The island of Tristan da Cunha, which takes three days to cross from South Georgia, is one of the most remote inhabited places on the planet from civilization. And, perhaps, the most inaccessible: communication with the mainland is carried out once every one or two months by flights of fishing and research vessels from Cape Town. The island is part of the archipelago of the same name, which is part of the British Overseas Territory.
Some of the islands of the archipelago, including the main one, were discovered in 1506 by the Portuguese Tristan da Cunha, but the first landing of a man on the islands occurred two and a half centuries later.
In 1810, the British military boat RMS Baltic landed three people on the island, who became its first permanent residents. In 1812, Great Britain declared the archipelago its territory.
Only the largest island of the archipelago, Tristan da Cunha, is inhabited. It is home to the only city of Edinburgh, the Seven Seas, which currently has 267 residents. Only ten surnames are used on the island.
Here we are heading to such an interesting place. I must say that the remoteness of Tristan has always attracted travelers, but not everyone managed to land on the island. The reason is simple: even with relatively little waves, landing on the shore is impossible here. The only island port is very small and poorly protected from waves. In almost half of the cases, the already rare cruise ships that come here two or three times a year, having stood in the roads for a couple of days, go further: the weather does not allow passengers to disembark.
Will we get lucky?
Tristan da Cunha island
Cloudy morning. We are approaching the main island of the archipelago. Here he is, the desired and unattainable Tristan. The characteristic volcanic cone is half obscured by fog.
Well, will you welcome travelers today?
Edinburgh The Seven Seas is located on one of the few plains of this volcanic island. Members of the expeditionary team on two Zodiacs are sent on reconnaissance ...
... and come back with good news: we are landing on Tristan!
We sit down in the Zodiacs and go ashore. Even with the slight excitement present this morning, disembarkation from the swaying boats onto the quay wall is difficult and proceeds very slowly.
First steps around the island. With a feeling of some unreality of what is happening, I go up the road leading from the port to the city. I am experiencing a sensation of acute novelty, already forgotten over many travels. Is this Tristan da Cunha? Am I here?
And here is the city, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
The inhabitants of Tristan are mainly engaged in fishing and agriculture. For our arrival, local kids prepared their drawings and sandwiches with fresh fish for sale.
Now I also have a piece of Tristan:
Many buildings are abundantly planted with plants, whose task is to reduce the impact of constant strong winds. It is mainly New Zealand flax, which is considered a weed elsewhere. And sometimes you can see an almost English garden here (after all, we are on British soil).
Edinburgh has all the infrastructure necessary for life: a school, a hospital, a shop, a plumbing, two churches and even a swimming pool. There is also a post office, where we will look later. And now we will go out of town. Like many urban residents of the "mainland", the Tristans have suburban areas where they grow potatoes.
Some of the guests go out of town on the only island bus, taken on the occasion of our arrival from the regular route "city - dacha".
The rest are disassembled by local residents in their SUVs, placing not only in the cabins, but also in the bodies. Riding in the back has its advantage in the form of good all-round visibility.
The road runs along the coast and over the hills.
There are few plains on the island; the largest is occupied by Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, and the second largest is just summer cottages. Here cows graze and potatoes are grown. The townspeople go here to relax in nature.
We return to the city. The center of social life in Tristan is the post office, which also houses a café, a small museum and a gift shop.
As usual, there are many people in such places (and I am one of them) to send postcards with rare stamps and envelopes to home and friends.
It is most convenient to sign addresses while sitting over a cup of coffee, because, as I mentioned, there is a cafe in the post office building. By the way, it also sells local beer, although it tastes a little different from beer.
Such a large number of people who want to send letters to the mainland come here only a couple of times a year. But the wonderful postal workers did an excellent job.
The people of Tristan are welcoming, as if a little shy, and love their island. Even those who leave for university education in the UK most often return home afterwards.
In the history of the island, there was a case when the entire population had to be evacuated due to a volcanic eruption. This happened in 1961, when the Tristans were taken out first to South Africa, then to Great Britain.
There, stories sometimes happened to the islanders explaining why they felt uncomfortable on the "mainland." One example: a woman bought groceries at a store and waited for a bus. But then I decided to have coffee, and, leaving a full bag at the bus stop, went to a cafe. Returning and not finding the bag, the woman could not understand for a long time where she could go. After all, taking someone else's for the islander is unthinkable.
Despite good accommodation and offers to stay, almost all of the evacuees returned to Tristan as soon as the threat was over. This happened only two years after the evacuation. When they returned, the islanders found their city unharmed. But the eruption did not spare the fish factory and the local port, burying them under lava flows.
