SKP2 the mini-raid

Thanks to the support of the company MARBEL we managed to organise a mini raid to Soqotra again. Three of us left Monday the 11th to Yemen. This time we were welcomed with open arms by our Yemeni friends and met some important people in Sana’a during our first days.
Between the 15th and the 22nd we explored the island with an official Yemeni archaeologist, the EPA representative and some scientist of the Biodiversity Project. Our extensive report will soon be online!
Some preliminary results:
· Dirk Roelandt was the first cave diver on the island and we did found a promising site and other possibilities of underwater cave research;
· We explored some new areas (and caves) where we discovered other fascinating ancient wall paintings. This time we will handle this information with much more care to prevent any misconception;
· We took the first steps into the protection of a cave and to prevent any abuse of the site;
· The co-operation with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), the General Authority for Antiquities, Museums and Manuscripts and the Biodiversity Project was marvellous! A further bond with all people (Yemeni, Soqotri, ...) was established on a basis of mutual respect.

Yemeni News!

Waiting another year to go back to the island is an emotional torture. We are finding ways to travel in a small team for a small period of time to the island.
We do send our cave maps and co-ordinates to the filming team on the island, hopefully they make a nice documentary and stay objective. We have to start searching for new funding.
Meanwhile we do receive some positive and promising news from Sana’a:
"Unique Antiquarian Discoveries in Socotra Island
SANA'A, Jan.20 (Saba) -The General Authority for Antiquities, Museums and Manuscripts has announced that Belgium mission discovered unique antiquities, in Socotra island ,south of Yemen, dating back to the third century. Chairman of the authority Dr Yusef Mohammad Abdullah said the mission had found out an antiquarian materials including earthen wares, incense pots and colour drawings belong to an old temple inside a 3 km-long cave on the northern coast of Socotra Island. In the bottom of the temple the mission had also discovered wooden boards with old inscriptions on them dating back to the pre-Islamic period, Dr.Yusef said. He added that one of the wooden boards contains inscriptions referring to the Tadmor kingdom in the third century. He said that among discoveries there are old Yemeni scriptures which would be accurately studied and tested with the objective of shedding the light over the history of Socotra Island before Islam. It's worth noting that Socotra Island is 345 km far from the coast of al-Mahra Governorate, east of Yemen. NS/NS/NM SABA 20/1/2002 14:10 GMT YEMEN NEWS AGENCY SABA"
So, our information hasn’t missed its purpose! Although “a temple” is probably due to a bad translation or misinterpretation.

We postpone SKP2, but what does the rest?

Two weeks before departure I made the very harsh decision to postpone the entire expedition!
We didn’t had all our official papers, necessary to conduct research on the island, some sponsors redraw their commitment because of the 11th September event and the financial risk to strand for one week in Sana’a was simply to big. The entire team had put all their free time into the preparation of this expedition and the fact of postponing it was very hard to all of us.
The filming team, Prof. Dr. Christian Robin and John Farrar; all initially part of our team did go the Soqotra without us. This again had major consequences for the financial part of our expedition.
Hopefully I can proof the team I made the correct decision!

Science and politics

Normally we decided to take the new cave radio, made by Herman Jorens and Erwin Lockhorst with us, but because of the unstable political situation we don’t.
I also gave a lecture at the Scientific Caving Day (Han-sur-Lesse) in French, titled: “Soqotra Karst Project, Recherches Karstologiques sur l’île de Soqotra (Yémen)” (=karstological research at the island Soqotra).

Friends of Socotra

Rik and I went back to Edinburgh (Scotland) to assemble at the general meeting of the Friends of Soqotra (FoS). This was also the perfect opportunity to meet John Farrar again. Saturday we had a marathon meeting and Rik got his change to show the English version of his new film. Sunday we enjoyed the Royal Botanical Gardens, surrounded by playful squirrels. I also loved the live-music of “The Roots” in a small local pub!

SKP2 plans take shape

At the National Caving Congress in Heure (Belgium) we made some publicity for our second SKP-benefit-evening. At this meeting Erik Claes gave a splendid slide show, Rik Martens presented officially his film “Soqotra, pearl in the Arabian Sea” and I talked a little bit about our next ambitious trip to the island. More than 300 people enjoyed the adventure with us and all support goes straight into SKP2. Thanks for all your support!
“America under attack”, hopefully this will not make things to difficult to go back to Yemen this year?
29th: SKP-benefit-evening. Rik presents his Film, Erik his dia's. It was a success. 300 people wanted to live the adventure with us. We thank our friends and relatives for their support.

National Geographic and FoS initiation

A small summary of our first expedition is published in National Geographic Nederland-België. Many thanks for the interest and respect for our work, we will probably bring more exciting news in next years edition. Sorry for our foreign friends, we will try to publish worldwide in the future?
On Saturday 25th I will give a brief lecture about the importance of our work at the inaugural meeting of the Friends Of Soqotra at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh.