Crossing the dunes of Hayf

The dunes of Hayf are not large by Saharan standards. But Socotra's dunes do something few deserts manage: they pour directly into the sea.

We left camp before the sun was fully up, walking east along the beach as the sky went through its slow transition from bone to rose to gold. The sand was still cool underfoot — a brief window that closes fast once the island warms.

The crossing itself takes less than two hours. You climb the ridge of the first dune — thigh-burning in the soft, unsettled sand — and then you are in a private world: ribbed sand all the way to the water's edge, no roads, no buildings, no sounds except the wind and the surf.

Practical notes: Start no later than 06:30 if you want to beat the heat. Bring more water than you think you need. The eastern end of the beach has a freshwater lagoon where the dunes meet the headland — an extraordinary place to sit and eat breakfast.

The return is along the clifftop, which offers a completely different view of the same landscape and takes slightly less time.