That is why now a small and inconvenient harbor is used to get to the island - the old one no longer exists. Small fishing boats from time to time go out to sea.
Time to get back on board. Landing in the Zodiacs is delayed due to excitement. A local fisherman happily shows off freshly caught lobsters waiting in line.
We come back. The wind is getting stronger. The motor ship sways noticeably on the wave. Transfer from Zodiacs to board turns into a wet extreme adventure. But moments like this are part of almost any expedition cruise.
We were lucky. Had we arrived at Tristan a few hours later, landing on the shore would have been impossible.
Tristan da Cunha remains astern. We are heading for the uninhabited island of Nightingale, which is in sight, where, if we are lucky, we can also land ashore.
Nightingale Island (Nightingale Island)
The island is home to rare crested penguins and yellow-nosed albatrosses.
We disembark and go in small groups to the habitat of crested penguins.
Nightingale Island, or Nightingale Island, is even less visited than Tristan da Cunha. This is not surprising: in addition to remoteness, lack of transport and civilization, there is one more thing: moving around the island requires certain physical training. Our path through the island turned out to be a continuous rough terrain with steep ascents and descents.
In some places it was impossible to climb without a rope fixed at the top.
Along the way, you need to look under your feet and not step on the albatross chicks, which sometimes find themselves in the way.
Here is a colony of crested penguins. They are small in size and live on rocks. Because of the bright yellow feathers on their heads, they are also called rocky golden-haired penguins.
And this is another local rarity - the Tristan thrush:
While we were on the island, a wave roamed. But it’s one thing to cancel a landing, but how do you cancel a return on board? Incidentally, such a case was with one of the ships of the Holland America Line, when, due to strong excitement, about a thousand tourists stayed overnight on the shore in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. The Falkland people still remember this case: some of the tourists were then taken to their homes by local residents, and some went to spend the night at the gym of the local school.
But there are no schools or locals on Nightingale, and you can only spend the night here in the open air. So let's get back on board.
For the transfer of tourists, the Zodiac approaches the landing site at the side of the ship. I will illustrate what the danger of people transferring from a boat to this site is during the excitement. So, the Zodiac carefully approached the site, people are ready to go to it ...
In a split second, the Zodiac, having fallen into the hollow of the wave, finds itself in the following position:
Now how does it look from the Zodiac. They seem to have pulled up to the site, you can land ...
... and bam - the Zodiac with people in an instant turns out to be a meter lower.
After several attempts to start the landing, our Zodiac, having failed once again, carried a crew member from the platform into the water. He was quickly pulled out, but attempts to land on this were stopped.
We drift along with other Zodiacs next to the ship and wait for a "window" in the weather.
It was almost dark when we got on board.
We return to Tristan. While the paperwork is underway and the representatives of the island administration who accompanied us to Nightingale are disembarking, we are standing in the roadstead. Around the silence, in the distance the lights of the night Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. And you even begin to get used to the fact that the inaccessible Tristan is not at all inaccessible, but here he is, next to you, and shines with his lights, as, for example, evening Yaroslavl could shine for the passengers of the Volga motor ship.
Gough Island
In the early morning, we weaner and head south towards Gough Island. This island is officially uninhabited, but there is a small South African weather station. Gof has the largest seabird colonies in the area, including the rare Tristan albatross.
The problem of the island is mice, once brought here by sailors. They wreak havoc on the albatross population. The mice eat the albatross chicks alive, gradually pulling out pieces of meat from them over the course of two to three days. Now a deratization program is being launched on Gof, within the framework of which all mice will be destroyed on the island (after all, if at least a few individuals survive, they will be able to quickly reproduce the population). Biologists have already successfully carried out similar programs on other islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
The trek to Gough takes ten hours. The sea is very rough; waves flood the windows of the observation salon on the upper (seventh) deck. The chances of landing on Gof are scanty.
Finally, out of the veil of bad weather, an island appeared ...
We are approaching it ... No, landing in such conditions is unthinkable. And you won't even be able to get closer to see the birds. But we saw Gough!
We leave back towards Tristan.
Island Inaccessible
In the early morning we are already at the Inaccessible Island. This is Tristan's closest neighbor. The Inaccessible got its name because of the difficulty of getting on it: the island is surrounded by rocks on all sides. Seals and various rare birds such as the Tristan shepherd live here.
