Socotra. Island of Dragon's Blood

Jacek Herman-Iżycki - photographs

Robert Andrzej Dul - text

English translation: Jolanta T. Wolska

Layout: Zbigniew Karaszewski

Bilingual edition: text in Polish and English

• first edition, Warszawa 2011
• format: 230 x 220 mm
• 136 pages
• 132 colour photographs
• hardcover
• printed and binded by: Drukarnia Naukowo-Techniczna Oddział Polskiej Agencji Prasowej SA
• ISBN 978-83-928264-3-9
• cover price 60 zł

Socotra is the biggest island of a small archipelago located on the Indian Ocean, between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. As a result of Socotra’s prolonged periods of isolation from the rest of the world, relict and unique flora had developed there. Of more than 800 flora species growing on the entire archipelago, more than 300 are endemic, including three kinds of bottle trees and the dragon tree that gave the main island its nickname. In ancient times, Socotra was famous for its resins obtained from incense and myrrh trees, as well as for aloe juice. Today, the island’s biggest treasure is its unique nature and the archaic Bedouin culture. Socotra was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. This biggest island in the Arabic world is considered by researchers to be one of the ten most important places to maintain the earth’s biodiversity.