minutes which is so fast Joel and I were just saying it would have taken us probably 3 hours to change that tire y y y y y [Music] y this one's a little bit of a tough road it's definitely an adventure out here on one of the most isolated parts of the island we have just arrived at the canyon so aan our local guide here is going to take us down to the white Canyon I think it's about 30 minutes until we get down the water looks so blue it looks incredible what no I nearly fell all good it feels like we have just arrived on another planet once again this looks like a moonscape suddenly like the whole Canyon is just white why is it so white the flooding water kind of washes it oh okay time to get in the water I am sweating so much from that walk it is really hot in this Canyon and the water looks so refreshing right now cryst like how is it that clear right now probably I'm guessing cuz it's coming from the mountains yeah I think it's just fresh water that is refreshing that's nice actually this spot is quite famous cuz a lot of people like jump off the White Cliffs so of course I think we're going to give it a go just climbing through this moonscape this must be the most alien place on planet Earth [Music] who [Music] wo woo right time to go for the bigger jump Now where's that over here I'm not sure about about this big jump maybe I'll set this one out W I don't know if you can tell but that Cliff is actually massive and aan the local guide he just did it I'm not sure Joel's going to do it just because we're so remote it's quite a risk something in my head is just saying don't do that you're super remote there's not the best hospital probably here so decided just to be on the safe side you know maybe I'm growing up I am 25 now the white Canyon is definitely one of my favorite spots yet just because it's so refreshing in this hot sun and now we've got a sweaty hike up through these beautiful bottle trees back to find our lovely driver hany oh guys 10 minutes in and because it's almost the middle of the day now it is hot out here oh we have just come a little bit further up the mountain in the car to a little picnic spot but we've got this little shade area come in here and we're going to have some lunch after that sweaty hike oh it's so nice to be sat in the shade and we've got so much fresh fruit and veg right here thanks Abdul welcome you're a legend right let's get on the road we've driven like 20 minutes and the landscape has completely changed we've got this beautiful Green Forest Area with the crazy ugly bottle trees oh don't give them an ugly look they're actually quite nice they're just flipping weird in this little patch there are so many like it just goes on forever I've Just Seen probably the biggest the tallest Bottle Tree yeah look at that that's at least the twice the size of me maybe three times the reason that they're so fat like this and kind of squidgy is because it's it contains lots of water because it is very dry and arid here there's not loads of rain so cotra actually spit away from the African Mainland 6 to 7 million years ago and that's why it's adapted to all these emics endemic species and plants and animals we are now climbing up this mountain heading to a point called horn Hill I can't believe how green it is getting because just 30 minutes ago it was just desert [Music] land as we are higher up on the mountains again we've start to see the Dragon Blood trees cuz they only grow at higher elevations we've just started this hike and we're going to a spot Which is less visited in some of the other spots like the white Canyon now we're actually 400 m up and you can feel the difference in the air temperature it's a bit chillier up here but so much nicer to hike in I almost missed them cuz I haven't seen them in over 24 hours but we've got the Dragon blood trees again so the Dragon Blood trees you don't see quite as much until you go into the mountains cuz they're usually growing around 400 and above in sea level whereas the bottle trees they grow a little bit closer to sea level why is it called horn hill hill hill hill hill which everything comes carrying here because before no cars no everybody comes from the north carrying food and date up here to the village in the mountain Abdul just said that this area is like a natural Botanical Garden you've got most of the endemic plants which are found here in cotra we have just arrived at hom Hill infinity pool some locals just turned up from hadibo in in cotra like the capital city and they said they've never been here before so it's their first time as well I'm going to go in this infinity pool it does feel a little bit cold but just got to go for it you know [Music] Joel is using this infinity pool as his shower for the day currently hopefully he comes out smelling fresh this place is unexpectedly beautiful what a place to just come swim in the mountains cotra just keeps on giving and giving and we have reached the car time to head to our camp for the night the camp spot we're going to tonight we actually haven't seen yet and we won't see see it until the morning because it's going to be dark when we get there from what I've heard this campsite is going to be the best we've been to yet so it's very exciting arriving back at the car we were invited to share tea with the locals we had met at the infinity pool sharing is an important part of the culture here in cotra and everyone has made us feel so welcome here the sun is about to set in the distance as we end another incredible day here in cotra [Music] we've arrived at camp and the amazing team have set up the tent because it's so dark outside we have no idea of our surroundings and apparently they're pretty good all we can hear is the crashing of the Waves behind us today was such a good day we ended up doing so much and now we are completely exhausted and we have to get up for Sunrise so it's about 8:30ish now I think we're already getting ready for bed good night whilst we sleep if you did Miss part one of our time here in Catra then I'll leave a link to it in the description and whilst you're there why don't you subscribe it's so early and here we are at the big white sand dunes it's looking incredible we've got about 15 minutes till sunrise so we got to get up there now this just looks like a white blanket has been plopped up against this Cliff maybe from the winds or something that must be how it's created it looks like a Snowy Mountain we just have to hike up this hill now right now it's quite hard but I'm sure as we get a bit further up it's going to get like soft sand and it's not going to be easy that's our car they'll pick us up a bit later but we got to see this white sand June for Sunrise let me balance the camera to show you the angle okay walk up it's really hard to balance because you kind of have to stay balanced but then you can't lean too much forward otherwise you plop down i' got to take a break for a second because it's not too bad but it is quite vertical it's just the what is it called ver vertigo this isn't ver no the incline is probably like 50% or something too much for meoo 440 in the morning this is quite the hike to suddenly do put the body in a bit of [Music] shock there is a few people dotted around most of the time we've had this place pretty empty maybe one or two people some places but this is a little bit more busy but because it's such an expansive area you can easily Escape people still wow I think we're going to have a good Sunrise starting to look incredible these sand Junes are so tall and they just seem to keep on going like once you think you're at the top there's like a plateau and then you keep on going up absolutely insane [Music] [Music] wow that is good fun it takes like 20 minutes to get up here but to get down it's like two I genuinely think this is the most insane Sunrise spot I have ever seen in my entire life and we've done a lot of traveling a lot of sunrises but I think this tops it I just can't get over it these sand massive sand Junes right on the coast with Crystal Blue Water down there cotra has achieved Perfection it's about 7:30 now and I think we're going to head down because our lovely driver hany and Abdul are waiting for us plus it's starting to get pretty hot in the sun honestly guys take don't take these videos to granted cuz this bag weighs a ton I've got tripods all all sorts in here I've carried it up this sand drun and I'm holding nothing on this all right are we going to run this is the fun bit okay ready count an arc For Me 3 2 1 are you ready letter wait I can only count forwards the letter if NAD yellow [Music] I can't stop wow this bit's so squishy I think cotra might be my favorite place top on planet earth oh on top for sure on top incredible we have just arrived back at camp and look at the huge white sand June behind us we couldn't even see it when we arrived here yesterday and the best thing is we're literally about 10 m away from the sea where we camped last night so we are on to another location we've got to drive about an hour down the road back where we came the other day and we're going to be going to this beautiful spot so we're doing something different today I don't think I've ever seen sand that white before piercing in the eye because it is so white [Music] we've just arrived in deham and that is in cotry the name the place of two mountains as you can see behind me these two Big Red Rocks now this is actually Coral Beach and we're going to be snorkling around here because it's a marine protected area this is Adan the snor man you're welcome nice to meet you you're welcome is me Joel you're welcome John are you the only snorkel instructor on the island yeah yeah my friend is the instructor for scoa diving some people didn't don't know how to snorkel don't know how to swim I I go with them oh or some people they like like guide guiding for oh nice you're the man for that number one guide in all of Socotra perfect this good the great thing about snuggling here in Socotra is there's not loads of fishing obviously they do fish here but it's not like big you know commercial fishing so the reef out here is supposed to be super super incredible okay see you in a bit see you tomorrow we've now got our flippers we've got our goggles and it's time to see if we can see anything thing in the sea apparently there is turtles around the area but it depends on your luck so I know if we go past that little red Hill which I showed you then we might even see some reef sharks but apparently the current can get quite strong out there so we might stick to a being a bit closer to the shore but this looks absolutely wonderful doesn't it looks so good right now let's put on these flippers and go for a swim our last full day here in cotra I'm so sad as soon as we entered the sea we could see the abundance of fish in the waters holding our breath and Diving down amongst the fish we can see sakota was not only biodiverse on land but also in the [Music] waters snorkeling Just Around The Reef we saw so many Big Fish bigger than I've ever seen before like