Fauna

Lost between Africa and Arabia, Socotra is one of the most isolated places on Earth — and because of that, life here evolved in ways you won’t see anywhere else. Over 90% of its reptiles, many of its birds, insects, and even marine life, are found nowhere else. It's often called the "Galápagos of the Indian Ocean", but Socotra feels even more like a living dream — wild, ancient, and untouched.

Wander through rocky plains and dragon tree forests and you’ll spot creatures straight from another world. The brilliant Socotra Sunbird flashes between flowers, its feathers glittering like jewels. Starling flocks stir the silence, their songs filling the hot, dry air. Beneath your feet, rare reptiles — like the Socotra Blue-tailed Skink and Dwarf Geckos — scurry across the stones, perfectly adapted to this strange, harsh landscape.

Above it all, the Egyptian Vulture, a sacred bird in many ancient cultures, soars high over the cliffs. It’s one of the few places on Earth where you can still easily see these remarkable birds in the wild.

Hidden away in caves and under brush lies the Socotra Shrew, a tiny mammal so rare and ancient that it feels like a leftover piece of Earth's deep past. Even the waters around Socotra hide a separate world: reefs teeming with endemic fish, corals, and crustaceans, shaped by the island's isolation.

Socotra’s animals are survivors of a world before modern civilization — an ecosystem so unique and delicate that every bird call, every lizard, every ripple in the water tells a story millions of years in the making.