Yemen and Socotra: a journey between nature and magic

Maybe because it's a part of Africa, maybe because of its soul so wild and still untouched, maybe because of its beauty that is at times moving... maybe out of love; the fact is that after nine months Socotra's call had grown so strong that I set aside all my worries about money, holidays, family, dog, cats and... I set off again for my island! Carpe diem. The stroke of luck was finding a Turkish flight from Milan to Sana'a for 445 Euros, which around the Christmas holidays truly seemed impossible. There was still the problem of the flight to Socotra, but thanks to the help of a local agency that booked the e-ticket for me, lo and behold, the dream came true.

Compared with the trip I made in April, I saw another face of the island: lush green after the rains of the previous weeks, the wadis full of crystal-clear water, the contrast between the red rocks, the white granites and every shade of green of the strangest endemic plants. Just the route from the airport to Hadibu fills your eyes and your heart: on one side the sea, blue, sky-blue, light blue; on the other the mountain with its peaks still covered by black clouds, and along the road the strange shapes of the bottle trees, the Socotran figs, the palms... At the airport Mohammed was waiting for me, my trusted guide who, with a car and a driver, would take me to discover new beauties of the island. Having a good guide on the island of Socotra is essential.

Often do-it-yourself tourists, to save 50/100 Euros, decide to hire only the car with a driver, who generally speaks only Arabic and does nothing but... drive a taxi. A good guide will take you to discover the beauties of the island, tell you about the customs and traditions of the people, cook the best spaghetti you have ever eaten, prepare chai under a starry sky while telling you the legends of the island. If you decide to set off for Socotra, don't miss out on the human contact with those who will let you experience the island in the best possible way. You will also be lending a hand to those who live on tourism for only a few months a year in order to survive during the monsoons, when the island becomes truly hostile to everyone. For information on tours, visit the site of the agency I have always travelled with.

As soon as we arrived in Hadibu, lunch at the Taj restaurant, fish, rice and vegetables, and shopping at the market to get everything needed for camping, and off we went towards one of the most beautiful places on the island, Qualansia. What a thrill to celebrate New Year with only the lights of the starry sky, the sound of the waves on the beach and the music of the cicadas as a soundtrack. The journey continues on the splendid beach of Shoab, where we camped in absolute solitude, enjoying from the first light of dawn the crystal-clear sea in colours seen only in the Maldives and the Caribbean. Back in Hadibu to stock up on water and food we decide to set off immediately for the protected area of Dihamri, where you can snorkel over a splendid coral reef. The last time I had seen a manta ray as big as...

a double bed and had played with a turtle; this time I had to settle for a pod of dolphins that leapt and pirouetted in the distance in a dance that makes me cry every time. We set off for a short trek on the Momi Plateau, where you reach a cliff dropping sheer into the sea. I sat with my legs dangling, enjoying a bird's-eye view of the coastline below that took my breath away. The song by the legendary Lorenzo came to mind, "vertigo is not the fear of falling but the wish to fly...", and here too I burst into tears under the slightly puzzled gaze of a shepherd who had accompanied us to the most panoramic point of the cliff. We sleep among the goats that had just finished our leftover spaghetti with vegetables, and early in the morning we take down the tents in the light of a spectacular sunrise over the mountains of the plateau.

We head towards Wadi Mutief, where after an hour of trekking we reach a village by the sea. We are immediately surrounded by a tide of children to whom I have Mohammed, who speaks the Socotran dialect, hand out little plush toys, pens and notebooks that I had brought from Italy. These small villages are not used to tourist visits; that is why I wanted a local person to give them the gifts. I did not want them to learn, as in all the tourist places in the world, to see foreigners as dispensers of pens, sweets or money... We receive an invitation from a fisherman who offers us 3 splendid lobsters just caught, accompanied by rice and vegetables. The warmth and generosity of these people, who share on every occasion the little they have, can only make us reflect on the selfishness and individualism that characterises most human relationships in our Western society.

The following night we camp among the white dunes of the Zhaeg desert, where the lights of the sunset make the atmosphere and the total silence almost unreal. One of the hardships of wild camping on the island is that you wash very little with fresh water... so when you plunge into the clear waters of the natural pools of Wadi Aihaft the pleasure is even greater. Once again we give up the comforts of a hotel in Hadibu and prefer to camp on the nearby beach of Delisha for a walk on the dune and a swim among the waves. The shells and corals found on this beach are a beauty, photograph them and leave them where they are. If you really want to pick something up, get yourself a nice big bag and fill it with plastic bottles, cans, jerrycans... unfortunately the beach is full of the leftovers left by locals who gather here for a good chew of qat in company.

Taking away the rubbish, even other people's, is a sign of thanks to the enchantment that nature offers you freely and unconditionally. During the day we set off for the frankincense tree forest at Homil, which with its natural pool overlooking the coast below remains one of the most beautiful panoramic views of the whole island. From the protected area of Homil we walk down to where our good Said was waiting for us with the jeep, and from there we continue towards the beach of Ahrar, which during my first stay on the island had literally won me over. Unfortunately the new road under construction has already changed the landscape of the coast in just a few months.

The inhabitants say it was necessary to connect the remote villages to Hadibu, and I think they are right, but the hope is that everything is done in full respect for the needs of the local population, preserving the wild beauty of the island. Because of the cloudy weather we decide to return south, where we will spend the last few days on the beach of Homag, which has been set up as a Spartan campsite like Qualansya, Homil and Dihamri. The last walk on the beach gives me the farewell of a pair of dolphins that I like to think are always the same ones met during the trip.

The island of Socotra makes you rediscover your senses, reawakens the wild character that belonged to our ancestors, puts you back in touch with Mother Earth and Father Sky, demands respect for Nature, teaches you not to waste water, to be content with a little rice and a tin of beans eaten with your hands in sharing with others. Socotra gives you the moved gaze of children with their hands outstretched to receive a little plush toy, a strange little animal they have never seen. If you are looking for a different holiday, one that truly takes you into another dimension, where the super