The weather in these parts changes instantly. It seems that the island has just been covered with fog, and after half an hour the bright sun is shining.
The sea has calmed down, and I can't even believe that there was a storm here yesterday.
After going around the Inaccessible, we head to Tristan, who is in sight. Now the plan is this: since it did not work out with the landing on Gof, we will try to land on Tristan a second time. Sounds interesting. By the way, did anyone do this (two landings on Tristan) before us?
Tristan da Cunha island
Tristan, as usual, is surrounded by clouds of fog. Now it is not the presence of Tristan in almost constant visibility that is surprising, but the fact that I am used to it.
We embark on the roadstead opposite Edinburgh of the Seven Seas and wait for the wind to subside. In the meantime, we observe how the waves break on the breakwaters at the entrance to the port. Landing on the shore under such conditions is impossible.
The weather did not improve. Well, it won't be possible to land on Tristan this time, but it's a sin to complain, because the day before yesterday we spent several wonderful hours on the island.
We leave for the ocean. There are five "sea days" ahead and the final point of our trip is Cape Town.
For anyone else, but for me, days at sea are never monotonous. Time passes in conversations, reflections, and just admiring the ocean, which is constantly changing.
It's not dawn yet, and we are already approaching the capital of South Africa. The ocean crossing is successfully completed. We visited, in and on the islands of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. It is rightly said about such travels that they happen once in a lifetime.
The story about Cape Town and its environs does not fit the topic of this story, but who cares - ten years ago I went from this city to St. Helena, and made about Cape Town small photo report.
I want to thank everyone who read all three parts of my story about the South Atlantic crossing. For me it was a very interesting, one might even say, an epic journey. Which I wish everyone!
We live in a fascinating world. There are still many secrets on the planet to be discovered. The more a person studies the world around him, the more curious he becomes. There is one very interesting place on Earth - a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic called Tristan da Cunha. The main island of the archipelago is also called. This place is ideal for those who want to take a break from the bustling city life.
Tristan da Cunha - the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world
Only in 1767 was a complete exploration of the island of Tristan carried out. The crew of the French corvette stayed on it for three days. And the island remained uninhabited until the 19th century.
In 1810, a man named Jonathan Lambert arrived from Massachusetts and settled on the island. He immediately demanded ownership of the archipelago. He arrived in December of that year with two more men and claimed the islands as his own, calling them the Islands of Rejuvenation. However, two years later, only Thomas Curry remained on the island. He was farming. In 1816, the archipelago was annexed to the United Kingdom.
The only settlement of Tristana da Cunha is located in the north of the island, and is called Edinburgh of the Seven Seas
Photo: Brian Gratwicke / flickr (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
The islands have volcanoes that have erupted in the past. So, when in 1961 there were large eruptions, landslides and an earthquake, the entire population left for England. According to reports, these people eventually got tired of city life and English weather, and returned to Tristan when experts confirmed that the danger was over.
This year, the Portuguese navigator Tristan da Cunha first saw the archipelago, but his crew did not go ashore. One of the islands was named after this discoverer captain. And in 1767 sailors from the French frigate Vremya Berger landed on Tristan da Cunha for the first time.
1. Where
In the south of the Atlantic Ocean, 2161 kilometers from the nearest inhabited land (Saint Helena) and 2816 kilometers from the mainland (the territory of the Republic of South Africa). Tristan da Cunha belongs to the British Overseas Territories, its coordinates are 37.06: 12.16.
2. What
Tristan da Cunha (area 98 sq. Km) is part of the archipelago of the same name, around six more islands. There is only one city, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, where 264 people live permanently. Local residents are farmers and fishermen, they keep chickens, sheep, cows, and they also grow potatoes and go out into the ocean for their catch. The climate on the island is windy and rainy, and the coast is rocky, you can only land in a strictly defined place (where Edinburgh is located). Due to its remoteness from the mainland, many endemic plants grow on Tristan da Cunha. And only here is the smallest of the flightless birds - a dark gray Tristan shepherd boy, only 15 centimeters long.
3. How to get there
There is no airport on the island, communication with the rest of the world is through scientific and fishing vessels. To get there, you need to fly to Cape Town and board one of the Ovenstone ships (see tristandc.com for the schedule). A ticket costs about a thousand dollars round trip, and the travel time is six days one way.
