Waypoint Journeys Presents
The World's Forgotten Garden of Eden
8 Days
Exploring the Most Alien Landscape on Earth
We reply within 24 hours
Lying off the Horn of Africa in the northwest Indian Ocean, the archipelago of Socotra has stirred the imagination of explorers since antiquity, from Alexander the Great to Marco Polo to the legendary Sinbad. Its dragon's blood trees rise like great emerald parasols against ancient skies. Its rare frankincense groves, cucumber trees, and pink desert roses exist nowhere else on Earth.
Just 80 miles long by 25 miles wide, Socotra ranks among the world's foremost centres of endemism. Isolation did the work: about a third of its plant species grow nowhere else. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2008. From sea level to nearly a mile high in the central Hajhir Mountains, you are never out of sight of something found nowhere else on the planet.
The island's 60,000 inhabitants speak Soqotri, a language older than Arabic. A deep belief in the power of magic and djinns persists from ancient times. Once at the crossroads of silk and spice trade routes, Socotra holds archaeological sites reaching back to the earliest civilisations, complete with cave art and two-thousand-year-old tools.
"A Noah's Ark where ancient flora, fauna, and a unique culture have survived until the present day."
Planning ahead? Read our detailed Socotra Island travel guide.
One of the most biodiverse islands on Earth, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 for its distinctive natural values and outstanding universal significance.
Over 700 species found nowhere else on the planet, including the iconic Dragon's Blood Tree, bottle trees, desert roses, and the Socotran starling.
From towering canyons and ancient cave systems stretching kilometres underground to pristine white sand beaches framing turquoise coves.
Snorkel in protected lagoons with spinner dolphins, reef sharks, and sea turtles in some of the Indian Ocean's clearest and most pristine waters.
Private mobile camp, expert Soqotri guides with generational knowledge of the land, and locally sourced meals celebrating the island's unique cuisine.
Stay connected with family or manage urgent work even in one of the world's most remote destinations; Starlink WiFi provided throughout the expedition.
Eight days of discovery across one of Earth's last truly wild frontiers.
Around Socotra
Eight days circling the island from Hadibo: camps at Detwah Lagoon, the Diksam Plateau, the Zahek dunes and Arher beach, with boat and cave days, ending back in Hadibo.
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.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Expedition Investment
per person
Fully inclusive of accommodation, all meals, activities, and ground transportation
International flights to/from Jeddah, the round-trip Jeddah–Socotra charter (approx. $1,150 USD), and the $150 USD visa fee are not included.
Reserve Your SpotWhile Socotra is officially part of Yemen, it lies over 200 miles from the mainland, and island life keeps to its own quiet rhythm. The Soqotri people are famously hospitable and welcoming to visitors.
