REMOTE SOCOTRA ENDEMICS TOUR ITINERARY
DAY 0 ARRIVAL IN ABU DHABI - 21st February 2027
We recommend arriving a day before the tour starts and staying overnight in an airport hotel, in preparation for tomorrow's morning flight to Socotra.
DAY 1 ARRIVAL IN ABU DHABI - 22nd February 2027
Following a morning flight (09:00) from Abu Dhabi to Hadibo, Socotra Island (Airport Code SCT) we will transfer to our hotel. After lunch we will begin our exploration of this fascinating island and our bet is on Socotra White-eye being our first endemic! Other common species we are highly likely to see this afternoon include Egyptian Vulture, Sooty Gull, Brown-necked Raven and Black-crowned Sparrow-lark amongst others. Night in Hadibo.
DAYS 2 - 7 SOCOTRA
From our comfortable hotel in Hadibo, the capital of Socotra, we will take daily excursions into a variety of habitats ranging from the coastal plain complete with fine, sandy palm-fringed beaches, mudflats, lagoons, limestone plateau where we can see the iconic Dragon’s Blood Trees, and then up into the spectacular Haggier Mountains (1700m). We have 6 full days to find the ten endemics: Socotra Buzzard, Socotra Scops Owl, Socotra Cisticola, Socotra Warbler, Socotra Starling, Socotra Sunbird, Socotra Sparrow, Socotra Golden-winged Grosbeak, Socotra White-eye and Socotra Bunting. There is a further endemic, Abd Al-Kuri Sparrow found on the remote Ad Al-Kuri Island, which is a 6 hour boat ride away across waters that sometimes hosts Somali pirates. So we'll give that a miss! We will also make sure we see a further two endemic subspecies that are both potential future splits - Socotra Pipit (sokotrae race of Long-billed Pipit) and Socotra Shrike (uncinatus race of Great Grey Shrike). And the other key species is Somali Starling - currently more easily seen here than in Africa. Other sought-after species include Socotra Cormorant, Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse, Cream-coloured Courser, Masked Booby, Red-billed Tropicbird, Persian Shearwater, Jouanin's Petrel, Bruce's Green-Pigeon, White-browed Coucal, Nubian Nightjar (rare), and even Forbes-Watson's Swift. Other species we could see include Pin-tailed Snipe, Pacific Golden Plover, Greater & Tibetan Sandplovers, a variety of commoner shorebirds, Osprey, Brown Booby, Common Noddy, Greater & Lesser Crested Terns, Peregrine Falcon, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Bridled Tern, Laughing Dove, Pale Crag Martin, Desert & Pied Wheatear and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting. We have 7 nights in a comfortable hotel in Hadibo as there's no need to go camping!
DAY 8 END OF TOUR - 1st March
We still have a couple of hours birding this morning before we have to return to the airport for the flight back to Abu Dhabi (11:50am) and the end of the tour.
As we are returning to Abu Dhabi what not extend your stay in the Middle East and head to Kuwait for a couple of days in order to find Afghan Babbler and/or fly to Muscat and spend 2 nights in search of the much-wanted Omani Owl at our secret site! Ask our office for details.
