VOYAGE TO ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST REMOTE ISLANDS: TRAVEL COMPANY OFFERS LAST CHANCE TO TAKE ICONIC ROYAL MAIL SHIP TO ST HELENA… BEFORE IT GETS ITS OWN AIRPORT ^∧

by Emily Payne, Mail Online, 19^th February 2015{3}

Almost identical articles also appeared in the UK Daily Telegraph, Singapore News and on lovemytrips.com, www.veryinternationalpeople.com, skymeteor.com andenglishnews.info!

• Tropical British Territory, St Helena, is situated 1,200 miles away from Angola, in middle of the South Atlantic sea
• For decades, the only way to reach the fascinating island has been a five-night journey onboard the RMS St Helena
• With a new airport scheduled to open in February 2016, this year is the last chance tourists can take the iconic trip

Over 1,200 miles from Angola, its nearest landmass, St Helena is one of the world’s most remote islands.

Currently, the only way to get to the South Atlantic British Overseas Territory is a five-night voyage aboard the RMS St Helena, a 155-berth passenger ship and cargo carrier, and one of the last ocean-going vessels still to carry the title.

But all this will change next February, when an airport is scheduled to open, and flights will commence from South Africa and the UK.

A travel company is offering tourists the chance to set sail on the St Helena before she is retired, and visitors to the island will arrive by air

So a travel company is offering those with an adventurous spirit - and sturdy sea legs - the chance to set sail on the St Helena before she is retired.

The return sailing from Cape Town, a journey of 1,200 miles, takes five nights each way, with the voyage being as much a part of the St Helena experience as exploration of the island. As it is likely that some St Helenians will be on board, tourists will have the chance to learn about the fascinating atoll{14} before arriving.

St Helena - which is just ten miles long - is home to remote and unspoilt wilderness and enjoys mild temperatures between 20-27°C.

Britain’s second oldest remaining of the British Overseas Territories, after Bermuda, it has a population of just 4,255.

Red-roofed houses in upper Jamestown. The climate of the island is mild with temperatures staying between 20 and 27°C throughout the year

Discovered in 1502, the island was stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa, and Napoleon was imprisoned there by the British. Longwood House was Napoleon’s home during the last years of his life and is now a museum.

The 20-day tour offered by Discover the World also includes a unique hosted farm stay in a former East India Company plantation owner’s home and offers plenty of opportunity to enjoy the island’s scenery and historic sites by car. Also included is a 4WD guided tour of the island’s less accessible areas and a wildlife cruise.

Managing Director, Clive Stacey, said: “There are so few places left on the planet that enjoy the veneers of modern civilization but yet are so unaffected by the stresses these can produce. Although this is fascinating to observe it is not in itself a reason to undertake the long sea journey but combine this with the spectacular vistas and unique and friendly society, soon to be thrust into the modern world with the airport opening, then a trip to St Helena should be at the top of any bucket list.”

Island life: Saint Helena is Britain’s second oldest remaining of the British Overseas Territories, after Bermuda

TRAVEL FACTS

The 20-night holiday on set departure dates is available from now through to March 2016 from £3,619pp (two sharing) including 10 nights on the RMS St Helena (full board), two nights in Cape Town, eight nights’ hotel accommodation on St Helena with breakfast, six days car rental, half-day wildlife cruise and a 4WD excursion.

Discover the World

Discover the World’s 20-day itinerary offers a hosted farm stay and taking in the island’s unique wildlife, scenery and historic sites

High Knoll fort, just south of historic lower Jamestown. The island’s first airport is scheduled to open in February 2016

The colourful houses of Jamestown. Discovered in 1502, St Helena was a stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa

The island is soon to be thrust into the modern world with the airport opening, so a trip to St Helena should be at the top of any bucket list

The St Helena is a 155-berth passenger liner and cargo carrier and one of the last ocean-going vessels to carry the RMS title

Adventurous travellers can take the return sailing from Cape Town, a journey of 1,200 miles, takes five nights each way