4. Person
French extreme botanist. He specialized in fern-like plants, looking for them in the farthest corners of the planet. In 1792, for example, he visited the island of Mauritius and made a map of it. And in 1793, 35-year-old Louis arrived at Tristan da Cunha and was the first to try to conquer the highest point of the island - Queen Mary Peak (2062 meters). Then the mountain did not submit to botany, but now the ascent to the peak is a standard route that tourists can easily overcome in six hours.
With my own eyes
videographer, St. Petersburg
I came here for work, we filmed the work of fishing boats and stopped on the island for three weeks. There is no tourist infrastructure at all, not a single restaurant or bar. There is only one guest house and one cafe. On the whole island, only a small piece of land is comfortable for living - the one where the city is located. And around - mountains covered with fog. At some point, I suddenly became imbued with all this and thought: how great is our human species if we not only got to such a distant place on the planet, but also mastered it and began to grow potatoes here! By the way, there is a post office on the island: I sent my wife a postcard, which arrived at its destination three months later, when I had already returned.
Rare travelers make it to this island in the South Atlantic Ocean. There is no airport here, and the nearest country, South Africa, is 2816 kilometers away.
All the more interesting is the history of the island, which was first described by the Portuguese Tristan da Cunha in 1506. True, he did not dare to land ashore. In 1810, the first permanent settlers arrived here from Salem, Massachusetts. Four men, led by Jonathan Lambert, named the place Refreshing Island. Three of them died by 1812, and the only survivor, Thomas Curry, stayed on the island and took up farming.
The remoteness of the island from the continents.
View of Tristan da Cunha from the ocean.
In 1815, the British annexed the island of Tristan da Cunha. All due to the fact that in the neighborhood - on the island of St. Helena (located 2161 km away) - Napoleon languished in prison. The British were afraid of rescue operations, moreover, the islands were of strategic importance on the way to the Indian Ocean (the Suez Canal would be dug only by 1869).
Now the island is considered part of the British overseas territory of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (there are 14 such territories in total - from the famous Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands to Pitcairn and Anguilla). The island belongs to the UK, but is not part of it. The queen's foot has never set foot on the island, and it is an extremely difficult task to step foot on this island not to its inhabitant. Fishing boats from South Africa come here only a few times a year. They are equipped with seats for passengers.
Island flag
City map
As of 2016, the island is inhabited by 268 residents from just seven families (the island even has a family tree posted on it). There is not much work here, so many government positions have been created for residents: police, customs, environmental, environmental and agricultural services. And every inhabitant of the island of Tristan da Cunha is a farmer who owns his own potato field. To keep everyone's standard of living average, a family is allowed to have a maximum of two cows. Nobody pays taxes on the island, while the population receives royalties from the sale of seafood.
The only settlement bears the beautiful name of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. Locals, however, call it simply The Settlement.
View of Edinburgh Seven Seas
An ordinary house in Tristan da Cunha
In 2005, the UK gave the island its own postcode (TDCU 1ZZ) to make it easier for residents to order online. However, there is no cellular connection here. From 1998 to 2006, 64 kilobits of Internet was available through a satellite phone, but the high cost and disgusting quality of work forced the residents of the island to abandon this. Now the Internet is only in cafes, and this is perhaps the most remote Internet cafe in the world from civilization.
Television is present on two BBC channels, so the news reaches the inhabitants of the island a little faster than in 1919. Then a passing ship (the first since 1909) informed them about the results of the First World War.
Local
Bus stop
Read more:
Report at the "Vinsky Forum" for 2013
Tristan da Cunha Island. Wikipedia
Tristan da Cunha Island. Official site
Tristan da Cunha is an island with a poetic name, a trip to which is not offered in a travel agency. Meanwhile, this piece of land is inhabited. Its population does not even reach three hundred people, but travelers come here in search of peace in the wilderness and scientific expeditions.
Territorial affiliation
Geographically, the archipelago belongs to the lands of Great Britain, although it is located almost 9 thousand kilometers from the British capital. This group includes such inhabited islands as St. Helena (St. Helena), Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha. The rest of the small pieces of sushi are unoccupied.
These islands are removed not only from the continents, but also from each other. So from Tristan da Cunha to Africa there are 2,816 km of ocean surface, and even more to South America - 3,360 km. The nearest inhabited island of Saint Helena is 2,161 km away.
The island of Tristan da Cunha is the capital of the archipelago. It is also named quite romantically - Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. This is the only settlement on the island. It has mail, telegraph, internet, electricity and other benefits of civilization, but no cellular communication.
There are no regular passenger transport flights between the islands. Ascension Island can be reached by military aircraft from the Kingdom of Britain, which can carry a limited number of civilians. But such a trip requires a special permit. Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha are connected only by private sea yachts or fishing boats. Scientific expeditions sometimes use helicopters.
