Socotra is the island everyone has heard of, with its dragon's blood trees and its upside-down umbrella shapes, but the archipelago has other members, and Abd al Kuri is the most western and the least visited. It lies about a hundred kilometres west of Socotra, closer to the Horn of Africa than to Yemen, and is a long, narrow slab of limestone and rock roughly thirty kilometres from end to end. Together with Socotra, Samha and Darsa, it forms a group that has been cut off from the mainland for millions of years, and that isolation has produced a remarkable number of species found nowhere else.
The geology tells part of the story. Socotra's islands are fragments of the old continental crust that broke away from Africa and Arabia, and Abd al Kuri is lower and drier than the main island, with a flat plateau, steep cliffs and small, scrubby valleys. Because of this, its vegetation is sparser, but it has its own rare plants and its own birds, among them a sparrow found only on the island. The seas around it are rich, and the waters hold turtles, dolphins and abundant fish.
Reaching it requires a boat from Socotra or the mainland, and the sea can be rough, particularly in the monsoon months of June to September, when the winds make crossings dangerous and often impossible. Yemen's political situation also makes travel to the region complicated, and conditions can change without warning, so any plan needs current advice from reliable sources and from people who know the islands.
If you are curious about the place, the best way to approach it is through the work of naturalists and the Socotra Conservation and Development Programme, whose writings are the best guide to what lives here. Supplies on the island are minimal, so anything you might need would have to be brought in, including water and fuel. It is a place that rewards patience, care and respect for the people who live there.