Islands of Tristan da Cunha
(from the series "On the outskirts of the planet")Tristan da Cunha(eng. Tristan da Cunha) - archipelago in the southern part Atlantic Ocean, part of the British overseas territory, consisting of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Along with Easter Island and the Pitcairn Islands, it is one of the most remote populated areas on the ground. Located 2816 km from South Africa, 3360 km from South America and 2161 km south of St. Helena.
The main island of the archipelago, also called Tristan da Cunha and the only island with a permanent population (37 degrees 06 min. S. latitude 12 degrees 16 minutes W.) has an area of 98 sq. km. There are several more more or less large islands: Inaccessible - 14 sq. km; Nightingale (Nightingale) - 3.4 sq. km; Middle - 0.1 sq. km; Stoltenhoff - sq. km; Gough (Diego Alvarez) - 68 sq. km, as well as many small islands and rocks. Since 1956, the South African weather station has been located on a section of Gough Island leased from the British. Gough, Nightingale and Impregnable Islands have been declared nature reserves wildlife.
View of the archipelago from space
Tristan da Cunha is an island of volcanic origin that appeared about 1 million years ago. The highest point of the archipelago is located on the island - Queen Mary (Queen Mary) peak, 2055 meters above sea level. In winter, the top of the mountain is covered with snow. Queen Mary is a volcano that has erupted several times since the island's discovery.
The main island of the archipelago is Tristan da Cunha
The island of Tristan da Cunha has a rocky coast and mountainous terrain, with numerous ravines, which locals call “gulches”. The only territory of the island adapted for permanent human life is the northern and northwestern part. You can also land there from the sea without much risk.
The climate of the islands is temperate oceanic, rainy and windy. On Gough Island the average monthly temperature ranges from +9 to +14.5, on the northern islands - from +11 to +17.5. Annual precipitation ranges from 2000 mm in the north to 2500 mm on Gough Island.
On the islands of Tristan da Cunha there are no mammals (with the exception of seals on the shore and mice brought by humans to Gough Island), reptiles, and butterflies. But the remoteness of the islands from the mainland affected the animal and vegetable world. There are many endemic plants on the islands (or growing on several islands of the archipelago); the smallest flightless bird on Earth, the “Inaccessible Island Shepherd” or “Tristan Shepherd,” has been preserved on Inaccessible Island. The islands are also home to the crested penguin.
Domestic animals and livestock of the inhabitants of the island of Tristan da Cunha do not run wild and do not pose a great danger to nature.
It is believed that northern islands The archipelago was discovered in 1506 by the Portuguese Tristan (Trishtan) da Cunha, but he did not land on the shore. Gough Island was discovered by the English navigator Charles Gough in 1731. The first landing was carried out by French sailors - members of the crew of the frigate "L'Heure du Berger" in 1767.
The first settler on the island was Massachusetts-born American Jonathan Lambert in 1810, who died in 1812. And in 1815, Great Britain annexed the islands. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, the islands had strategic importance when traveling from Europe and East America to the Indian Ocean.
In 1906, a volcanic eruption occurred, resulting in the death of livestock and potato plantations. People were resettled in Cape Town. In 1961, an eruption damaged a fish factory and residents were evacuated to St. Helena or the UK. When the factory was restored, the residents returned home.
The island of Tristan da Cunha is the only island in the archipelago with a permanent population. The main settlement of the island is Edinburgh of the Seven Seas in the northwestern part of the island. Other settlements are not permanent and represent scientific bases and weather stations. The population of the island according to the 2008 census is 284 people.
The Administrator (Sean Burns), appointed by the Governor (Michael Clancy) of St. Helena, is the head of the Island Council, consisting of eleven people: eight elected, three appointed. At least one member of the Council must be a woman. The Council member who receives the majority of votes in the election is appointed Chief Islander.
The islands are not connected by regular passenger flights to the mainland. However, the island can be reached by fishing boats and scientific ships. Fishing boats from South Africa go to the island of Tristan da Cunha once a month, they are equipped with places for passengers. Expeditions use helicopter transport.
The islands were visited by the heroes of Jules Verne's novel "The Children of Captain Grant" during their trip around the world along the 37th parallel in search of the missing expedition of the Scottish navigator.
We live in a fascinating world. There are still many secrets on the planet to be discovered. The more one studies the world, the more curious he becomes. There is one very interesting place is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic called Tristan da Cunha. It's also called main island archipelago. This place is ideal for those who want to take a break from the noisy city life.
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world
It was not until 1767 that a complete exploration of the island of Tristan was 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 other men and claimed the islands as his own, calling them the Recuperation Islands. However, two years later, only Thomas Curry remained on the island. He was a farmer. In 1816, the archipelago was annexed by 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 are home to volcanoes that have erupted in the past. So, when large eruptions, landslides and an earthquake occurred in 1961, the entire population left for England. The men are said to have eventually tired of city life and the English weather, and returned to Tristan when experts confirmed that the danger had passed.
Tourists are attracted here natural conditions and numerous endemic plants. Tristan da Cunha is represented by an archipelago of islands, which is located in the south of the Atlantic Ocean. It is unique and famous for being considered the most remote place in the world. The main islands of the archipelago are Tristan da Cunha, Inaccessible, Nightingale and Gough. Each of them has its own peculiarity. Gough is famous for its weather station. A protected area has been created on Inaccessible Island, and therefore access to it is closed. The main island itself has a population of 300 people alone.
Tristan da Cunha has a rich history. It got its name from the sailor Tristan Cunha, who was considered the discoverer. According to reports, in 1506 he found the island, but was never able to land there. Gough Island discovered by Charles Gough. In 1767, French sailors decided to land on the island. For a long time, the islands were considered the main economic and political positions. During long sea voyages they were used as a stopover or shelter. Since 1800, the first guests were scientists from many countries who came to the archipelago for research.
In 1815 the archipelago was annexed by Great Britain. At first, the main inhabitants were the military, then civilians joined them.
The island of Tristan da Cunha is of volcanic origin and appeared more than a million years ago. Queen Mary Peak has a height of 2055 meters and is the most high point the entire archipelago. Since its inception, the volcano has erupted only a few times.
The first eruption occurred in 1906. It destroyed all livestock and fields with potatoes and vegetables.
The next eruption was dated in 1961. It caused enormous damage to the fish processing factory. The population was temporarily resettled in Great Britain.
The island has a mountainous structure and a coastline covered with pebbles and boulders. There are a lot of ravines in Tristan da Cunha, called “gorges” by the local population. Only the north of the island is suitable for human life. The capital of the island is located there - the city of Edinburgh. This small town, which doesn’t even have an airport. You can only get there by ship.
Tristan da Cunha is famous for its natural landscapes. Amazing fact is that the petrels of the entire Atlantic Ocean can only breed here. Living almost all the time in flight over the Atlantic, they arrive on the island only during the breeding season. At the end of May, birds lay eggs in crevices and incubate them for about 53 days. After hatching, the chick remains in the nest for another three months. Petrels produce only one clutch per year. Birds naturally feed on fish.
Of the mammals, the only representative was the seal. There are no more mammals and reptiles there. The island is rich in endemic flora and fauna, found only in the archipelago.
Gough, Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands are designated as protected areas and national parks. Access there is open only for excursions. The country's economy rests solely on agriculture. Due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean, fishing is very developed. On the island, residents grow vegetables, fruits, and keep pets. Even at a huge distance from the nearest “civilization,” all the infrastructure a person needs has been created on the island. There is a hospital, a school, even a church here night club and its own radio station
The island of Tristan da Cunha, which takes three days to reach from South Georgia, is one of the most remote inhabited places on the planet. And, perhaps, the most inaccessible thing: communication with mainland It is carried out once every one to two months by 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 human landing on the islands occurred two and a half centuries later.
In 1810, the English 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 most big Island archipelago, Tristan da Cunha. Located on it the only city Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, which today has 267 inhabitants. There are only ten surnames used on the island.
This is an interesting place we are heading to. It must be said that the remoteness of Tristan has always attracted travelers, but not everyone was able to land on the island. The reason is simple: even with relatively low waves, landing on the shore here is impossible. 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, after staying in the roadstead for a couple of days, move on: the weather does not allow disembarking passengers.
Will we be 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 hidden by fog.
So, will you accept travelers today?
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas lies on one of the few plains of this volcanic island. Members of the expedition team on two Zodiacs go on reconnaissance...
... and return with good news: we are landing on Tristan!
We get into the Zodiacs and go to the shore. Even with the slight excitement present this morning, disembarking from the rocking boats onto the quay wall is difficult and proceeds very slowly.
First steps on the island. With a feeling of some unreality of what is happening, I climb the road leading from the port to the city. I experience a feeling of acute novelty, already half-forgotten after many travels. Is this Tristan da Cunha? Am I here?
Here comes the city, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
The inhabitants of Tristan are mainly engaged in fishing and farming. For our arrival, local kids had prepared their drawings and sandwiches with fresh fish for sale.
Now I have a piece of Tristan:
Many buildings are abundantly planted with plants, the purpose of which is to reduce the impact of constant strong winds. This is mainly New Zealand flax, which is considered a weed in other places. And sometimes you can see an almost English garden here (after all, we are on British territory).
Edinburgh has all the infrastructure necessary for life: a school, a hospital, a store, running water, two churches and even a swimming pool. There is also a post office, which we will visit later. And now we will go out of town. Like many urban residents of the “mainland,” the Tristanians have country plots where they grow potatoes.
Some of the guests go out of town on the only island bus, removed from the regular route “city - dachas” on the occasion of our arrival.
Local residents disassemble the rest into their SUVs, placing them not only in the cabs, but also in the bodies. Riding in the back has the advantage of good all-round visibility.
The road goes along the coast and through 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. Cows graze here and potatoes are grown. City dwellers come here to relax in nature.
We return to the city. The center of Tristan's social life is the post office, which also houses a café, a small museum and a gift shop.
As usual, in such places there are many people who want (including me) to send postcards with rare stamps and envelopes to home and friends.
The most convenient way to sign addresses is while sitting with 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.
This a large number of people who want to send letters to mainland, only comes here a couple of times a year. But the wonderful postal workers did an excellent job.
The people of Tristan are friendly, if a little shy, and love their island. Even those who go to the UK for university education often return home later.
There was a case in the history of the island when the entire population had to be evacuated due to a volcanic eruption. This happened in 1961, when the Tristanians were taken first to South Africa, then to the UK.
There, stories sometimes happened to the islanders that explained why they felt uncomfortable on the “mainland.” One example: a woman bought groceries in a store and waited for the bus. But then I decided to drink coffee, and, leaving my full bag at the bus stop, I went to the cafe. Having returned and not finding the bag, the woman for a long time could not understand where it could have gone. After all, taking someone else’s property is unthinkable for an islander.
Despite good conditions accommodation and an offer to stay, almost all of the evacuees returned to Tristan as soon as the threat had passed. This happened only two years after the evacuation. Returning, 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 a small and inconvenient harbor is now used to get to the island - the old one no longer exists. Small fishing boats periodically go out to sea from it.
It's time to get back on board. Boarding in Zodiacs is delayed due to excitement. A local fisherman is happy to show off his freshly caught lobsters to those waiting in line.
Let's go back. The wind is picking up. The ship sways noticeably on the wave. Transferring from Zodiacs on board turns into a wet extreme adventure. But moments like these are part of almost any expedition cruise.
We were lucky. Had we approached Tristan a few hours later, landing on the shore would have been impossible.
Tristan da Cunha remains astern. We are heading towards the one in sight inhabited island Nightingale, where, with luck, we too can land on shore.
Nightingale Island (Nightingale Island)
The island is home to rare crested penguins, as well as yellow-nosed albatrosses.
We disembark and walk in small groups to the habitat of crested penguins.
Nightingale Island, or Nightingale Island, is an even less visited place than Tristan da Cunha. This is not surprising: in addition to the remoteness, lack of transport and civilization, there is one more thing: moving around the island requires a certain amount of physical training. Our path across the island turned out to be continuous rough terrain with steep ascents and descents.
In some places it was impossible to climb without a rope attached to the top.
Along the way, you need to watch your step and not step on the albatross chicks that sometimes get 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 golden-haired rock penguins.
And this is another local rarity - the Tristan blackbird:
While we were on the island, a wave broke out. But it’s one thing to cancel disembarkation, but how do you cancel getting back on board? By the way, such a case happened with one of the ships of the Holland America Line, when, due to strong seas, about a thousand tourists stayed overnight on the shore in Port Stanley on Falkland Islands. Falklanders still remember this incident: some of the tourists were then taken home by local residents, and some went to spend the night in the gym of a local school.
But there are no schools or local residents on Nightingale, and you can only spend the night here under open air. So let's get back on board.
To transfer tourists, the Zodiac approaches the landing site at the side of the ship. I will illustrate the danger of transferring people from a boat to this platform during rough seas. So, the Zodiac carefully approached the site, people are ready to move onto it...
In a split second, the Zodiac, having fallen into the trough of the wave, finds itself in this position:
Now what does it look like from the Zodiac. It looks like we have pulled up to the site, we can disembark...
... and bam - the Zodiac with people in an instant turns out to be a meter lower.
After several attempts to start disembarking, our Zodiac, having failed once again, carried a crew member off the platform into the water. He was quickly pulled out, but the landing attempts 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 being completed and the representatives of the island administration, who accompanied us to Nightingale, are disembarking, we are standing at the roadstead. There is silence all around, far away 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 shining with his lights, as, for example, the evening Yaroslavl could shine for the passengers of the Volga ship.
Gough Island
Early in the morning we weigh anchor and head south towards Gough Island. This island is officially uninhabited, but there is a small South African weather station operating there. Gough is home to the largest seabird colonies in the area, including the rare Tristan albatross.
The island's problem is mice, once brought here by sailors. They cause enormous harm to the albatross population. Mice eat albatross chicks alive, gradually tearing 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 on the island will be destroyed (after all, if at least a few individuals remain alive, they will be able to quickly reproduce the population). Biologists have already successfully carried out similar programs on other islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The trek to Gough lasts ten hours. The sea is very rough; waves flood the glass of the observation salon on the upper (seventh) deck. The chances of landing on Gough are slim.
Finally, an island appeared from the veil of bad weather...
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 go back towards Tristan.
Inaccessible Island
Early in the morning we are already at the Inaccessible Island. This is Tristan's next door neighbor. Impregnable received its name because of the difficulty of getting to it: the island is surrounded by rocks on all sides. Seals and various rare birds, such as the Tristan rail, live here.
The weather in these parts changes instantly. It seems that the island was just covered in fog, and half an hour later the bright sun is shining.
The sea has calmed down, and I can’t even believe that there was a storm here yesterday.
Having walked around the Impregnable, we head towards Tristan, who is in sight. The plan now is this: since the landing on Gof did not work out, we will try to land on Tristan a second time. Sounds interesting. By the way, has anyone done this (two landings on Tristan) before us?
Tristan da Cunha Island
Tristan, as usual, is surrounded by clouds of fog. What surprises me now is not the presence of Tristan in almost constant visibility, but the fact that I’m used to it.
We stand at the roadstead opposite Edinburgh of the Seven Seas and wait for the wind to subside. In the meantime, we are watching the waves crash on the piers at the entrance to the port. Landing on shore under such conditions is impossible.
The weather did not improve. Well, we won’t be able 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're going into the ocean. There are five “sea days” ahead and the end point of our journey is Cape Town.
It may vary for others, but for me, days at sea are never monotonous. Time passes in conversations, reflections, and simply admiring the ocean, which is constantly changing.
It's not yet dawn, and we're already approaching the capital South Africa. The ocean crossing is safely completed. We visited , in and on the islands of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. They rightly say about such trips that they happen once in a lifetime.
The story about Cape Town and its surroundings does not fit the topic of this story, but who cares - ten years ago I went from this city to St. Helena Island, and wrote about Cape Town small photo report.
I want to say thank you to everyone who read all three parts of my story about crossing the Atlantic south. For me it was a very interesting, one might even say, epic journey. I wish the same for everyone!
