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Socotra Island hermit

The BBC Travel series includes an entry about Ellai, the hermit resident of the deserted island of Socotra, under the jurisdiction of Yemen. The article describes Socotra precisely:

“Marooned between Somalia and Yemen where the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean meet, the Socotra archipelago is one of the most isolated continental fragments on Earth – a piece of Africa adrift at sea. The high proportion of endemic flora here have led some to label this Unesco World Heritage site the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean”. More than one-third of Socotra’s 825 plant species and 90% of its reptile species don’t live anywhere else in the world, and gazing up at the islands’ surreal, umbrella-like dragon’s blood trees and down at thousands of bright blue and red freshwater crabs that scurry in the twilight, it can feel like you’re on another planet.”

Ellai depends on fish and sea creatures for food. He lives in one of thirty caves in the vicinity. The inhabitants of Socotro dwell in a few villages, but Ellai has chosen to remain where he lives as a hermit.

URL: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211209-the-hermit-of-socotra-islands

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New Hampshire hermit Murdock

An article in New Hampshire Magazine describes the Irish-born “hermit of Goat Island,” James Murdock. Murdock fled Ireland for political reasons, arriving in Boston and taking jobs on schooners up the North Atlantic coast, during which he identified Goat Island in New Hampshire as a potential squatting site. He lived there from 1903 to 1925. The author notes that Murdock’s daughter could not assert ownership. Little today remains of Murdock’s presence there.

URL: https://www.nhmagazine.com/the-hermit-of-goat-island/

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Sara Maitland article in “The Tablet”

The Tablet, a Catholic UK publication, recently offered a useful article on women hermits, authoritatively written by author and commentator Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence and How to be Alone. The title is “Palladius mentions 2,975 women living as hermits in the Egyptian desert.” (Full article available to registered users).

URL: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/columnists/3/21026/palladius-mentions-2-975-women-living-as-hermits-in-the-egyptian-desert

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“Wandering … but not lost”

A recent film titled Wandering … But Not Lost features Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Master Mingyur Rinpoche. In 2011 he left the security of his monastery to live the life of a wandering yogi. His wandering lasted four and a half years (through 2015) incognito on the streets of India, Nepal and in Himalayan caves. In this film, Mingyur Rinpoche returns to share the insights he gained.  

Wandering … but not lost

URL (trailer, another source): https://tricycle.org/magazine/mingyur-rinpoche-wandering/

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Ken Smith, Scottish hermit

A BBC News item about 74-year old Ken Smith, who is — as the article headline puts it — “The man who has lived as a hermit for 40 years” in the Scottish highlands. Ken visited the Canadian Yukon when young and was at once attracted to wilderness. Returning to his native UK he considered what region was the most isolated, and settled there, eventually building a cabin and settling into routines of foraging and fishing. Smith is the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary titled “The Hermit of Treig.”

URLs: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59174870 (article); https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011hp3 (film).