Our Earth is full of amazing and beautiful places, but sometimes those places are just
harder to reach than others. From small islands far from any continental land, to places so
cold not many people make it the journey, to an oasis located in the Egyptian desert,
today’s list really does have it all. Today we are going to be taking a look at 10 different
locations and all they have to offer while we journey through the Top 10 Most Remote
Places On Earth.
10 - Tristan da Cunha Tristan is a group of volcanic islands that
is located in the south Atlantic Oceans and it is actually the most remote inhabited archipelago
(aar·kuh·peh·luh·go) in the world. These islands are around 2,787 km off the coast
of Cape Town, 2,437 km from Saint Helena and 4,002 km off the coast of the Falkland Islands.
The population is around 258 people and they do speak English but they have also invented
their own dialects with words that are reflective of their various places of origin which is
super cool. Tristan is a British Overseas Territory with its own constitution and its
capital is named Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. To get to Tristan you’re going to have to
fly to Cape Town at a time where you can jump on one of the few boats that travel to Tristan
in a year. This doesn’t seem so bad but just remember that the boat trip is going
to take you about 5 or 6 days to get there so you might want to take a couple extra weeks
vacation if this is your post pandemic vacation.
9 - Pitcairn Island (Pitkern) Pitcairn Island is one of the group of 4 islands
that make up the pitcairn islands. This specific one is the only one of the 4 that actually
is inhabited, with a population of 56, all of the residents descend from a group of sailors
who committed mutiny on the HMS bounty in 1789 and the few Tahitian captives they had
with them. This island is located in the Pacific Ocean close to the middle between New Zealand
and Peru. This island is open for tourist visits and is said to feature some stunning
scenery, but it’s not necessarily the easiest place to get to, although as their tourism
industry grows, it does get easier. First, you have to get to Tahiti so if you already
live there, or live close, you’re one step ahead of the rest of us. Then you have to
take a local flight to Mangareva (Man-gar-eva) which only happens once a week. From there
you’ll take a boat to Rikitea (Rick-i-tea-ah) and from there you used to have to take a
boat called Claymore II which used to only depart once every 3 months, but luckily it’s
a bit easier now since 2019 the government has been operating to MS silver supporter
which sets sail every week. Tourists will stay at what are called home stays as it is
such a great way for visitors to get a feel of the local environment as well as providing
income for the residents of the island.
8 - Macquarie Island Okay this island is cool. Macquarie is located
in the Southwest Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Antarctica. The only human inhabitants
of this island are the scientists who work at the research base on the island so depending
on the time of year, there’s around 20-40 people here. But here’s where things get
really cool. During the breeding season, this island is home to the entire world population
of white chested penguins. That means that there could be around 2 million penguins on
the island at one time, greatly outnumbering the humans there. This island has had quite
a tumultuous ecological history after the onset of European visits in 1810. The islands
fur seals, elephant seals and penguin populations began to decline since they were being killed
for fur and blubber and of course there was the introduction of rodents from the boats,
cats to keep the rodents from eating the human food stores and rabbits which were brought
to breed for food which threw the entire island ecology totally off balance. It wasn’t until
very recently that efforts began to restore a more natural ecological balance to the island
and as of April 2014, the island was officially declared pest free after 7 years of strong
conservation efforts. This was actually the largest, successful island pest eradication
program up until that date, which is certainly something to celebrate. Humans caused a major
problem and while it took much too long to fix, I guess the bright side is that it happened
at some point.
7 - Oymyakon (Oy-May-ow-kan) Oymyakon is located in Russia and if you’ve
heard of it before, there’s a chance it might be because it is known as the coldest
inhabited place on Earth. This town has a population of around 500 residents who live
in an average temperature of around -40 degrees celsius, although in the summertime the temperature
does get to around 0. The ground is covered in permafrost which of course makes growing
crops an impossibility, so the main source of food is meat and fish. Due to the temperature
here, living of course has to look a little different. It’s too cold for plumbing pipes,
so restrooms are usually outhouses, engines freeze easily, so cars are usually running
continuously and during the shortest days, the residents live in darkness for 21 hours
a day. Getting to this small town can take quite some time as well. If you’re coming
from Moscow, you’ll have to take a flight to one of the closest towns, which are both
still over 900 km away. The road from these cities that leads to the town is called the
Road of Bones which is extremely ominous sounding and probably a road that should not be travelled
alone.