genuinely so many like this big and even bigger we saw parrot fish puffer fish some other fish that I don't know the name of it's definitely worth coming to this spot if you're coming to cotra as there are so many fish everywhere and apparently um you can actually do diving here cuz there's a Dive Master and there's chance seeing sharks potentially manay in certain season and also whale sharks in certain Seasons as well north of Y north of Y North in the Adam was so kind and just gave us 100 Yemenese real look at the Socotra the Dragon Blood Tree on the back of the note I'm going to keep this as my souvenir here in Socotra that is amazing thank you so much Adan bye my friend have a good time bye as we drove back along the North Coast of the island we spotted Something In The Water next to a fishing Village from the Drone you could see a huge pot of dolphins playing in the shallows the island is home to so many dolphins that we managed to see them three times within our trip everyone behind me is very excited about Joel flying the joone including a little boy who's just s stood over there with Joel I this might have been the first time they've seen a drone before after the excitement we introduced ourselves to the fishermen they had a large catch of yellow fin tuna which they export to Yemen and the UAE but we also spotted something unexpected okay you might have seen the shark that they caught and apparently they don't purposely fish for the sharks they fish for the tuna but they just happen to catch shark which I mean to us is very sad but to them that's just how they live that's you how they make money they make a lot of money from Catching the Sharks it is nice to be back here I feel like the last 7 days have just been non-stop but just absolutely incredible everyone the community everyone we've met on this island have just been so nice and I think that's the one thing which makes it stand out from anywhere else if you watched the last video you would know what the inside of the tent looks like but we want to show you the campsite because we think this is the best campsite we've had yet and this is our luxury tent it is so much larger than what most people stay in when they come to scota most people are just in a small little tent but we're in this and it has been amazing if you do want to stay in these luxury tents then you have to go with traveling Socotra and I'll leave a link to their website in the description that'll answer any questions you might have hello how are you hello welcome to my tent well it doesn't even feel like a tent it's just just like a room really we really have so much space in this tent and it genuinely is so tall but the best part is the view which you can have right from our comfy air mattress so crazy that we could actually see dolphins right here from our bed if you walk with me this way you can come to our bathroom set up in here is our toilet so this is a a compostable toilet and it's pumps and yeah it's pretty good for the middle of nowhere right it works pretty well it doesn't smell I enjoy it as much as you can enjoy a toilet and then in this one we have our very own camping shower so the way this works is you have a little pump you pump up the water and then it comes out of here which is pretty good considering we're in the middle of nowhere if you do book one of the cheaper tours then you might not have access to a proper toilet in some of the campsites and some of the campsites also don't have a proper shower as well well so having these two portable ones is very nice and behind me is the living area this space is where we eat dinner lunch breakfast all that kind of stuff and we've also got a good old charging station which has solar panels and over here we have like the lounging area this is close to where we'd have a fire the crew are just relaxing Traveling Socotra actually organizes Beach cleanups for their team and we're actually joining one today so let's go pick up some plastic [Music] one of the issues with Socotra is there's not a lot of Education with with regarding to waste there's not a proper waste management system here but with traveling Socotra the tour company they always make sure they pick up all the waste cuz unfortunately some of the companies actually do not and they do leave remains we've just done 20 minutes of a beach clean up and this is all the stuff we've picked up thanks to traveling toota they're going to send it back to Yemen so it gets off the island 20 b amazing thank you hold on sure sure we're going to have a little swim to end this beautiful day and this incredible week probably one of the best experiences we'll ever have and I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow I'm so sad let's [Music] go W this is so cool the water's actually so warm at the moment I just feels like a nice bath the perfect way set end our [Music] trip a big thank you to traveling Socotra for gifting us this tour it's been an incredible experience and we will definitely be returning to this island at some point and a big thank you to all the team especially Hani and Abdul for putting up with us and all of our drone requests and various things that they had to put up with this week thank you so much for watching you know what to do go down there hit the Subscribe button we want to make more videos like this so the more people who hit that subscribe button it helps us to keep creating adventurous incredible stories to share with you guys thank you so much see you in the next one bye [Music]
2024-12-23 21:45
