Dixam Plateau

The Dixam plateau runs across the middle of Socotra at around seven hundred metres, limestone country cut by deep wadis, and it carries the island's best stands of Dracaena cinnabari, the dragon's blood tree, whose branches divide and redivide into a flat mushroom crown and whose resin bleeds red. The Firmihin forest on its edge is the densest remaining stand. UNESCO inscribed the archipelago in 2008.

The landscape

• The dragon's blood trees - the umbrella-crowned Dracaena the island is known for.
• The Firmihin stand - the densest surviving forest of them on the plateau edge.
• The wadis - the deep cuts through the limestone, including Wadi Dirhur.
• The red resin - the sap that gives the tree its name, still collected.

When to go

October to April is the cool season and the practical window. The summer monsoon from June closes the island's transport. Nights on the plateau are cold.

What to expect

The dragon's blood forests are not regenerating: goats eat the seedlings and the stands are ageing with no replacement. Access to Socotra requires arrangements made well in advance. There is no infrastructure on the plateau beyond camps.

Nearby

Hadibu is north, and Homhil is northeast.

Key facts