The once-in-a-lifetime trip includes a guided tour of the island’s less accessible areas and a wildlife cruise

Authentic: Visitors can stay in a former plantation owner’s home as part of the fascinating trip

Longwood House, Napoleon Bonaparte’s former home is now open to the public as a museum

See also: Visitor Information • RMS St Helena

SHIP OUT TO ISOLATED ST HELENA BEFORE THE PLANES LAND ^∧

by Franz Krüger, Mail & Guardian, South Africa, 13^th February 2015{3}

Please note that there are a number of inaccuracies in this article, which we have noted in footnotes, but for the feel of a trip to St Helena it is spot on.

Drawn by romance and remoteness, a family embarks on a holiday to St Helena.

Head for the hills: The forbidding cliffs and rocky coastline are a stark contrast to the lush vegetation of the hilly areas in the central part of St Helena. (St Helena Tourism)

There’s something uniquely attractive about islands. Self-contained and complete, their defined edges offer a sharp sense of being cut off from our everyday, grown-up lives. It is the attraction of the Robinson Crusoe story, the dream of being left alone to rule our own world, at least for a while.

Turned to darker purposes, that isolation has made a long line of prison islands possible: the Isle d’If, Alcatraz, Robben Island.

And St Helena, where Napoleon lived out his days, that British speck in the South Atlantic that is thousands of miles from the coasts of South America and Africa. It is one of the most remote places on Earth, and access is still only possible by ship - a five-day voyage from Cape Town on the RMS St Helena.

Drawn by romance and remoteness, our family began thinking about a holiday on St Helena. We were looking for a real break. The island seemed to be the opposite of Johannesburg, with its endless traffic, crime concerns and the twin obscenities of poverty and corruption.

After long preparations, we found ourselves at the Missions to Seafarers in the Cape Town docks, waiting to be bused to the RMS St Helena’s berth.

The RMS is the last working Royal Mail Ship in the world{15} and still the island’s only regular connection to the outside world. She brings pretty much everything needed by the Saints, as the islanders call themselves. This is all set to change in the coming months.

The island’s first airport is being built, an ambitious project that is costing the British government R3-billion and involves filling in a whole valley. It is due to become operational in 2016, and then the island’s isolation will be dramatically lessened as it takes its place on the grid of airline connections.

The ship service will be discontinued at that point, and the RMS sold off. As we steamed north, the knowledge that it was one of the last opportunities to experience this way of travel was never far away.

The ship has comfortable accommodation for about 150 passengers, avoiding the brash glitziness of the big cruise ships.

You can spend the voyage reading, staring at the ocean and enjoying more meals than is healthy, but there is also a daily programme of activities, organised by a staff of excessively enthusiastic white-uniformed pursers.

The passengers were an interesting mix: a small number of tourists, some people travelling to the island for work, such as on the airport project, and then islanders who have been away for work, for medical treatment or to visit relatives elsewhere.

At first light on the fifth day, we had our first sight of the volcanic island: a looming presence on the horizon, its heights hidden in dark cloud. It was what the Portuguese seafarer João da Nova must have seen in 1502, when he and his crew became the first human beings to set eyes on it.

No easy access: Jamestown provides a difficult entry point to the island of St Helena{16}. (Pic: St Helena Tourism)

The mind boggles at the sheer luck of finding this scrap of land in the vastness of the Atlantic, although his achievement is somewhat undermined by the fact that he promptly lost the island again. He noted down the position incorrectly, and it took the Portuguese some time before they rediscovered it{17}.

The RMS St Helena sailed past sheer rocky cliffs around the island to get to Jamestown, the main town, on the northwestern side. There are very few landing places - together with its remoteness, this made it ideal as a prison island.

Besides Napoleon, Britain held Boer War prisoners, Bahreini princes and the Zulu chief Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo here at various times.

We entered James Bay through a pod of what seemed like hundreds of dolphins and anchored. There is no harbour, and small lighters came to fetch us while the ship’s cranes lifted containers on to pontoons that carried them to the wharf.