Lost in the ocean
Tristan da Cunha is lost in the middle of the Atlantic and is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Several tiny islands appeared on the surface of the ocean about a million years ago as a result of volcanic activity.
Flora and fauna
Due to the remoteness from continents and other inhabited islands, an absolutely unique ecosystem has developed on these pieces of land. Many plants, animals and birds are found nowhere else in the world. Therefore, the import of seeds, eggs and any species of living creatures is prohibited on these islands, so as not to disturb the fragile natural balance.
Despite the fact that it is quite warm here most of the year, the island of Tristan da Cunha is not inhabited by butterflies, mammals and reptiles. But here you can see penguins, seals and the smallest flightless bird in the world - the Tristan shepherdess.
History
The first records of the archipelago date back to 1506. Then the famous navigator from Portugal Trishtan da Cunha sailed past these shores. Seeing unknown pieces of land, he put them on the maps, but the sailor did not dare to land on the rocky shores. Apparently, the traveler was not distinguished by his modesty, because he called the entire archipelago and one of the islands by his name.
The first people entered these lands only 261 years after the discovery. They were French sailors from the frigate L "Heure du Berger. But the first settler to appear on the island was in 1810 a native of Massachusetts, whose name is lost in history. He barely survived two years in these harsh lands.
Volcanic island
The main island of the archipelago is Tristan da Cunha with an area of 98 km 2. The highest point is located on it - a volcano called Queen Mary Peak. Its height is 2,055 meters. It has erupted twice over the past century: in 1906 and in 1961. Both times the population was evacuated. But as soon as the danger was over, all the settlers returned to the island. During the last eruption, lava destroyed the port and altered the coastline. Now it is impossible to approach the island by large ships.
Locals
The island is home to about three hundred people. These people are welcoming, ready to help. The settlement of the island is strictly limited, so anyone can not come here and stay forever. Genetically, almost all the inhabitants of the island are related to each other. There are only 7 names. Because of this, newborns often show genetic abnormalities, which is characteristic of closed communities like this.
The main activity of the local population is fishing. Tourists can go out to sea with fishermen for a reasonable fee and catch lobster, sardines and other marine life.
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas has a swimming pool, bar, cafes and restaurants where you can sample local cuisine. There is also a factory on the island for cutting lobsters, which are sent for export.
There is also a police station, which serves only one representative of the law. And no more: there are practically no thefts here, and the last murder was registered in 1876.
Climate
It's pretty warm in Tristan da Cunha. In summer, the average daily temperature is around 20 degrees. And in winter, plus 14. The temperature minimum recorded here is +5 ° С. But even in the summer, the water is pretty cool - 18 °. It rains from May to October.
It is very windy on the island. The wind blows either from west to east, or vice versa. Locals plant New Zealand flax for shelter from the elements. This herbaceous plant grows to three human heights and serves as a safe refuge.
How to get there
To visit the island of Tristan da Cunha, you do not need to apply for a British visa, but you must request an entry permit from the local authorities, indicating the purpose of the trip and the length of stay. Once approved, it is necessary to book tickets for the passenger liner that departs Cape Town once a month. One way trip takes at least five days. You can also negotiate with fishermen or rent a yacht on your own.
The local currency is valid here. But you can also pay in British pounds. It is advisable to cash them before arriving on the island, although you can find a bank branch in the settlement, but problems may arise with plastic cards.
References in literature
Tristan da Cunha, whose photo can become an illustration for any adventure novel about travelers in distress, was mentioned in the literature. It lies on the famous 37th parallel of the southern hemisphere and the heroes of Jules Verne's novel "The Children of Captain Grant" swam on it. And also in the work of Hervé Bazin, a volcanic eruption and the rescue of settlers are described. This is the novel The Lucky Men from the Island of Despair.
The last refuge of Napoleon
Another island from the archipelago is also historically known - this is the island of St. Helena. Emperor Napoleon spent his last years here. Tourists can see where the disgraced monarch spent the last five years of his life.
Tristan da Cunha is not a place for hangouts and sunny beaches. People come here for exotic adventures: to see nature almost untouched by civilization, to live far from megacities with their crowd and frantic rhythm. Here you can watch wild animals in their natural environment. Or go on an amazing sea fishing. And in the harbor of Kalshot, you can watch passing whales. Or go by boat to a real desert island, feeling like the hero of a novel.
