The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some 240 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth. The island measures 132 kilometres (82 mi) in length and 49.7 kilometres (30.9 mi) in width.

A young girl navigates her way around Hampton Court maze in the spring sunshine on May 2, 2009 in London, England. The Hampton Court maze is one of the most famous hedge mazes in the world and was planted between 1689 and 1695 by George London and Henry Wise. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak speaks to the media after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Chancellery on April 23, 2008 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A volunteer puts a banknote on remains for luck during a mass exhumation at Poh Teck Tung Foundation Cemetery in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand November 3, 2015. Human remains from 3,890 unclaimed bodies have been dug out of graves to be cleaned and put into storage in a warehouse before being cremated, in order to make room for further unidentified corpses. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

The Northern Lights glow green in a spectacular light show above a field of trees frozen solid with snow. (Photo by Jaak Sarv/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A Green Crowned Brilliant is pictured at a Hummingbird feeding station on January 15, 2016 in Alajuela Costa Rica. Of the 338 known species of Hummingbird worldwide there are around 50 in Costa Rica. Hummingbirds are named for the distinctive sound made by their tiny beating wings, and are admired for their vibrantly coloured iridescent plumage. Their ability to hover, with wings beating between 12 and 90 times a second, and to fly backwards makes them different from all other birds. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Members of the media take pictures of the pre-Inca “Mummy of Cajamarquilla”, which is presumed to be between 800 and 1200 years old, in Lima, Peru December 7, 2021. The “Mummy of Cajamarquilla” found by archaeologists from San Marcos inside a burial chamber of about three meters long and a depth of 1.40 meters in the Cajamarquilla archaeological site, east of Lima. (Photo by Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters)

In this June 1, 2016 photo, Maria Arias stands near her kitchen as she puts on earrings while getting ready for school in Caracas, Venezuela. So many students have fainted from hunger at Maria's school that administrators told parents to keep their children home until they could find more food. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)