Where In The World Is ... Socotra Island?

Somewhere in the world, you can visit a place where one-third of the plant life exists nowhere else on Earth, a place with a landscape so unique that it's almost like stepping onto an alien planet.

The island's signature trees look like fairy umbrellas, their flat-topped canopies giving the landscape an enchanted sheen. Massive bottle-shaped plants sprout from cliffsides, their bulbous trunks defying everything you thought you knew about how trees should look.

Can you guess where in the world this enchanting island exists?

What makes this place truly extraordinary is its incredible isolation. Cut off from the mainland for over 15 million years, evolution here took some seriously wild turns. The famous Dragon's Blood Trees dominate the landscape with their umbrella-like crowns, while Desert Roses (which aren't roses at all) look like someone inflated enormous bottles and planted them upside down in the ground. Of the 825 plant species documented here, about 300 exist nowhere else on the planet.

OK, have you made your guess?

Located 240 miles off the coast of Yemen in the Arabian Sea, Socotra Island has earned UNESCO World Heritage status for its unique biodiversity, though political instability has made this evolutionary time capsule one of the most difficult natural wonders to actually reach.

Would you like to visit Socotra Island? Let us know in the comments!