I just did a four-day excursion to Socotra. There have been a few posts previously expressing interest in Socotra, but I couldn't find any concrete info from people who had been, so I'm providing some detailed notes here for anybody who may be interested. (I'll also do a less in-depth post in the Trip Reports forum once I've processed my photos.)

Pre-Travel
First off, should you even go? Socotra is very third-world. If you need luxuries such as power during the day, a toilet that flushes, or cell service to check Facebook, you should bail now. You will essentially be camping the entire time. If you choose to stay in one of the hotels in Haidibo (I wouldn't), you will be in a 1-star-at-best hotel. If you are not very mobile I wouldn't bother either - almost every place requires a degree of walking and hiking.

Unless you are fluent in Arabic or Socotran, you should pre-arrange a tour. Socotra Eco-Tours and Socotra Dream Tours seem to be the two biggest ones - I went with the former. They will try to give you an itinerary to match your interests.

Most citizens will require a Tourist Visa. The tour company will obtain the visa for you and email you a copy; the cost is $50.

Getting there
Getting to Socotra is a bit of an adventure already. You can fly Yemeni from Sanaa (not sure of their schedule), or an "LCC" called Felix Airways. LCC is in quotes because the prices they charge non-residents is far from low-cost. Felix offers flights from Sharjah on Wednesdays, returning on Saturdays, and a return ticket was $740.

I did a wire-transfer of the money and received my ticket confirmation within a few days, so no issues there. I'm sure the NSA is now reading all my email after wiring money to Yemen, such is the price I pay.

And we're off!
I took the Felix Airways flight from Sharjah. The flight is on a CR7 and leaves Sharjah at 4am. Check-in opened just after 1am. Although I was pretty far back in the line, an agent pulled me out to check me in - possibly because I only had one bag (compared to tons of boxes that the locals were bringing back), or possibly because they had to check out the visa. Either way check-in was fairly painless.

You will connect in Riyan-Mukalla. Once landing, you'll disembark and wait in their terminal for your connection that leaves four hours later. The airport has a scary bathroom with squat toilets. A few people decided to go into town and find a snack - security seemed to have no issues with this despite not having gone through immigration yet. There is a tiny gift shop in the airport pre-security, but I'm not sure if it was open this early.

Arrival
Once you land you'll mass around an immigration counter where a mob of locals and confused tourists will keep shouting at the agents. If you have your printed visa visibly sticking out of your passport the agent will take it from you and get it sent aside for processing (in another office). You can find your tour guide at this point too. Pick up your bag while you wait - there's only one baggage belt, and it just dumps bags off the end into a pile if you're not there to claim it.

Departure
Departure is just as much of a madhouse. Your tour guide (if you got one) should help you check-in. You'll have your baggage X-Ray'd, and then be sent to another area where you get your passport exit stamp. Once that's done you'll have your carry-on X-Ray'd and be sent to the "gate" area where you wait for your flight.

The return flight is once again through Riyan-Mukalla. Upon arrival, a Felix Airways rep will confiscate your passport and hand you your boarding pass for the next segment. They kick everyone out of the gate area and put you in the lobby of the airport. You are actually free to leave the airport at this point if you wish; the small gift shop is also open.

After about 45 minutes they will open up the gate area again. Get your carry-on screened again, and the agent will return your passport. All of this is as orderly as a bag of kittens.

Money
I didn't convert any money to Yemeni Rials and I survived just fine. The tour package I booked included all transportation, all meals and all accommodation. I did buy a few small things here and there, and always paid in USD or AED and had no problems; I also tipped this way too. I'd bring a small wad of US $1 bills for tips and such.

Things to know
While often described as a "paradise" when being written about, it's important to remember that this is a third-world place. There is trash EVERYWHERE. Pink grocery bags seem to be the island flag. If you decide to relax on a beach, scout it out carefully before removing your shoes. I saw pieces of metal, broken glass, and a razor blade on some of the beaches I stayed at.

There are only a small handful of paved roads on the island. You will be on very rough roads in a Toyota Land Cruiser to get a lot of places. We're not talking a graded dirt-road to a US National Park campsite. These are very rocky steep roads, sometimes partially blocked by landslides, and sometimes with some scary cliffs on the side. If you get car sick easily you may want to keep this in mind.

Make sure you bring your own toilet paper and a bag to haul it away in. Every toilet in Socotra is a squat toilet, and the plumbing can't handle paper. The may provided a bucket and hose for you to "clean-up shop" with if you dare.

Socotrans underestimate things a lot, or maybe it's just their lifestyle. If they tell you it's a short 10 minute hike to the wadi you're going to see, plan on 30 minutes. If they tell you you're going to go wading for fish in water up to your shins, it will actually come up to your crotch.

Overall Thoughts
Socotra really is an alien world - I've never seen anything like it anywhere. I enjoyed my time there immensely and recommend everyone give it a visit. I hope the locals become aware of their trash problem and start putting some effort into getting it cleaned up - it was the biggest detraction from the whole trip. If you are able, spring for the 10-day trip so you can see the south side of the island that I missed entirely.

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I'll be happy to answer any specific questions on things to see if anybody is interested.

Nice report, I had to look up the place on Wikipedia!

Pix??

Very cool, +1 for some photo's too.

What time of year did you go? How hot was it?

I got back on Saturday, so mid-February. The weather was great - I would say in the high 70s-low 80s the entire time. Evenings would drop into the 60s. I wore a light jacket on some evenings - others I didn't even need it. June-September is monsoon season, so keep that in mind, although I imagine most people try to avoid the Mid East in summer.

I forgot to mention the costs of the tour. I paid $450 for mine from Socotra Eco-Tours. One other quote I got from another company was identical. I ran into a few people who were doing 10-day tours, and they were quoted around $1700.

