REMOTE SOCOTRA ENDEMICS TOUR

The archipelago of Socotra consists of four islands lying in the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa and some 300 miles (approx 500 kms) south of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a very safe location to visit and its topography and wildlife is not surprisingly more African than Arabian. There are a variety of habitats from beautiful beaches, rocky mountains, verdant lagoons and associated palm groves, meadows, and the more expected desolated plains. Being so isolated, and now classified as a World Heritage Site, it is no wonder that Socotra has been dubbed as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.

Out of around 150+ species of birds that have been recorded here, it is the endemic birds that we are interested in. The eleven currently recognised endemic species of the islands are Socotra Buzzard, Socotra Scops Owl, Socotra Warbler, Socotra Cisticola, Socotra Starling, Socotra Sunbird, Socotra White-eye, Socotra Sparrow, Socotra Golden-winged Grosbeak and Socotra Bunting.

Other interesting species we hope to see include Socotra Cormorant, Brown & Masked Booby, Persian Shearwater, Jouanin’s Petrel, Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Cream-coloured Courser, White-browed Coucal, Bruce's Green-Pigeon, Nubian Nightjar, Forbes-Watson's Swift, Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark and Somali Starling. Local subspecies of Long-billed Pipit (sokotrae) and Great Grey Shrike (uncinatus) also warrant a glance, as they may well be upgraded to full species status in due course, and that leaves us with Abd al Kuri Sparrow, which is only found on an even more isolated island some 6 hours boat ride away across seas we would deem unsafe to travel to!

Travel to and from Socotra is via scheduled direct flights from Abu Dhabi, making this a surprisingly easy destination to visit and is a perfect add-on to a visit to other areas in the Middle East.