What No One Tells You About Traveling to Socotra Island

Should you travel to Socotra Island in Yemen? It might be a bit strange for me to ask this question after you’ve seen some of the photos and probably wondering how to get there. The alien island of Socotra is incredibly unique so it’s not surprising that many people really want to visit. 

I’ve been wanting to travel to Socotra for years, but after my visit, I cannot honestly tell you if tourism in Socotra is entirely a good thing.

I’m not going to tell you not to go to Socotra, especially after I went myself (that would sound hypocritical, as I already experienced its beauty), but I would like to ask you to consider certain things before your visit as a tourist. I’m also aware that tourism in Socotra cannot be stopped.

Things to Think About Before Traveling to Socotra

How Much Are Locals Benefiting from You Traveling to Socotra?

Before the Yemeni war, there were only a few local Socotri companies and guides that could arrange your trip and recommendations were spreading through word of mouth.

These days, in the era of the internet, blogs and Instagram, you can book a trip to Socotra through many agencies that specialize in these so-called ‘hardcore places’ – unsurprisingly, almost none of them are locally based. Slogans of these companies are always the same and somehow promote the places as cool because your parents are afraid of going there: “destinations your mother would rather you stay away from”, “places you should not tell your mother about”, and so on.

To be clear, I don’t think anyone should have any issues with a middleman making money off organizing a tour, especially when they’re doing all the legwork, such as booking your visas, flights, bringing tents, and talking to locals. Personally, I think it’s only fair.

Regardless of the “agency” or person you’re booking your trip with, your trip will be facilitated by the locals – there’s no way around it. The big question, however, is how much the locals actually profit from your trip there?

The price for a trip to Socotra isn’t a secret – regardless of whom you’re going with, it’s not cheap. Plus, due to just one weekly flight, which for foreigners is crazy pricy ($800-1300ish return from Cairo or Dubai), it’s always a 7-day tour. Total tour prices range between $3000 and $4500.

As you can see, these prices are different, and the standard does not depend on the price, as there are no luxury hotels on Socotra (there are just 3 basic hotels and they’re not always available anyway), so you’re camping in remote places regardless of where you’re coming from.

I wrote a separate post about how locals are or aren’t always benefiting from your money. Locals charge a rate per person, so regardless of whether you’re a group of 4 or 15, it’s the same price. For a solo traveler, things would be more expensive as you still need a car.

The thing is, foreign guides don’t always know anything about the destination. In fact, quite often they’ve never even been there before. I went on a trip with one of these companies to another destination, only to realize that the “guide” had never been there before.

Frankly, I wasn’t the only one in the group wondering where my money went (since I know how much things cost if you cut out the middle man), and more importantly, what was the point of it.

What bugs me, though, is when a company advertises conservation efforts, but then they bring their friends over, making it 4 foreign “guides” coming on a trip on top of the local team. This did not provide anything extra for the guests that locals wouldn’t have provided.

Not to mention the fact that with 4 “guides” one would expect a very organized trip, but we never knew where we were going, and we often felt rushed. Many photo opportunities were blocked because the organizers decided to take their own photos instead. I always thought that was the right and fair thing to do to give your paying group a priority.

Ironically, it was actually a “good tour”, because there was a big group on the island at the same time who had sneaked alcohol in and were partying and yelling every night to the extent their drivers were so exhausted they could barely drive, as they weren’t able to sleep.

More importantly…

Ecotourism Issue in Socotra

Every single company arranging trips to Socotra is promoting ecotourism. Socotra is being introduced as a place to go remote camping, experience unique nature, sleep under the stars, and so on. 

According to the definition, ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas. It conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education. Education is meant to be inclusive of both staff and guests.

Principles of ecotourism include:

• Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
• Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates.
• Design, construct, and operate low-impact facilities.
• Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.

Quite frankly, this is definitely not what’s happening with tourism in Socotra in most