Socotra has some very unique nature. It has 300 endemic (only there) plants and hundreds of endemic animal species, mostly invertebrates, but also reptiles and birds. It's one of the 10 most significant islands in the world in terms of biodiversity conservation importance.
One of the best know plants is the dragonblood tree. Its juice is bloodred. See the pictures with the umbrella type trees. This tree can be found on the Dixham plateau. We went up there with our 4WD, and then descended to some swimming holes. The descent with the vehicle was unbelievable. We have never been in a vehicle 'climbing' mountains. We found an oasis type of area, wedged in between mountains, and filled with palm trees. A totally different vegetation. The swimming was great: cool, clear water. After that we went up the same road to the plateau again. The picture taken from the jeep shows how steep and rocky that was.
The other type of tree that can be seen, most everywhere on the island, is the bottle tree. The trees fill up with water and look like bottles. They grow in the most impossible places. We saw a few in bloom, the season for that wasn't quite there yet, but the ones we saw were beautiful.
The other pictures here show a vulture, a magnificent bird with beautiful colors, a plant with a cameleon (very slow moving), and an oasis not far from town, with a donkey taking a bath.
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