Watching the crowds doing everything to plunder the stores of Düsseldorf we immediately develop a demand to escape from this scenery, as we already did here (walking along the remote beaches of western Australia) and there (visiting the small islands Cheeseman and Curtis). (more...)
We're continuing our island hopping. In contrast to the last two trips now we're going on a much longer tour, and you better take a coat with you because the locations this time are as remote as refreshing! Get ready for the The South Atlantic & Subantarctic Islands Tour, inspired by Paul Carroll's great website. I'll keep my remarks short, just follow the links and imagine yourself away.
We're starting at home (since I don't know where you are living, I just take my own). This is Düsseldorf Market Square with the Jan Wellem statue where we will begin our journey. These days, you'll find a christmas market there, too, so cut and run!
Saint Helena, Napoleon's last 'resort' is the first station. At this website the island is introduced as "a place far from the madding crowd, [...] a place where heritage and nature are in harmony, [...] a place with warm and friendly people". Well, this isn't the loneliest place in the world, but it seems to be a great place to warm up for the targets to come. Nonetheless, the Dutch occupied this island in 1672 for a few months, so we better go on before they're going to stop their shopping and follow us! (Just kidding, folks! :-)
Tristan da Cunha, often nicknamed "The Lonely Island" is a self-evident target on our search for inner peace. Interestingly, this website uses a similar salutation as St. Helena does: "far from the madding crowd". Some aerial photos.
Not far away from Tristan lies Inaccessible Island, uninhabitated, with unique fauna and flora, and it is that inaccessible that many expeditions failed in exploring its interior parts. There are just a few photos online (here and there). An island called Inaccessible animates my fantasy!
Get your umbrella! We're reaching the Roaring Fourties and it's getting cloudy. Gough Island is nearby Tristan and Inaccessible and it is uninhabitated as Inaccessible (except for a few scientists at the weather station). Most of its coastline consists of cliffs, its interior is mountainous and these images show us a grim and lonely place. It's left to its natural inhabitants, seals and seabirds.
With a mean temperature of -1.5ºC, Bouvet Island is not the typical place for spending your holidays. "The most remote spot on earth" as said here: a place for one who has had it all. Unfortunately, it is not too remote, because norwegian ham radio amateurs preferably use it as a relay for their radio transmissions and this tiny island even has its own tld: .bv
South Georgia is an island with steep, glacier-covered mountains, but also "stunningly beautiful and rugged". As on the other islands we've already met, there's a lot of wildlife. The Willis islands are nearby. There is an astonishingly big number of people at South Georgia, especially at the whaling season! Time to move on.
Marion Island is the larger of the Prince Edward Islands group. Marion has been discovered by the Dutch (go figure!), has seen many discoverers and was finally annexed by South Africa in 1947. Today, it is hosting a meteorological station. Hope they'll give us a cup of tea before we're moving on! Here's an impressive photograph about the consequences of climate change on Marion.
The Crozet Archipelago is also situated in the Roaring Fourties, so it's wet and cold here. Consisting of many different islands, we're just going to visit the Ile aux Cochons, the Ile de la Posession and the Ile de l'Est'. Due to overfishing, poaching, and whaling the rich wildlife experienced big damages. Since 1938, Crozet is a protected area and hopfully the wildlife populations can recover. Despite of its solitudeness, there's a small colony of French people.
The weather at the Kerguelen Archipelago is even worse than all we've experienced so far. No wonder: we're in the Furious Fifties, so the winds are even harder. We're taking some Kerguelen cabbage and follow this expedition on its way to here. We don't have to visit every of its 300 small islands, because some places are still too dangerous for sight-seeing: mines from WWII are still to be found here. (More photos here.)
Amsterdam and St. Paul - also French territories - are another two hot spots inmidst the void. Of volcanic origin, Amsterdam's fauna had a similar fate like the other island's wildlife: sealers almost exterminated the seals there. Due to wildlife peservation, their population is increasing again. St. Paul is mere a crater somewhere in the sea and a quite bizarre place.
Heard Island (Details in the N/W part)) was discovered not until 1833. After the sealers had finished their bloody work, research began. Remains can be seen still today. The island is continually growing, due to the active volcano Big Ben. During the 1990s, the main island has doubled in size and increased in elevation (at the cost of a complete loss of its vegetation). The island has a fine website (More pictures). Move over, seals, we're getting tired, too.
