Some places on earth contain so much natural, untouched beauty that you simply must see it to believe it. Socotra is one such place. Brimming with wondrous and incredible biodiversity, it is home to ...

Made up of enormous sand dunes, craggy mountains, beautiful beaches and unique wildlife, the Yemeni island of Socotra is often referred to as the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.” Long a coveted ...

Socotra Island has been called the most alien-looking place on Earth, and with good reason. Sitting off the coast of Yemen in the Arabian Sea, it’s home to plants and landscapes found nowhere else.

Sitting off the Horn of Africa, the Yemeni island of Socotra was largely left to its own devices for centuries, its few guests arriving to trade for aromatic frankincense, the healing plant aloe and ...

It is a very strange island far out in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Yemen, and is often referred to as the most alien-looking place on earth. This has been accumulated on Socotra, one of a group ...

This story appears in the June 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. It’s nearly midnight on the broad hill called Firmihin, where a dragon’s blood forest grows. The moon, a night past full, ...