the trees of dragon's blood
Day 4
Early morning wake-up and breakfast sorted. Today, we’d finally be able to see the endemic Dragon Blood trees up close. The drive was back to higher elevations along tight rocky roads weaving along the side of the mountains with a long way down if you breathed too deeply.
The first stop was a walk down a dried-up riverbed where the rocks were carved by erosion over millions of years, leading to a pool of water. This was the Homhill Protected riverbed and pool. The photos don’t do it justice, as always, but another view of the ocean from such great heights is always breathtaking. Along the walk to the bottom, stepping over and through these eroded rocks was like being brought back in time. I like to think, as I kneel to touch the rocks and crevices between them, that a dinosaur walked on it or that maybe that exact spot has never been touched by human hands ever. My imagination can be wild, but it’s fun nonetheless.
We spent an hour or so swimming in the pool before heading back up to the cars for the next stop. On our drive back down, we came across some frankincense trees, the ones that produce the essential oils Jesus liked to use (jk). The smell was lovely and we were stopped by some of the local children trying to sell baggies of it to tourists. We declined, not having any cash to give them. Besides, the US government probably frowns upon foreign vegetation being brought into the country. Next time, kiddos.
Off to lunch down to lower elevations. The crew set us up in a little nook under the palm trees with mats for naps as they made food. We took full advantage.
Next, more dunes! The Hayf & Zahaq sand dunes to be exact. I love a good dune (apparently). This time, we drove on and over them. When I was in Dubai with Becky, Karen and our other friend Kendra a few years back, we went “dune bashing”. Essentially you get into a Land Cruiser, deflate the tires and drive recklessly up and over sand dunes for a rollercoaster of a ride. This was similar. We had more of a straight shot to the stop but our drivers gave us something to scream about out the window. We parked, immediately turned on music to dance, and then walked amongst the hills of sand.
Us girls wandered off. We walked out to get some photos of ourselves. This was the result.
A few more dance moves and we were off. The drive to our next campsite was flat which obviously called for desert racing. The below is a poor video of that experience but just close your eyes and imagine.
Kudos to our drivers for maneuvering the roads across the flat yet rocky terrain, blasting music and racing to the other side. We’ll do anything for an adrenaline rush.
Camp was close to another beach. This night wasn’t much to write home about, although I think we’ve been so spoiled with our locations that it would have been more amazing had we not slept where we had thus far.
This site actually had a shower! Not a real one, but another stone structure with a semi normal toilet situation and a shower head right next to it. I probably should have taken photos of our commodes but I'm not sure that's a memory I need on my phone. I chose not to partake – I’d rather use my trusty flushable wipes from Target that smelled like roses to fend
off the stench at this point. I was doing really well so far, believe it or not. You’d be surprised at how a little goes a long way out in the wild.
The crew got our campfire roaring and we gathered around it. Sherif and I were the music fans of the group so we found what we could already downloaded on our phones to play. The cooks brought over the night’s dinner of chicken and cooked it on the fire. They really did the most for us once they found out how much we loved chicken, though the fish was spectacular every time as well. Rice, simple pasta, chicken, fish, veggies, al tawa, fruit. While it was simple, it filled us up. Not that we wouldn’t have destroyed a smash burger at any moment, but given the circumstances our cooks were geniuses.
After another night of chats, banter and music under the stars, we all went to bed. Tomorrow was another day.
Day 5
Woke up as usual, breakfast was ready, we took a little more time. More car time today which we learned to make the most of. Our first stop was another cave, full of bat shit. Yup, also goat and bird – a composter’s dream.
We made a few friends with the kids here but didn’t stay long. Not sure what an appropriate amount of time is to hang out in bat shit but we weren’t looking to find out. Besides, there were better things to come. It was Dragon Blood tree forest time. We had already seen a few scattered here and there, but this was where the real magic happened.
Like I mentioned, we learned to make the most of our long car rides. The girls all piled into one car and the boys in the other this time. A long stretch of road gave us an opportunity to, obviously, dance on the rooftop and create our own choreographed dances. Our drivers loved us. No, really.
Finally, we started to notice the forest of dragon blood trees emerge on the landscape. We stopped at a lookout point where one of the biggest trees we’ve seen so far stood majestically overlooking a large canyon and the endless expanse of the landscape. Surrounding the tree were local children. While I don’t usually recommend interacting with other’s people children in a foreign country, our guides said it was encouraged.
One of the few things recommended for us to bring with us to the island were toys and things like pencils for children. We didn’t quite know how or why that would come into play but I ended up buying a large pack of bracelets and small popper toys from Amazon; inexpensive and easy to travel with. Along our drives and routes, we’d come across groups of children who would happily wave us by or just observe from afar as us foreigners traveled their land. We’d hand out the bracelets and toys and it truly brought joy to their eyes. It seems like such a simple thing, but being on a remote island doesn’t grant access to many of the luxuries we’re used to growing up. I wish I had so much more to give them. As a once 3rd grade teacher, my urge to give them learning supplies, books, markers and paper, soft stuffies and clothing was strong. Alas, we worked with what we had and hopefully weren’t just another group of clueless tourists dumping junk on families who need so much more.
Abdullah was especially popular with some of the children. They grabbed his hands, had a few jump on his shoulders. It was adorable. The nearby tree had a few swings on it as well. We took our turns reliving our childhoods and then back to the car for more.
We got a little further to a small forest of dragon blood trees. While we didn’t get the full education on them yet, it felt so prehistoric to be amongst them. You don’t feel like you’re on Earth anymore. They’re otherworldly not only in their design, but also in their healing uses.
