The astonishing island of Socotra, part of Yemen but close to the coast of Somalia. Like the Galapagos, it separated from the mainland 250 million years ago and many plants on the island are unique. At Homhil, pudgy Bottle Plants waddle across a high plain beneath frankincense trees. For the Crusaders (
’Franks’
) Socotra was the only source of incense crucial to all Christian medieval liturgy.
In recent times and under cover of the war, the island has been subjected to a kind of
neo-colonialism
from the United Arab Emirates.
Shot for Mare – die Zeitschrift der Meere, Germany.