This Island Looks Like Someone Airlifted an Alien Planet's Landscape Onto Earth

Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean was separated from mainland Africa for millions of years, allowing its plant life to evolve in near-total isolation from the rest of the world.

The island's most distinctive resident is the dragon's blood tree, whose canopy looks like an upside-down umbrella — a shape it evolved specifically to minimize water loss and shade its own roots in the hot, dry climate.

A huge share of Socotra's plant species exist nowhere else on Earth, which gives the island's landscape a look often compared to a science-fiction movie set rather than a typical island in the Indian Ocean.

Despite its extraordinary nature, Socotra remained largely unknown to the wider public for a long time, due to difficult access and the unstable political situation in the region it administratively belongs to.