The Socotra Archipelago in Yemen has long been a land of mystery.

Over the centuries travellers returned from the Indian Ocean isles with bizarre tales – of trees yielding dragon’s blood and cucumbers, forest of frankincense, and towering pinnacles in the mist. Now a fuller picture has emerged of the four semi-desert islands, portraying a rich and unique flora and fauna with over a third of plants found nowhere else in the world, a diverse landscape of plateau, plain and mountain, all safeguarded by a people living sustainably in a challenging environment”.