Visiting Socotra is like going back to another time and even to another planet entirely. When visiting the only dragonblood tree forest on the island, you are surrounded by trees so unlike anything alive on Earth today, that you simply cannot wonder if you’ve gone back to prehistoric times.
To emphasize the weirdness of the forest I’ve shot this in ultraviolet, which I normally reserve only for inflorescences to see what the insects see in a flower.
Being endemic, these trees are extremely vulnerable, and the big concern is that they are no longer regenerating.
The scars you see on the trunks are from sap harvesting by the Socotris.
Last updated on 13 May 2015