Getting ashore is an adventure all on its own. It was easy enough to get aboard the lighter, but at the wharf teams of men with boathooks and ropes had to hold the boat as steady as possible.

It needs fine timing to step ashore just when the swell brings it briefly level with the land. For the infirm, the RMS St Helena offers an ‘air taxi’ - a metal box that is lifted by crane.

After clearing immigration, we drove our rented car into Jamestown, which has a population of 600 and is about as wide as a Johannesburg highway. All we had to do to be allowed to drive was report to the police station, where a British policeman entered our details into a large ledger.

The town’s main road runs from the seafront past a moat and a castle wall, a park and rows of Georgian houses to a tree where slaves were traded. There it splits into Napoleon Street{8} and Market Street. The former leads out of town, the latter first climbs past the Bank of St Helena, which issues the island’s currency{18}, then up to the hospital and out. And that’s the town.

The roads inland are winding, steep and so narrow that cars can only pass each other every now and again. Driving needs a different set of skills: you don’t need to know about any gear higher than third, but you do need to know the intricate system of giving way. There are no traffic lights but the basic rule of the road is: greet everybody.

And there’s the surprise: as the roads climb past places with names like Ladder Fort, Half Tree Hollow and Alarm Forest, the landscape changes quickly. The coastal strip around the island is rocky and bare, almost like a desert, giving way to hillsides covered in cactuses. But the higher central part is cool and misty, green and lush.

Here, there are forests and meadows, and the roads are lined with ancient, knobbly trees straight out of Middle-earth. You expect them to spring to life like Ents.

We climbed past ferns, thickets of flax and the occasional cannon to the highest point, Diana’s Peak. We noted the day’s significance in the Postbox on top, where you can record your presence and collect a stamp. From there, the whole island is visible, its green heart and harsh edges, and the endless ocean in all directions.

As attractive as the landscape is, the island environment has been reshaped by centuries of human activity, to such an extent that it is now almost impossible to tell clearly what it looked like originally.

There are no endemic land mammals, but goats, rabbits, pheasant and other animals and birds were brought to the island to supply passing ships. Forests were felled, and flax introduced to support an industry that flourished in the first half of the 20^th century.

Among the animals brought to the island is the tortoise Jonathan who, at some 180 years, is reputed to be the oldest living land animal in the world. With other, younger tortoises, he lives in the grounds of Plantation House, the governor’s residence, where he apparently enjoys an active sex life.

The only surviving endemic bird species is the wirebird, a type of plover, that can be seen running around open, grassy areas.

Beyond the landscape and the historical sites, hikes and dives, the real attraction of the island is to see, however briefly and imperfectly, what life is like for this small, remote community of about 4,000 people.

The descendants of European settlers, African slaves and Chinese labourers, they speak an English that can be hard to understand, with a tendency to swallow the ends of words and sentences, an odd use of the verb ‘to be’, and stretched vowels: ‘It’s over the-ere!’

I puzzled over the nature of the island’s isolation: there was no cellphone network yet, the satellite internet connection is slow and expensive, but a range of television channels is available and the BBC World Service can be heard on FM.

It’s not as if the island is completely cut off, but the sense of physical isolation is strong. Watching the RMS St Helena steam out of James Bay, one is acutely aware that there is no other way to leave the island.

Surprisingly for such a small community, there are two local radio channels and two weekly newspapers, one of each supported by the government and one independent. None of them spent much time on the South African story - local Christmas activities were much more important.

Of these, there were many. We attended two Salvation Army carol services, a pantomime at Prince Andrew High School and a concert in St. James church.

The most surprising was the Festival of Light: one evening just before Christmas, adults and children gathered at the hospital carrying coloured lights. They formed a loose and cheerful procession and made their way down to the seafront, accompanied by brightly decorated vans and cars blaring carols.

There the party continued late into the night. It felt as though every person on the island must have been there.

The shops are mostly general dealers and it takes a while to work out that the shop where you’re most likely to find stationery is also the one which sells wetsuits and costumes for hen parties, obviously a significant market. Advertising is minimal, and some of the shop signage seems to have remained unchanged for 100 years or more.

