Goats, Vultures and The Way to Hug Cave

Socotra, Yemen

The check-in desk for Socotra at the airport in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, was a scene of utter chaos. Newly arrived from Damascus I was greeted with the information that the flight to the Socotran capital of Hadibo was oversold.  There are only two flights a week to the island so this news was not welcome. Yemenia Airlines is a much-improved carrier but their reservation system needs a bit of work.......I got on. On arrival in Hadibo I found a room on the third try - there are only 5 hotels on the island - after which I had breakfast at Hadibo’s main - not quite only - restaurant for breakfast where I had a plate of beans and delicious bread. My table companions were three tame goats and five Egyptian vultures. Throughout the island, the goats are perfectly tame and will eat from your hand, climb up on the table and eat from your plate or failing that will hoover up everything behind you including used paper napkins. As for the vultures they hover over every island village scarfing all the garbage and as such are known as ‘municipal’ birds since they do the work of trash collectors.

These ungainly looking vultures are probably the most common bird on the island.