Lunch was deep into the mountains along another riverbed, Wadi Dirhur. We gathered post lunch on our “resting” mat, as I’ve just recently come to call it, since that’s what we normally did on it while the crew cleaned up. We had a few visitors, what they called Egyptian vultures. Not particularly friendly creatures but interesting to witness nonetheless. When we were ready, we started our walk along the riverbed, this one providing more water than the last.
It was also another location where the water was fresh and worth a dip if we wanted. I think Karen may have submerged her head for an attempt at cleaning her hair. The algae from these waters were almost a neon green. Algae that, I can only assume, people would pay a lot of money for.
Let me get on my soapbox for a moment
Throughout this whole trip, and reminiscing now that we’re back, I had a constant nagging in the back of my mind about where this island will be 10+ years from now. There is a limitation on how many visitors it can have at once, there are very few flights in and out, visas are not available to just anyone, and the nature of its ownership scares some people. However, as with most tourist destinations around the world that get swallowed up and destroyed by human consumption and greed, I fear the same will happen here. Besides the fighting between Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for this land, the incredible resources the island provides makes it a prime location for greedy corporations to abuse it for money and power. I mentioned to Adham how there are people in this world that would pay a lot of money for the algae we were walking by and the sap from the dragon blood trees. As he taught us later about the medicinal uses of the sap and the natural vegetation that grows only on this island, I didn’t only get a feeling of wonder but also a sad realization that someone of power is going to claim it for themselves, draining the island of its beauty that’s been so untouched for so long by anyone other than its inhabitants and natives.
I don’t mean to go all Sir David Attenborough on you, but it’s the reality of this world. Leave no trace is an American ideal amongst those that experience its wilderness and beauty, but I don’t think it’s a shared mentality across the world. I would implore anyone who makes a trip to Socotra to remember that we’re guests on this island and it belongs to the people. I’m not too naïve to know that it’s not that simple, but if we at least tried to keep it as natural as possible, to not ruin its luster, I think we’ll be able to find a way to enjoy it thousands of years from now as we did on this trip. I suppose that’s why it’s considered a UNESCO heritage site. I hope there are some protections that come with that distinction, but humans can be assholes. I hope we can behave ourselves enough to remember it’s not all about us.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming, the turnaround point for this hike was a huge deep lake. We spent a few moments skipping rocks and watching some locals jump in from the cliffs before heading back. Again, we had more important things to see next.
The crew said goodbye to their friends who were taking care of other groups and we were off. The roads we took continued to be steep and rocky. I consider myself a good driver but some of those hairpin turns would have had me white knuckled and immobile. The drive was necessary to get us from low in the valley back up high into the mountains. It was a definite "trust the process" moment as we started to near the forest. You couldn’t miss it. I have more footage of even just the drive in and out to last for days.
We found our parking spot and out we got at the Firhmin forest. That stretch of driving gave us a bit of the queasies so we were glad to be out for many reasons. Adham climbed up with us while the others stayed behind. However, we ended up with a miniature guide to walk us up to the money spot. If I had to guess he was about 10 years old and an absolute professional at navigating the forest with travelers.
Now, we walked amongst them. The mighty Dragon Blood Trees of Socotra.
When you google the island, one of the first images you see is of this tree. As an endemic species, this is the only place in the world you’ll find them growing.
They’re named as such because of the red blood-like sap that runs under its bark. It was thought to be the blood of the ancients, greatly sought after for things like dye for paints and varnishes, and maybe more importantly for the medicinal uses for women giving birth and healthy skin. Knowing this, you can understand my concern about too many people in this world finding out about this rare resource (maybe I'm part of the problem bringing it to light here…f***).
We wandered to the highest peak sitting in the middle of this vast expanse of trees. We weren’t the only ones there by this time, but we found our own space. Adham gathered
us all around one of the trees and expertly carved into it with a rock. Behind the bark was what looked like powdered blood that easily liquified on your skin. He brought a pile of it to the ground and, using the same rock, ground it into a fine powder. This powder, he then “christened” us with smears of the blood across our faces. I can’t say it gave me the most luscious and healthy skin I’ve ever had immediately, but I didn’t break out into hives as my stubborn skin tends to do at the sign of any change in regimen.
Sherif brought out his drone and we enjoyed the sunset beginning to take place in front of us. It felt a bit like the climax of the trip sitting on this huge boulder, overlooking this surreal forest of trees. I tend to get a bit smug thinking about how I’m one of a few people who will ever get to do this, at least for a while. It’s not a trip for everyone, another reason my ego shines a bit brighter when I talk about it.
With the sun almost completely down, we needed to depart for our next campsite. We weren’t anywhere near the ocean at this point so it was going to be a different environment to rest our heads.
We came to a rather flat and rocky location that seemed to be cleared specifically for travelers to set camp. I don’t think it was man made, but it worked for our needs. We all seemed to have an inch of dust on us so we wiped down and prepared for dinner. We also weren’t used to the cooler temperatures at the higher elevation but it was welcomed with open arms.
The sunset glowing behind the dark shadows of the trees was beautiful. Music and chats around the campfire before bed as usual. We only had a few more days left and it seemed too soon. Oof, I hate the moment you start to think about the end of a trip. I try not to do it often, but after one like this it’s impossible to think about getting back to the real world. I don’t even want to turn my phone back on to see the dumpster fire that is the news and my work inbox. That’s not a today problem.
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