Noticeable for us as South Africans was the lack of crime. A lost wallet was announced on the radio, while police reports refer to damaged hedges, drunk driving and being cheeky to an officer.

The population of Her Majesty’s Prison, painted a pretty blue, consisted of 13, and we were not sure whether to believe the story that the inmates were allowed out on a Friday to choose videos to watch.

On a short visit, it seems idyllic, but domestic abuse is an issue and small-town politics and gossip can be pretty vicious.

The airport project is set to change life on St Helena fundamentally and irreversibly. The topic is never far from conversation, and reactions are multifaceted.

On the one hand, there are hopes of new economic opportunities to reverse the emigration of younger Saints - new hotels are being planned, and a sizeable fishing boat has been acquired that hopes to supply European markets.

There is also relief that emergency medical help will be more accessible by air than by the current ship connection to Cape Town.

At the same time, there is scepticism about whether the promised growth in tourism will materialise, worries about the costs of airline tickets and how cargo will be brought in when the regular mail ship service is stopped.

We were glad to have been able to visit the island before all this change happens.

See also: Visitor Information • RMS St Helena

THE MUCH DELAYED AIRPORT - AN END AT LAST TO ST HELENA’S ISOLATION: GETTING REALLY, TRULY, TERMINALLY AWAY FROM IT ALL ON THE LOONEY FRONT ^∧

by Mike Arcus, Huffington Post, 9^th February 2015{3} - NB this is part 12 of a series of articles on St Helena

St Helena - “One of the most remote islands in the world.” Thus spake Wikipedia.

Well, its geographical position -- lost in the vastness of the South Atlantic, 1,200 miles from the coast of Africa and some 1,800 from South America -- is not about to change. But that little question of accessibility is.

St Helena in all its remote loneliness - Google maps

Until now reliant on the monthly-odd visits of the RMS St Helena on her run from and to cape Town, South Africa, this tiny rock’s terminal isolation is about to change forever in early 2016.

That is when the much delayed airport is to open, bringing this 122Km² speck within 10 hours or so of London, which governs this British Overseas Territory, best known for Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile here.

Runway under construction

It will also take about the same time to get here from Paris, from where many a Frenchman, not to mention any remaining Bonapartists, may desire to embark on a pilgrimage to the final home and first resting place of L’Empereur.

Everybody agrees that the island will never be the same again but there is a general worry among St Helena’s 4,000 or so inhabitants over what the airport will bring - economic benefit if they get it right, or destruction of the laid-back island-easy way of life.

Possible French tourism magnet - Napoleon’s exile home

Apparently Her Britannic Majesty’s government feels that St Helena should support itself now and no longer receive London’s $12 million annual subsidy{19}, which can no doubt be put to much better use financing perks for Her Britannic Majesty’s parliamentarians.

Airport opponents say the project was only approved in an island referendum a few years back because opponents weren’t all that interested in getting themselves to the ballot box.

Another runway view

Tourism is now the great economic hope. But even if the airport opens on time at last, there are not nearly enough hotel rooms to cater for the hundreds of visitors envisaged under one plan for weekly flights from the UK, with only a few small hotels and B&Bs in Jamestown, the capital, and an inn in the countryside.

Another French tourism draw - Napoleon’s first grave

There are no clear plans for hotel building on the immediate horizon. The local government is seeking to make up for the lack of hotel rooms by planning to get three glorious Georgian buildings at the start of Main Street in Jamestown, right near the waterfront, to combine and divide up their gloriously large rooms into much smaller - and more cramped - accommodation.

Main Street, Jamestown

There are also plans to build a top-class hotel away from Jamestown in a beautiful setting at Broad Bottom Plain, where 3,000 South Africans from the Boer War were imprisoned from 1900 to 1902, but nothing has started there and it is not clear whether investors will go through with the project.