I'll post my complete itinerary later this week with pictures so you can see what you're getting for the money.

Thanks SO MUCH for this report. I am going to Socotra myself, with Socotra Dream Tours, in a few weeks. Besides the toilet paper and Tevas for the beach, are there any other unexpected items you'd suggest to pack?

I've had Socotra "on the list" for many years and I am really excited to be going. Y for Yemen is the last remaining letter I need to get in my alphabet of countries

I was thinking the same thing after I wired money to my tour operator.

OK as promised, here's a quick run-down of my 3.5 day itinerary.

Day 1
Arrived at the Socotra airport late morning. My guide was already there and after getting my passport and visa taken care of, we headed toward town.

The first thing you'll notice is the strikingly blue water. It was this way across the entire island.

There are only a small handful of paved roads on the entire island - this one runs along the entire north coast.



There is a spectacular, almost Lord of the Rings-like set of mountains along the way to the main town of Hadibo.



We stop briefly in Hadibo for lunch and a few supplies. Hadibo is an absolute craphole of a town. Spend as little time here as possible.



This is your typical Socotri lunch and dinner - rice with a bit of fish.



After lunch, they took me up to a spring in an area called Ayhaft to freshen up. They didn't mention the spring had been dammed up and had hoses running to the local village, so it certainly didn't have much eye appeal. It's a pretty rough road to get up to it, and also requires a 30 minute hike on very rocky terrain. Skip this if they offer you a chance to see it - there are much better things to see.



After hanging out for an hour at the spring we made the trek back to the car and headed to the coast to an area called Deleisha. It has a semi-nice beach (with the previously mentioned trash), and is unique because there is a giant sand dune hanging out in the middle of a mountain nearby.

The waters were pretty turbulent when I arrived so I chose not to hop in.





We hung out here for an hour or so, then worked our way back to the Eco Tour camp where I stayed the night. I forgot to take pictures of that, but you have a little hut with a mattress and mosquito net. It was plenty adequate.

Day 2, Part 1

Day two starts off with a long drive to Homhil Plateau, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. It's a long and treacherous drive, with lots of sharp turns and dropoffs.





The driver dropped us off at one end of the plateau, and we walked about a mile through a grove of frankincense trees.



The landscape becomes more and more alien, with Cucumber Trees and Dragon's Blood Trees all around.





After about a mile of hiking you'll come to a little area to rest with a toilet. The head of the conservancy area was here. He was very friendly and tried to bum a smoke off of me within 30 seconds (I don't smoke). He then disappeared.

At the rest area you'll be handed off to a second guide who will take you down to a very nice wadi. It's about a 20 minute hike among the Dragon's Blood trees. Your original guide will start lunch (your choice of noodles) while you're gone. You are welcome to swim in this wadi if you wish.

Day 2, Part 2

Whenever you're done on Homhil, let your guide know and you'll begin the trek back down! The driver actually parks the car pretty close to the conservancy center, so you don't have to make the walk back to where he dropped you off.

From here we headed down to Dihamri Beach. It's a very rocky beach, but with great tide pools.



The waters here are very rough with strong currents - in fact one local was actually in trouble shortly after we arrived and there was a mad dash to rescue him.

There is a small calm area that is good for snorkeling, and you will see quite a bit. Snorkel gear is available for rental for about $10USD if you wish.



This is the first time on the trip where I ran into other tourists - there was a girl from Japan, a guy from Toronto and two girls from Malaysia here. We did an impromptu improv game using my GorillaPod - here's one of the locals trying to come up with his next scene with it:



After a dinner of, take a guess.......rice and fish, we spent a little more time goofing off and playing cards. The guides set up tents and you spend the night just a few meters from the ocean.



The sand dune you see in the background there is the same one you saw in Deleisha yesterday- you're on the opposite side of it.

Day 3

Day three starts off with a trek of Dicksam Plateau. Here you will see some more Dragon Blood trees along with some spectacular canyon views.





From there you will drive down into the canyon to another very nice wadi. You can see a little bit of it in this photo.



Once down there your guides will start cooking lunch (take a guess what), and you are welcome to check out the wadi. I chose to take a swim in this one, and it was VERY nice - perfect temperature water.

Also when I arrived, I was very surprised to run across six butt-naked Russian tourists also swimming. One of the locals got a glimpse of the wife and was very unhappy about it. On the otherhand, I was quite pleased to get a full-frontal shot of the mid-20s daughter, and you should send me a PM if you see this.

After lunch it's back up the way we came and a drive to the far west of the island to Qalansiya and the Detwah Lagoon. This is a massive beach with almost nobody on it. The sand is wonderful and the water is warm - and there is no shade to speak of, so keep that in mind.



Unfortunately there is also a fair amount of garbage once off the fresh areas - I saw CV boots and a razor blade among other things. Wear sandals.

This beach also features another giant sand dune sticking out of a mountain. Very odd.



My guide dropped me off at a scenic vantage point. I walked about half an hour from there to the campsite, where the same naked Russians I saw earlier were also eating and setting up shop.

My guide handed me over to one of his friends, who actually lives in a cave not far from the campsite. We hiked over to the cave where he proudly showed me his collection of whale bones among other finds.



From the cave we hopped into the water (about a mile from shore). The water here is only about knee-deep, and we waded all the way back to camp, looking for octopus, squid and pufferfish.
We were able to find a few puffer fish too - my guide grabbed one of them to show me. We headed back to shore as the sun set.

Amazing scenery! Such beautiful photo's.

WOW - thank you very much for the report + photos!

Nice pic

would be awesome if the photos became available again

Sorry, they're back!

No photo of the 20 something Russian?