Socotra

The morning group charter from Jeddah brings you to Socotra, where our expedition team meets you at the airport. After lunch and last supplies in Hadibo, the island's small capital, we cross to the northwest coast and Detwah Lagoon — a marine-protected area of turquoise water and white-sand peninsulas. Tonight is the first in our private mobile camp on the lagoon.

From Qalansiyah, local fishing boats carry us along the west coast — spinner dolphins often escorting the way — to snorkel and laze on Shu'ab, arguably Socotra's finest beach. Back at Detwah, we explore the marine life with Abdullah the Caveman, the lagoon's famous resident guide, then hike in the late afternoon to the headland above the lagoon for the definitive view of its white-sand peninsulas. A second night in camp at Detwah.

We drive inland past rolling hills of dragon's blood trees, passing Kalisan Canyon with its crystal-clear freshwater pools and waterfalls, then trek through Firhmin — the world's densest dragon's blood woodland — with a local resin harvester whose family has gathered the trees' crimson resin here for two thousand years. We swim and picnic in Derhur Canyon before sunset from the Diksam Plateau. Overnight in our private mobile camp high on the plateau.

The morning is spent at the dragon's blood tree nursery and the Diksam school, with the option to teach an English class. We then descend to the south coast and the “sea of sand” at Hayf and Zahek — vast white dunes pressed against the mountains by the monsoon winds. Sunset among the dunes, and an overnight in our mobile camp nearby.

We cross the island to the northeast coast and Arher — a beach camp where a freshwater creek pours straight from a granite mountain into the sea, so you can swim in both, creek and ocean, steps apart. In the late afternoon we climb the 100-metre-plus sand dune rising from the beach for the island's finest sunset. The first of two nights in our mobile camp at Arher.

An early hike of around two and a half hours climbs to Hoq Cave — three kilometres of stalactites, crystalline chambers, and a hidden pool deep inside the mountain, like a cathedral carved from stone. In the evening we visit Ras Irisseyl, the island's easternmost point, with its fishing village and “crab city” of sand-castle burrows at low tide. A second night in camp at Arher.

The morning is spent on the Homhil Plateau, amid dragon's blood, bottle, and cucumber trees, meeting villagers who sell dragon's blood resin and wild frankincense, with a short hike to Homhil's natural infinity pool perched high above the sea. We descend to the coast to snorkel at the Dihamri marine park — one of the richest reefs on the island's north shore — before continuing to Hadibo for the final night at the Summerlands Hotel, with hot showers and wifi.

A leisurely final morning in Hadibo — a last coffee and a last look at the Hajhir peaks — before the direct group charter returns you to Jeddah and the end of the expedition. You carry with you a place unlike any other on Earth.