Broad Bottom Plain

In the view of some expats here and even some Saints, as the Saint Helenians are known, the locals are not all that interested in providing the top-notch hands-on services that visitors might expect and that are needed to lure them.

Nor have any contracts yet been signed for any airline or tour company to fly in here, let alone is there any agreed clarity on just how many tourists might turn up, whether in the hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands, to give the island the economic jolt it needs.

The Consulate, one of Jamestown’s small hotels

A recent column in The Independent, one of the island’s two weekly newspapers, noted snarkily:

Normally it is the British Government who screw everything up by listening to some hair brained expert, whom they have sent out to the island with a half-baked brief, to offer a plan which, whilst looking caring and benevolent to the rest of the world, would enable them to spend some Aid Money in a British Territory at the least possible cost to the Exchequer, or to their future. For instance, I heard that some idiot had stated that 60,000 well-heeled visitors would come to the island every year. Thank the Lord some other noodle entered the fray with a more believable 30,000, but as far as I am concerned, even that is way, way out. I’m afraid like an aircraft these high flyers must come down to earth and, as Americans would say, ‘Smell the coffee!’

Out of town accommodation at the small Farm Lodge

The columnist is doubtless right about the idiots and noodles serving in Her Britannic Majesty’s government, but that’s a bit harsh about the “the least possible cost to the Exchequer.”

I mean the bloody airport’s costing 218 million pounds. I mean that’s about $340 US.

Nevertheless scepticism is rife here. “I’ll be pushing up daisies by the time they get it right,” quoths one local lady.

Anyway, let’s take a trip down to the site at Prosperous Bay Plain, organized by the airport’s builders, Basil Read of South Africa. Yours Truly is looking particularly cute this afternoon, all tarted up in a white hard hat and fluorescent yellow pinafore or whatever you call the damned thing.

Control tower almost completed

It’s quite a feat of engineering. There was a 300-foot deep valley at the start of the nearest piece of more or less level ground they could find. This has now been filled in with nearly 8 million metres³ of landfill to provide a total 1,950-metre long runway, suitable for Boeing 737-700W or similar aircraft.

Part of the filled-in valley

Another view

Much of the runway is already laid, the control tower has already been built, the two-storey terminal is under construction, and the first passenger plane is due in by April, 2016.

The apron and runway

It remains to be seen from where. London? Cape Town? Paris? Nobody yet knows. Package tourism? High end visitors? At the moment there’s no real infrastructure for either.

Two-storey passenger terminal under construction

Meanwhile, with the airport still in the future, I’m faced with my own departure. On day 14 of my stay on this remote speck a long blast of a horn announces that RMS St Helena has returned from Cape Town.

RMS St Helena heaves into view

It will be another two days before she unloads all her cargo, reloads and is ready for the two-day trip on to Ascension Island.

By mid-morning of day 16, I’m clambering up the ship’s side on the rock ’n’ rolling ladder from the lighter. First call on board, even before my cabin, is the doctor’s surgery for my anti-seasickness injection to avoid an encore of the disastrous puke-omania of my journey out.

This time I’m also not at the Captain’s Table. See if I care. I won’t bother to put on suit trousers and a proper shirt tonight. Jeans and T-shirt it will be, Your Captainship.

They’ve finished unloading and re-loading everything from soap powder to SUVs, RMS gives three long blasts on her horn, and we’re on our way.

The enchanted isle - stark, rugged, majestic - slowly disappears into a grey-blue haze on the horizon.

Farewell, St Helena

The ship’s loudspeakers are blasting out what sounds like nothing so much as ’When Irish eyes are smiling.’{20} But the captain has not mistaken his isles. The words proclaim: “Diamonds are pretty but the island of St Helena is prettier by far.”

Yet further into the distance

The sea is certainly much smoother than coming out. Others say it’s like a mill pond. In the purser’s words we’re surfing with the flow. I of course can still feel a vibrating swell.

On our last night we have a barbecue on the sun deck. No wonder everybody on board has the most enormous bellies protruding several miles out above their midriffs. There’s an obscene amount of pork, spare ribs, sausages, salads - and they wolf it all down.

