We're still collecting donations
On the 9th September 2020 we'd raised £11,432 with 279 supporters in 35 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Be part of Socotra’s future
by Hilary Bradt in Chesham, England, United Kingdom
Total raised £11,652
raised so far288
supportersBe part of Socotra’s future: help us publish the first guide book to this threatened World Heritage Site.
by Hilary Bradt in Chesham, England, United Kingdom
New stretch target
This site will stay open for donations. Any funds not need for additional publishing costs and for marketing will be used for activities benefiting Socotra. THANK YOU EVERYONE.
A fantasy film set
With its pink rocks, chubby desert roses and dragon’s blood trees like giant mushrooms, this fantasy-film-set of an island off the coasts of Arabia and Africa is amazing – a UNESCO World Heritage Site that gives even jaded travellers itchy feet.
Publication agreed
This year my long-term travel dream of Socotra became reality. Before going, I talked the team at Bradt Guides -- the travel publisher I founded nearly 50 years ago -- into scheduling a thin photo-based guide, inexpensive to produce, just to showcase the island’s beauty.
It grew and grew
Socotra slapped aside my insult of a small cheap book and launched a full-blown charm offensive: mountains, canyons, lagoons, caves, giant sand-dunes, silver beaches, intriguing history stretching back millennia, rare endemic species, friendly people – and all crammed into an island not much bigger than Cornwall. My co-author Janice and I returned home utterly bewitched, and started to write. Fellow travellers told us their stories and Socotra specialists shared their knowledge, so we could reveal this 'secret island' to the wider world. No longer slim, our book was becoming a unique and useful source of information.
And then...
And then Covid-19 struck, with lockdown imposed less than a month after our return home. We continued writing anyway, kidding ourselves that a travel publisher deprived of its normal income would have no qualms about producing a gorgeous, costly, full-colour guide to a place no one has heard of. But, no way. Publication must wait until 2021, or it would have to be a cut-cost version.
The urgency increases
On top of the world pandemic, in June Socotra's political position suddenly worsened. Its location makes it strategically valuable, and the powers that covet it are closing in. The wider background is complicated but, in a nutshell, this instability threatens Socotra's natural and cultural heritage, its unique wildlife and its UNESCO status. So much could be lost, for ever. THIS IS WHERE WE – AND YOU – CAN HELP. Our guide can make the island more internationally visible, so that damaging political changes can't slip in unnoticed. It will attract more foreign tourists to the island, who in turn can reinforce public opinion. And increased tourism will mean – it always does – that the natural world which the tourists come to see will receive greater protection. All of this is urgent.
Take us to the next stage!
Our full-colour, information-packed guide to Socotra is sitting, completed, in our computers now. If we can raise the funds, it can be published by November, not just for travellers and dreamers but also to educate those in power, whose political wrangling risks crushing the heart out of this uniquely precious little island. Please join us in saving Socotra for tomorrow's travellers to enjoy.
Inertia Network
Top donors to our campaign can claim exclusive discounts with Inertia Network. These can be applied to Inertia's next trip to Socotra or any other expedition booked with them.
Rewards
This project offered rewards
£15 or more
An ebook of Socotra
If you claim this reward, we’ll send you the ebook of the Socotra guide prior to publication.
£25 or more
A printed edition and an ebook of Socotra
If you claim this reward, we’ll send you the ebook of the Socotra guide prior to publication and the printed edition hot off the press.
£50 or more
A signed copy of Socotra – and your name in print
Claim this reward and you will receive a print edition of Socotra signed by authors Hilary Bradt and Janice Booth, as well as an ebook. Furthermore, your name will be featured on a Thank You page in the book.
£500 or more
5% off any booking with Inertia Network
Claim this reward and you’ll be entitled to a 5% discount off any expedition booked with Inertia Network within the next 3 years, including their trip to Socotra in February. You’ll also receive a signed copy of the Socotra guide, and your name will feature at the top of the Thank You page in the book.
£1,000 or more
10% off any booking with Inertia Network
Claim this reward and you’ll be entitled to a 10% discount off any expedition booked with Inertia Network within the next 3 years, including their trip to Socotra in February. You’ll also receive a signed copy of the Socotra guide, and your name will feature at the top of the Thank You page in the book.