the globe says
Yemen
Weekly charter flights from Abu Dhabi, booked through licensed tour operators who also arrange the visa. The island is far from the mainland conflict.
Camps under dragon's blood trees — there are almost no hotels, which is the point.
The most alien landscape on Earth: umbrella-shaped dragon's blood trees, bottle trees, white dune beaches, and a third of its plants found nowhere else on the planet.
Sleep at Detwah lagoon and wake for a swim before breakfast — the caretaker of the cave nearby, Abdullah, is a legend worth meeting.
October to April
Shukran — thank you; Arabic works alongside the island's own Soqotri.
The Southern Gates of Arabia by Freya Stark — the Hadhramaut approaches, 1936.
The Diksam plateau's dragon's blood forest and the Wadi Dirhur canyon below it.
Access is only via organized tours and the weekly flight — miss it and you wait seven days. Mainland Yemen is absolutely off-limits.