Ella Al-Shamahi is a British-Yemeni palaeoanthropologist, National Geographic Explorer, BBC presenter and stand-up comic.
In March 2018, an MBI Al Jaber sponsored team of 4 set off on a cement cargo ship to try and reach Socotra, the ‘Galapagos’ of the Indian Ocean, for a scouting expedition with the eventual aim of conducting an on-foot, island-wide transect. Their plan was to attempt to document this incredible place. In this talk Ella will discuss the expedition, as well as Socotra’s uniqueness, including the quasi-mystery of why the Dragon’s Blood Tree is struggling, and the communities, who are still part-time cave dwellers. The talk will also discuss how this expedition came to be: a result of the belief that both science and media exposure are urgently needed in unstable places. For Ella, being a British-Yemeni, this is, of course, a very personal story.
