How to prepare for a week in Socotra, one of the most secluded and unique places on the planet? 

After several trips on the island over the past few years, I’m here to lay it out for you. What’s a trip to Socotra really like, and how you can prepare. 

Let's address the question that decides whether Socotra is your trip or not - where do you actually sleep on an island with almost no tourism infrastructure?

The answer is a tent. On a beach. For a week. 

And before you close this tab, let me make my case, because after seven nights of camping my way around Socotra, I am prepared to argue that the tent is not the compromise of this trip. The tent is the point.

(Socotra does actually have hotels, but we’ll address those later).

Key Things to Note for a Trip to Socotra
How Socotra Has Been Changing & What to Expect 
Camping in Socotra - The Setup 
A Campsite Tour
Food & Daily Rhythm When Camping in Socotra
The Full Socotra Packing List
Camping in Socotra FAQs

Key Things to Note for a Trip to Socotra

The key thing to remember when preparing for a trip to Socotra. Socotra is a remote island with almost no tourism infrastructure. You will be camping for a week and travelling by 4WD. Toilet, shower, and internet facilities are not a given - although do exist. 

You’ll travel with a team who are very experienced with camping and travelling in Socotra. They’ll set up tents for you which include basic mattresses and sheets, cook for you, and basically do everything possible to make your trip to Socotra as comfortable as possible. 

If that sounds like something you can cope with, then let’s get stuck in.

How Socotra Has Been Changing & What to Expect 

I’ll start with some of the most important and basic information. Socotra is changing a lot. 

I’ve been visiting for the past 3 years, and despite the remoteness and lack of tourism, the changes I’ve seen have really changed the Socotra travel experience. 

So, let me give you the most up-to-date information on travel to Socotra. 

Showers & toilets 

When I first started visiting Socotra in 2023, there were no showers or toilets. Now, they're available at almost every campsite - very basic, however. Some companies travel with portable showers and toilets for when they're not available! 

Charging accessibility 

My first trip to Socotra I brought a couple of power banks, and easily got through those. 

My second trip I remembered to bring a USB cable that I could use in the cars to charge my devices during long drives. Fighting for use with the three others plus the driver in the car, too.

Now, most local companies travel with a generator and multiple extension cables. Charge your phones, your cameras - even charge your power banks, laptops, drones… 

WiFi availability 

Gone are the days when you could switch off for a week on your trip to Socotra. Internet used to only be accessible by first purchasing a SIM card in Abu Dhabi and then, if you’re lucky, connectivity. 

Now, most local companies in Socotra travel with Starlink, providing you with (free) fast WiFi even in the most remote of drives. 

So, WiFi is available in the camps, as well as during the drives. 

Basically, the only time you’re offline is when you land, when you depart, and when you’re away from the vehicles (where the Starlink is kept) - or your phone. For example, during long hikes or swimming. 

You’ll see from the above that camping in Socotra is a pretty comfortable experience with increasing facilities. However, the best tip is that nothing is a given. 

Expect few toilets and showers; be happily surprised to find them. Come prepared with power banks, be happy when you don’t use them, and prepare friends and family you might be offline - download some entertainment and music, then be entertained by the night sky and bonfire dancing, instead. (Or an evening scroll on Instagram). 

Camping in Socotra - The Setup 

Here's how Socotra camping actually works on an organised circuit, because it's a world away from dragging your own gear up a mountain.

All camping equipment is provided on a single-tent basis, meaning you get your own tent, your own space and your own zip-up kingdom each night. 

Bedding and a light mattress come included, and the local team helps with set up and take down every time camp moves. 

In practice, you arrive at each night's location, and within a remarkably short window a small village of tents has materialised, usually on sand so white and so empty it feels rude.

A Tour of Where You'll Wake Up in Socotra

The genius of camping a Socotra circuit is that your accommodation is the itinerary. 

Each night relocates you inside a new landscape.

Delisha Beach

Powdery white sand meeting turquoise water within hours of leaving the airport, with a swim in the freshwater pools of Ayhaft National Park already behind you.

Dihamri Marine Protected Area

Your tent steps from one of the best snorkelling sites in the Arabian Sea. You camp on the protected beach itself and, in the itinerary's own words, fall asleep to the lullaby of gentle waves.

Arher Beach

The dramatic one: a beach where freshwater springs emerge from beneath towering sand dunes and run across the sand into the sea. You climb the dunes for sunset if you dare, descend with shoes full of mountain, and finish with a beachside bonfire under the stars.

Homhil

Swap sea for plateau, putting you up among the dragon blood trees in a protected area.

Omaq Beach

On the wilder southern coast.

Detwah Lagoon

Maybe the most beautiful campsite on earth? A vast turquoise lagoon separated from the open sea by a strip of white sand, ringed by limestone mountains, with a final-morning swim built into the schedule.

A week of hotels gives you one view. A week of Socotra camping gives you six, and every single one would be the best view of a normal trip.

Read more on the best beaches in Socotra here. 

Food & Daily Rhythm When Camping in Socotra

Then there's the catering… which is where Socotra camping gets gloriously unfair. 

A tour in Socotra usually travels with a team of private chefs, and every meal of the week, breakfast, lunch and dinner, appears from their mobile kitchen. 

We're talking fresh flatbreads, fragrant rice, salads, and above all seafood, often caught hours earlier by the fishing villages we passed. Grilled fish, lobster on a good day, all eaten barefoot with the Arabian Sea providing both the soundtrack and the menu. 

Sufficient bottled water flows throughout. I have stayed in hotels with full stars and worse food.

To make the rhythm concrete, here's how a typical camping day on the circuit actually unfolds. 

Morning & Breakfast in Socotra

You wake with the light, and the heat depending on when you visit. Because tents and sunrises are a package deal, and emerge to find the chef team already producing coffee, tea, eggs and fresh bread. 

Think early mornings, but early evenings, too. 

Breakfast happens barefoot with a view that would headline a resort brochure. You get everything out of your tent before you eat, so that whilst you’re eating, the team can help to take down all the tents and set off for the next day of adventure - bringing your homes with you. 

Lunch in Socotra

Lunch materialises somewhere entirely random but completely scenic. You’ll generally stop wherever it makes sense according to what plans you are up to that day. 

Often includes grilled fish and salads in the shade. 

You could be eating sandwiches and incredible dates in a container from a container ship on the edge of a plateau, or eating fresh lobster overlooking the ocean on the white sands. 

The afternoons in Socotra

Afternoons mix exploring with the unhurried pace the island insists on: a swim, a wander, a nap that nobody judges. Depending on what’s on the plan for that day - not all days are laxy days! 

Some are hiking days, some are more driving days. 

Evenings in Socotra

Your convoy generally reaches your home for the night by late afternoon or evening, just in time for you to relax in the afternoon’s heat and get ready in your new home for the night before the sun starts to set.  

Tents bloom again in their new postcode, and the golden hour is yours while dinner cooks.

If you’re at a beach, go for a swim. If you’re on the Dragon Blood Tree plateau, go for a sunset walk (but try not to get lost). 

Dinners in Socotra

No meal disappoints in Socotra. As you’ve been enjoying your afternoon, the team have been busy cooking away. If you’re lucky, some local boys may come up with their freshly-caught lobster and seafood. 

Enjoy a mix of fresh seafood and other goodies by lantern light.

The rest of the evenings involve swapping stories around a bonfire, and surrendering to a sky with too many stars to process. Socotra sits in a far corner of the Indian Ocean with essentially zero light pollution, and the night skies are among the

clearest in the world. The first night, you'll point at the Milky Way. By night three, you'll have opinions about it. 

My advice... Spend at least one night with the tent door open. As long as you don’t mind the odd crab nipping at your toes - the view of the stars going to sleep? Waking up to the sight of the ocean? Absolutely worth it. 

The Full Socotra Packing List

Camping support is handled; your personal kit is on you. 

Here's what earned its place in my bag, and what I wished I'd brought.

Essentials for Socotra 

• Quick-dry clothing for hot days 
• A warm layer for breezy beach nights and the cooler Homhil plateau
• Swimwear
• Sturdy sandals
• Proper trainers or light hikers for the Hoq Cave trek
• A headlamp - essential for the cave 
• Sun protection (lip balm, sunglasses, a proper hat)
• Enough cash (in USD)
• Comfort upgrades
• A travel pillow
• More-than-basic bedding or sleeping bag liner
• Wet wipes and biodegradable soap
• A quick-dry towel
• A power bank or two
• A USB charging cable
• Dry bags (to keep electronics safe from sand and spray)
• Snorkelling equipment (if you want to snorkel, also available to rent). 

The fun extras

• A camera 
• A drone (extra permits needed)
• Binoculars (for birdlife and dolphin-spotting)
• A book or other entertainment 

Packing for Socotra Tips

Pack less than you think you need. You really don’t need to be changing outfits every day, you can leave your make up and perfumes at home, and you’ll be thankful for packing light. 

You can bring a suitcase if you like, but the environment is much better suited to a small backpack or duffle bag that you can easily pull across the sand. No one wants to be getting stuff out of a big suitcase every night. 

Quick Camping in Socotra FAQ

Koryo Tours
Socotra Group Tours