SOCOTRA

I made up my mind to travel at 8PM and by 10PM, I was exchanging 34,000 Yemeni rial (169 USD) with a travel agent who had agreed to meet me near my home in Sana'a at Mosque Abubaker.  Cash is King in Yemen and credit cards are rarely used as a means of payment.  I had purchased my ticket to the island of Socotra and was scheduled to depart the next morning at 6AM.  I had made no other prior arrangements for transportation or accommodation on the Island and despite the lack of encouragement from friends who advised it was monsoon season, there was no other place I wanted to be.

And so my adventure began.  The flight made a stop over in Mukalla, where we picked up the Socotra football team.  This only became evident when the team started chanting following our successful landing on the Island after a turbulent flight caused by the strong winds.

I am probably the first Venezuelan woman on the island.  Visitors to the island prior to 2000 were few and in fact no records have been kept.  In 2000 there were only 140 foreign visitors, 1000 visitors by 2005 and 2,500 visitors by 2007.  This hunch was confirmed by Ismael Mohammed, my guide who had spent 10 years working for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) on a project to develop ecotourism.  He assured me  there had been no other Venezuela women on the island :) :)  Ismael trained all of the Socotri guides and was involved in the development of the first Eco hotel.     He speaks fluent Socotri, Arabic and English and he has utilized his education to fight for the two things which he is most passionate about. One, ensuring that the financial benefits generated by tourism in Socotra benefit the local Socotri community with minimal environmental impact to the island and two, to ensure that the Socotri Language is not lost.

Socotri is a spoken language and it is estimated that only 80,000 people mostly in the Socotra archipelago, mainland Yemen, Oman and a small immigrant community in UAE still speak the language.  The Foundation for Endangered Languages which supports the documentation, protection and promotion of endangered languages has listed Socotri as an endangered language.    On the island of Socotra,  Arabic and English are the languages taught in school and the young generations rarely have exposure to socotri. 

The Socotri people are poetic by nature.  They often communicate among each other through spoken poetry and during gatherings and celebrations the village poets gather for extended sessions of improvisational poetic song which can last for days.  In an attempt to save this important part of the Socotri culture, Ismael spends his free time documenting these now rare sessions of poetic song steered by the elder members of the village.         Ismael’s main concerned is  that Socotri poetry will be buried along with the death of the village elders.

Socotri is the language of the native population of the island of the Socotra archipelago. It is one of the Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL) and is usually classified as a South Semitic language.

Socotra is 3,500 sq km with an altitude of 1,519 m.  The island is only 240 KM off the horn of Africa but high winds and seas isolate it for five months of the year making it  one of the most inaccessible places on earth.  The island was under British protection from 1886 until it became part of South Yemen in 1967.  

July 2008, Socotra was identified as a world heritage site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

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