Getting ready for the barbecue

Barbecue underway

Sated gazes

See also: Fly here • Visitor Information • RMS St Helena

12 PLACES THAT ARE DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO ^∧

by Souvik Ray, India Times, 8^th February 2015{3}{21}

When you think about it, the world doesn’t seem to be such a small place after all. Don’t expect a warm reception or tourist friendly services at these places since some of them might just put your life in danger or make your visit a living nightmare. So be careful what you wish for ;)

Some contributors on Quora.com mentioned these destinations as hard and almost impossible to visit.

1. North Sentinel Island

North Sentinel Island is located near the Andaman and Nicobar islands and is home to the Sentinelese tribe who do not welcome any contact from the outside world. Even after the 2004 tsunami when rescuers tried to find out if the tribes had survived, their relief parcels were reciprocated with spears and arrows. Anthropologists have given up studying about the tribesmen due to their potential wrath of killing outsiders on sight. The only images that exist of these people are from satellite photos and spy cameras.

2. Eritrea

Nested between Sudan and Ethiopia, Eritrea ranks lower than North Korea when it comes to freedom of the press. Information is thoroughly controlled, so if your visa is denied, don’t be surprised. Reporters Without Borders claims that there are no foreign journalists in the country.

While Ethiopia and Sudan suffered from famine, there were no official reports on the status of Eritrea. The east African nation’s human rights record is unknown, considering that many refugees from the country try to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat.

3. North Korea

Travelling to North Korea is difficult. Visas are only issued if you are travelling with a tour group assigned by the government and the tour leader will follow you everywhere. Okay, well not to the toilet, but he/she will not allow you to venture out on your own and interact with locals.

If you do interact with any of them, they are assigned by the government to speak to you and display North Korean hospitality. If you thought you can enter Pyongyang through Seoul, think again. You can only fly in through Beijing.

4. Jan Mayen Island

Jan Mayen is a volcanic island located in the North Arctic Ocean and is a part of the kingdom of Norway. It has around 18 military and scientific personnel stationed there for research. Special Permission is required from the Norwegian government but that doesn’t mean going there by plane or boat is easy.

There’s just one flight per month and due to the absence of harbours, and ferries there are sparse. The island maybe virtually uninhabited except for defense forces but it has been significant throughout history from being a migration point of ancient monks to being a strategic standpoint of the Allied forces.

If you’re a Geology buff you must visit the island just for the heck of it. The views are amazing, and hey, you having bragging rights when you get back!

5. Saint Helena

Located in the South Atlantic halfway between Africa and South America, Saint Helena was a port of call belonging to the British East India Company. Many wonder how the Saints (the local people, chillax!) are supplied with commodities, since it seems the only lifleline for this island is the Royal Mail Ship which brings in weird and wonderful things from livestock to cute puppies.

Every time the RMS docks at port, the locals rush to queue up in front of grocery stores. This might seem fascinating, but it hides a sad reality. Despite a very communal environment where everyone knows everyone, things are expensive which is causing the younger generation to move overseas. Foster families are very common as parents leave for better opportunities abroad.

For some brighter aspects of life in Saint Helena, it is a mecca for classic car enthusiasts.

6. Nauru

The Republic of Nauru is located in the Central Pacific and chances are an embassy will not be present in your country. Hence getting a visa is difficult. The only countries that do have flights serving the island are Marshall Islands, Australia, Fiji and Kiribati, so be prepared for a long journey if you’re not from the south Pacific region.

The island has beautiful beaches and all the exotic flora and fauna that has enchanted travellers about Micronesia for years. If you thought the US has the highest obesity rate, Nauruans have an obesity rate of 71.7% (2012)

7. Scattered Islands

This archipelago is a part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands near Madagascar. They consist of 4 small coral islands, an atoll, and a reef, none of which have a permanent population. Three of the islands (Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova and Europa), the reef, and the atoll lie in the Mozambique Channel west of Madagascar, while the island of Tromelin is found about 450 kilometres east of Madagascar. While the Southern islands mentioned above are not disputed, France maintains a military garrison of around 14 troops on each of the islands in the Mozambique Channel that are claimed by Madagascar; the Glorioso Islands are claimed by the Comoros, and Mauritius claims Tromelin.