Time to go home again. I hope you enjoyed our little journey. In the meantime, the Christmas fairs have been demounted, the city starts to depopulate. Though it will never get as lonely as Inaccessible or Heard, we know are able to enjoy the delights of civilisation and have a cup of coffee, or tea, as you like.
We're starting at home (since I don't know where you are living, I just take my own). This is Düsseldorf Market Square with the Jan Wellem statue where we will begin our journey. These days, you'll find a christmas market there, too, so cut and run!
Saint Helena, Napoleon's last 'resort' is the first station. At this website the island is introduced as "a place far from the madding crowd, [...] a place where heritage and nature are in harmony, [...] a place with warm and friendly people". Well, this isn't the loneliest place in the world, but it seems to be a great place to warm up for the targets to come. Nonetheless, the Dutch occupied this island in 1672 for a few months, so we better go on before they're going to stop their shopping and follow us! (Just kidding, folks! :-)
Tristan da Cunha, often nicknamed "The Lonely Island" is a self-evident target on our search for inner peace. Interestingly, this website uses a similar salutation as St. Helena does: "far from the madding crowd". Some aerial photos.
Not far away from Tristan lies Inaccessible Island, uninhabitated, with unique fauna and flora, and it is that inaccessible that many expeditions failed in exploring its interior parts. There are just a few photos online (here and there). An island called Inaccessible animates my fantasy!
Get your umbrella! We're reaching the Roaring Fourties and it's getting cloudy. Gough Island is nearby Tristan and Inaccessible and it is uninhabitated as Inaccessible (except for a few scientists at the weather station). Most of its coastline consists of cliffs, its interior is mountainous and these images show us a grim and lonely place. It's left to its natural inhabitants, seals and seabirds.
With a mean temperature of -1.5ºC, Bouvet Island is not the typical place for spending your holidays. "The most remote spot on earth" as said here: a place for one who has had it all. Unfortunately, it is not too remote, because norwegian ham radio amateurs preferably use it as a relay for their radio transmissions and this tiny island even has its own tld: .bv
South Georgia is an island with steep, glacier-covered mountains, but also "stunningly beautiful and rugged". As on the other islands we've already met, there's a lot of wildlife. The Willis islands are nearby. There is an astonishingly big number of people at South Georgia, especially at the whaling season! Time to move on.
Marion Island is the larger of the Prince Edward Islands group. Marion has been discovered by the Dutch (go figure!), has seen many discoverers and was finally annexed by South Africa in 1947. Today, it is hosting a meteorological station. Hope they'll give us a cup of tea before we're moving on! Here's an impressive photograph about the consequences of climate change on Marion.
The Crozet Archipelago is also situated in the Roaring Fourties, so it's wet and cold here. Consisting of many different islands, we're just going to visit the Ile aux Cochons, the Ile de la Posession and the Ile de l'Est'. Due to overfishing, poaching, and whaling the rich wildlife experienced big damages. Since 1938, Crozet is a protected area and hopfully the wildlife populations can recover. Despite of its solitudeness, there's a small colony of French people.
The weather at the Kerguelen Archipelago is even worse than all we've experienced so far. No wonder: we're in the Furious Fifties, so the winds are even harder. We're taking some Kerguelen cabbage and follow this expedition on its way to here. We don't have to visit every of its 300 small islands, because some places are still too dangerous for sight-seeing: mines from WWII are still to be found here. (More photos here.)
Amsterdam and St. Paul - also French territories - are another two hot spots inmidst the void. Of volcanic origin, Amsterdam's fauna had a similar fate like the other island's wildlife: sealers almost exterminated the seals there. Due to wildlife peservation, their population is increasing again. St. Paul is mere a crater somewhere in the sea and a quite bizarre place.
Heard Island (Details in the N/W part)) was discovered not until 1833. After the sealers had finished their bloody work, research began. Remains can be seen still today. The island is continually growing, due to the active volcano Big Ben. During the 1990s, the main island has doubled in size and increased in elevation (at the cost of a complete loss of its vegetation). The island has a fine website (More pictures). Move over, seals, we're getting tired, too.
Time to go home again. I hope you enjoyed our little journey. In the meantime, the Christmas fairs have been demounted, the city starts to depopulate. Though it will never get as lonely as Inaccessible or Heard, we know are able to enjoy the delights of civilisation and have a cup of coffee, or tea, as you like.