The Loneliest place on Earth: Tristan da Cunha
A shallow gene pool
The little known Tristan da Cunha is quite possibly the remotest inhabited place on earth. While parts of the Amazon and New Guinea are home to tribes that have had little to no contact with the outside world, these places and people are relatively easy to get to compared to the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha and its hardy locals.
This volcanic island is home to 250 British residents living in literally the middle of nowhere. Like England is to Australia, its a small and cold island that’s a mission to get to.
The islands tourism board uses the slogan “far from the maddening crowd”, which is a bit of an understatement. So where the bloody hell is it?
Tristan da Cunha sits in the South Atlantic 2,816 kilometres from the nearest land, South Africa, and 3,360 kilometres (2,090 mi) from South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
First spotted by the Portuguese in the 1500′s, the island was formally annexed by the British on the 14 th August 1816. A garrison aboard HMS Falmouth took possession of the island on behalf of King George III. From the military garrison grew tiny population that also came to include whalers and various other settlers. Today only six surnames survive on the Island, which has to make you wonder what goes on between the residents.
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To get to the islands from Australia would mean hoping a flight to South Africa and then hitching a ride on one of the fishing boats that are the islands life line (or via a private boat). Despite semi regular contact with these and other boats there, as you would expect, constant shortages of essentials like medical supplies.
It’s location means that the ocean conditions are often so bad that no boats can land for months on end. If you want to find out a bit more about the island check out the tourism site at http://www.tristandc.com/
Category: Off Track Travel, Travel Blog
If I ever can afford to I would love to visit Tristan da Cunha. I’ve been around long enough to recall the publicity the island had when it was evacuated because of the volcanic eruption. The world became fascinated by these people who had previously no contact with the outside world – and how they coped when evacuated to England. I believe that almost all opted to return, oreferring their island life to the “civilisation” of the UK. I often woner how everything is going there. A fascinating, remote place – one of the rarities in these days of being able to get almost everywhere easily.
Thanks for the comment and extra info!