Despite its political issues, the islands are beautiful and make for an excellent place for that tropical holiday. Question is, how does one get there? You have three options:

1. Join the French Army
2. Find a special tour agent who operates boutique holidays on the island
3. Navigate your private yacht into the island territory and see what happens

8. Somalia

Given Somalia’s political problems, your security is not guaranteed once you touch this East African nation’s soil. Although the country is trying to tap its oil resources in a measure to move towards economic growth, security is still a huge issue. Bombs go off in public places like airports and bus stands. Some journalists have reported that private armies hired to escort visitors can sometimes turn against who they are supposed to protect and extort money and other valuables.

9. South George And Sandwich Islands

Stunningly beautiful and rugged, this island wildlife sanctuary once visited is not forgotten. Its snow covered peaks, glacial ice and emerald green bays are breathtaking sights. It is a gem in the stormy southern Atlantic Ocean and can be reached by cruise ships. However, visitors should take note that there are no medical or search and rescue facilities anywhere on the island.

10. Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic islands

These islands in the Indian Ocean are mostly French-owned islands (there’s also a narrow strip of Antarctica known as Adelie Land). The Southern Lands consist of two near-polar archipelagos, Crozet and Kerguelen, and two volcanic islands, Amsterdam and Saint-Paul, also in the southern Indian Ocean, that have no permanent inhabitants and are visited for several months at a time only by researchers studying the native fauna.

There are no airports, harbours, or permanent populations; Kerguelen has a small hospital. There’s no public accommodation, but the Marion Dufresne, an oceanographic and supply ship, visits them four times a year from Reunion Island, and you can travel on it as a paying passenger. Courtesy:Quora.com

11. Groom Lake, Nevada

Better known as Area 51, it has long been a setting for Hollywood movies where the government hides aliens and secrets that the world must never know of. Locals have sighted UFOs, hence the government bases connection with aliens and other things that provide fodder to action/sci-fi movies.

The nearest settlement is the unincorporated town of Rachel which lies about 100 miles away. Get any closer and you may not make it out alive. Google maps offers some aerial views of the government buildings, but there’s nothing like seeing it in real life (DREAM ON!).

12. Kronostsky Nature Reserve, Eastern Russia

Only 3000 tourists visit this nature reserve which is located in Far Eastern Russia and is closer to Alaska. It is open to scientists for research and exploration and is home to the country’s only geyser basin, active volcano and the largest brown bears.

If you are one of the lucky 3000 who can afford a pricey helicopter tour, consider yourself lucky.

See also: Visitor Information • RMS St Helena

NAPOLEON SKEWERED IN NEW BRITISH EXHIBITION ^∧

Published on The Local (FR) 5^th February 2015{3}

A colourful new exhibition about French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is opening in London on Thursday, showing how artists and cartoonists shaped the way the British perceived ‘The Little Corporal’.

Published in 1808, ‘The Corsican spider in his web’ by Thomas Rowlandson is one of dozens of drawings, posters and other prints on display at London’s British Museum until August 16^th.

The exhibition, ‘Bonaparte and the British: prints and propaganda in the age of Napoleon’ charts the rise of the young general, ending with the downfall of the Emperor who once had Europe at his feet.

Bonaparte, who lived from 1769 to 1821, was a “charismatic enemy” with a reputation as a short, angry man: an irresistible subject for caricatures, according to historian Tim Clayton, a Napoleon expert.

“He had the misfortune to come along at exactly the wrong moment,” Clayton said.

“I don’t suppose anybody in history had been vilified and ridiculed in the way that Napoleon was vilified and ridiculed ever before.”

Flattering portraits and memorabilia collected by British admirers in the 1790s gives way to mockery, as Napoleon becomes more of a threat to Britain.