6 - Easter Island Okay, most of us have heard of Easter Island
before, but did you know it’s one of the most remote places? Remember Pitcairn island
we talked about before? Well that island is the closest inhabited place to Easter Island
so clearly, they’re both pretty difficult to access. The closest continental point to
Easter Island is a point in central Chile that is 3,512 km away. Easter Island is of
course a huge tourist destination as people come from all over to marvel at the iconic
Moai (Moh-eye) statues that the island is famous for. There is much debate over when
the island first became inhabited with some experts claiming it to be around 800 CE while
others swear it was around 1200 CE, but either way the original inhabitants created an incredible
thriving life on the island. The island is currently home to around 3,300 residents and
in 2007 the island was given the constitutional status of a special territory.
5 - Ittoqqortoormiit (It-tor-co-to-me) This town is located in one of the most remote
areas of Greenland and actually requires a helicopter ride from the nearest airport in
order to actually get to the town. It was founded quite recently actually in 1925 by
a Danish polar explorer and around 80 inuit settlers and is about as far as you can get
from any other inhabited area in Greenland. Despite this recent settling, based on ruins
and other archeological remains, it became clear that this area was once inhabited sometime
in our history by Inuit populations of the past. There’s around 450 residents and the
town is known for its wildlife that includes polar bears, muskoxen and seals. This place
can be a popular tourist destination because of the stunning Northern Lights as well as
other natural wonders. Cruise ships also love to stop here, but that can be a little bit
tricky considering nine months out of the year, sea ice will block any ship from docking.
4 - Siwa Oasis Siwa is an urban oasis between the Qattara
Depression and the Great sand sea in the western desert. This oasis is one of Egypts most isolated
settlements but it is the home to around 33,000 people. The residents have developed a unique
and isolated desert culture and language called Siwi but they are also fluent in an Egyptian
dialect of Arabic. The oasis isn’t necessarily a super popular tourist destination as the
closest city is Cairo and the oasis is around a 5 hour bus ride away and is of course in
the middle of the desert, but those who do take the trip certainly aren’t disappointed.
If visiting, you can enjoy some locally grown dates and olives, which I can only imagine
are incredible. You can swim in Cleopatra's Bath which is a mineral spring and you can
even stay at the desert eco lodge which is built from mud and salt. Tourism is actually
a vital source of income for the oasis so visitors are welcomed. Because of how isolated
Siwa is, the culture and traditions of the people who live here really have been preserved
which would make it such an interesting and wonderful place to visit. If I ever get the
incredible opportunity of going to Egypt, I think Siwa would be on the top of the list
for places to visit.
3 - La Rinconada This town is located near the Peruvian Andes
very close to a gold mine and is actually the highest permanent settlement in the world
at 5,100 meters above sea level. Between 2001 and 2009 the population of the town increased
greatly because the price of gold rose 235% during that time. Because of the elevation,
the town has an alpine tundra climate and an average temperature of around 1 degree
celsius. Many of those who work for the gold mines here work under a pretty horrible condition
of working 25 days of the month for no pay and then 5 days of the month they can work
for themselves and they are allowed to take as much ore as they can carry on their shoulders.
There is no guarantee that the ore will have any gold in it however, and this terrible
system is why many of the town's residents live in poverty. The town is a six hour bus
ride from the nearest city on unpaved roads and there isn’t really a regular bus schedule
which makes it a fairly difficult place to get to.
2 - Cocos Islands The Cocos Islands are an Australian External
Territory located in the Indian Ocean and comprises a small archipelago that is around
halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The Coco Islands consist of two coral atolls that
are made up of 27 different coral islands. Out of these 27 islands, only 2 of them are
inhabited with a population of around 600 in total. Because of the isolation of the
islands, the people who live here have really kept their language and religious practices
as well as other traditions alive, which is such a great thing. Visitors of course have
so much to learn about the inhabitants traditions but other than that, tourists can go kitesurfing,
snorkeling, surfing and bird watching. One of the islands was actually even voted to
have the best beach in Australia. One of the islands does actually have an airport with
one single runway and flight can be taken to the island from the closest city, which
is Perth at 2700 miles away but the flights only happen around twice a week.
1 - Palmerston Island Palmerston Island is a coral atoll located
in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Palmerston is a very islet in a series of
small islets that are located on a ring of coral reef that encloses a lagoon. The only
one of these islets that’s inhabited is one that’s named Home. The closest Island
to Palmerston is Rarotonga which is the Capital of the Cook Islands and it would be about
a two day sailing trip to make it the 500 km distance. But if you aren’t already on
that island or planning to stop at both islands, the closest trip would be about an eight day
sail from Tahiti. Since the islet is so small, there of course is no airport so ships are
the only way to get here and supply ships only visit the inhabited island a few times
a year. Their reef only allows room for smaller boats to pass through which makes any kind
of larger ship unsafe to pass through. The island does see a tropical climate but it
is very exposed to tropical cyclones which of course would cause a whole bunch
of problems.