By the time the two countries are at war in 1803, British cartoonist James Gillray portrays Napoleon being roasted over a fire by the devil in ‘The Corsican pest or Beelzebub going to supper’.

Mocking Napoleon as ‘Little Boney’ and perpetuating the idea he was small in stature helped diminish the feeling of threat.

“Because you were frightened of him, you had to belittle him, make him seem not so frightening,” said curator Sheila O’Connell.

“So you made him a little tiny person. And that is how he’s remained in the British consciousness ever since.”

- Propaganda tool -

‘Little Boney’ appears again in 1812 as Napoleon’s Russian campaign turns into a disaster.

A cartoon by William Elmes called ‘General Frost shaving Little Boney’ shows the cold as a monster crushing the French armies and trapping Napoleon’s feet in ice.

Sold for an average of between 1 and 4 shillings each, the drawings were particularly popular in shops frequented by the London elite.

Used as a propaganda tool and sometimes controlled by the government, the satires helped forge a sense of British unity and shaped the way Napoleon was perceived through generations.

“They do have an influence on shaping people image of Napoleon. The idea that Napoleon is a little, angry chap sticks,” Clayton said.

“The fact that he was actually of average height seems to have escaped everybody’s attention.”

Cartoonists are kinder when Napoleon is less of a threat, and at times some Britons displayed admiration for the emperor.

One example is a bronze bust of Napoleon, carved in the style of a Roman emperor with idealised features, and installed in 1818 in a British aristocrat’s garden.

Featured at the entrance to the exhibition, the bust has a call for the emperor to return from exile in Saint Helena engraved at its base.

See also: Napoleon Bonaparte

THRILL-SEEKING LIVERPOOL PILOT TO FILM REMOTE SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLAND BY DRONE ^∧

By Laura Connor; Liverpool Echo Online 1^st January 2015.

A thrill-seeking Merseyside man is set to explore a remote island once used for shipping slaves to Liverpool{22}.

Aigburth-based Darren Winwood is travelling to Saint Helena, a tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean, to film its stunning scenery using a flying drone.

The 44-year-old will travel by mail boat for five days from Cape Town in South Africa in order to reach the island, which once held Napoleon in exile.

Saint Helena is the second oldest remaining British overseas territory, after Bermuda, and can only be reached by ship.

Darren Winwood and his drones

Darren told the ECHO ahead of his epic trip: “I first visited Saint Helena in 2012 and I thought it was a fascinating place.”

“There’s no better way of exploring somewhere than filming it using a drone.”

Saint Helena also has a personal connection for Darren, as his grandad Bill Fowler was born on the island before he landed a job on a mail boat that sailed to England.

Darren said it’s an “exciting time” for Saint Helena, which he describes as a port of “strategic importance” for the British Empire until the opening of the Suez Canal.

“I am looking forward to filming such a beautiful sub-tropical island with its volcanic rocks,” said Darren, who is a fully qualified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilot.

“My drone will allow me to capture the Jurassic beauty of the rugged island like never before. It’s just interesting to film stuff in this way and it gives you a completely different perspective.”

The main preparation the former climbing centre owner is doing ahead of his journey is keeping fit.

“I can’t risk getting sick when I’m out there,” he said.

And ahead of Saint Helena getting its first ever airport in 2016, Darren is using his mission to boost the historic island’s flagging tourist economy.

“Hopefully if people are sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon and wondering where to go on holiday, my video will encourage them to try somewhere new,” he said.

For just two or three minutes of footage, Darren will have to carry out 12 days of painstaking work in order to capture the perfect shots.

“If we’ve got any wind or rain, we can’t film,” Darren said.

The part-time DJ and avid sports fan is also using the project as part of his MBA dissertation at the University of Liverpool. His work filming the stunning sights of Merseyside have already given Darren, who runs photography company AeroCapture, plenty of practise.

“I first went to Saint Helena to see how I could work with businesses to attract tourists to the island - I always knew I wanted to go back,” he said.