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Throughout history people have moved across the great expanses of the globe to establish communities. Some of them have even grown into large cities which harbor millions of individuals. However, some people have chosen to remain in smaller groups that are totally off the radar. These communities have withstood the test of time in near isolation. In fact many residents have never left the small area of isolation they call home.
Here are the 5 most isolated places covered in this article and the above video:
5. Palmerston Island
4. Supai Village, Grand Canyon, Arizona
3. Tristan Da Cunha
2. Utqiagvik, Alaska
1. La Rinconada, Peru
Number 5: Palmerston Island
About 3,200 kilometers or 2,000 miles northeast of New Zealand sits the tiny island of Palmerston occupied by a mere 62 people who are all from the same bloodline. Palmerston is one of the most isolated communities on the planet. Discovery of Palmerston Island is credited to Captain James Cook in 1774.
The 62 inhabitants of the island can be traced back to just one person William Marsters as the first permanent inhabitant of the island. He took up residency there in 1863 with his Polynesian wife and her two cousins. After being granted possession of the island by Queen Victoria, Marsters took his wife’s cousin’s as his second and third wives. He and his wives had 23 children in total before his death in 1899. Today all but three of the people on the island are direct descendants of William Marsters.
Life on the island is one of isolation and simplicity. There are no shops, banks or markets. Money is only used when buying and selling off the island or when ships come with supplies from the outside world. Trade between islanders is the only way to get what you need.
There is no true water system. Rainwater is collected for drinking and there are two public toilets available on the main street. Electricity is only available for six hours each day. However, a new telephone station has been constructed to provide an easier connection to the outside world.
If someone wants to visit Palmerston as a guest he will be welcomed with open arms. The Islanders love visitors and adopt any travelers as their own. Guests stay in the Islanders homes as there are no hotels. However, the journey will be grueling.
Palmerston is about five hundred kilometers or 310 miles from the capital island of Rarotonga. It is two days sailing on Pacific Seas. Boats going to the island are few and far between. So if you are looking for the ultimate Island getaway, Palmerston may be for you
Number 4: Supai Village, Grand Canyon, Arizona
The Grand Canyon is one of the most visited vacation spots in the United States with its breathtaking views and desert dwelling critters. But Canyon provides tourists with an escape from reality. However, many do not know about the secluded village of Supai which is located in a side branch of the Grand Canyon known as Havasu Canyon.
The village consists of members of the Havasupai tribe. They have inhabited the area for the past eight hundred years. The Havasupai people also known as the people of the blue-green waters thrive in this arid solitary landscape by practicing irrigation farming in the summer as well as hunting certain animals available during the seasons. The blue waterfalls and springs provide the Supai villagers with both their namesake and their water source for survival.
The land in which the Havasupai live is a protected reservation. Just how secluded is Supai village the 208 residents are the only people in the United States who still receive their mail and parcels by mule. A series of linked mules carry packages and mail to the village regularly. Any mail leaving there also bears a postmark that is unique to Supai. Tourists are welcome to visit Supai and its natural beauty, but it will take some rugged skills and determination to get there.
The village is located 56 kilometers or thirty five miles from the tourist hub of the Grand Canyon and there are no paved roads to get there. The journey starts at the Hualapai hilltop. From this point Supai can only be reached by foot mule or helicopter. It is 13 kilometers or eight miles away to reach the bottom of the canyon where the village lies. Supai Viallage will remain a hidden gem in the American frontier.
Number 3: Tristan da Cunha
No restaurants, no hotels, no credit cards ,no safe beaches, this is the life of those living on Tristan da Cunha the world’s most remote populated island. Both the archipelago and the main island in the group are named Tristan da Cunha. These islands are in the middle of the Atlantic, i.e. the middle of nowhere.
Tristan da Cunha lies 2,816 kilometers or 1,750 miles from South Africa and 3,360 kilometersor 2,088 miles from South America. The nearest land mass to Tristan is Saint Elena which is a mere 2,430 kilometersor 1,510 miles from the island.
Tristan was discovered by Tristan da Cunha in 1506. Unable to venture onto the island due to unsafe water, Tristan da Cunha named the main island and the archipelago after himself and took off. The first official mapping of the island was made by the French Frigate la Gorda Bursch. 261 years later no attempt was made during the expedition to land on the island.
The first true inhabitant of Tristan da Cunha arrived in 1810 when American explorer Jonathan Lambert landed on the island and proclaimed himself as its ruler due to the strategic positioning of the islands. They were annexed by the United Kingdom in 1816.
Today Tristan da Cunha is thriving with a population of 267 people. These individuals have access to many major amenities including a hospital with dental treatment and operating theatres as well as a grocery store. However, orders must be made weeks or even months in advance for grocery items as everything must be shipped to the island from the nearest location.
Though modernity has taken over, the remoteness of the island still causes many hardships. Traditional electricity is not available anywhere on the island. Instead diesel generators are centrally located between cottages in the only town Edinboro. Tristan da Cunha seems like an introverts paradise without any worries or anxieties.
However if this seems like a great place to settle down be warned that the island is volcanic. Edinboro of the seven seas sits at the base of a volcano that last erupted in the 1960s. So if you love remoteness cows and the threat of volcanoes Tristan da Cunha may be the right home for you
Number 2: Utqiagvik, Alaska
Utqiagvik is the northernmost city in America and the ninth most northern city in the world. Formerly known as Barrow in Alaska this town lies well above the Arctic Circle and is a very remote and cold town. Although the weather is extreme, archaeological evidence indicates that people have been thriving in the Utqiagvik region from as early as AD 500.
The headland was explored in 1826 by Frederick Beachy and named for Sir John Barrow the prominent British promoter of Arctic explorations. The native Inupiat tribe called the area Utqiagvik or place where owls are hunted.s
So just how cold is it? The city is built upon a layer of permafrost that is up to 400 meters or 1,300 feet deep in places. The warm season in Utqiagvik lasts a mere 3.3 months with average high temperatures measuring 2 degrees Celsius or 36 degrees Fahrenheit. The cold season lasts 4.4 months and the average high temperature is minus 16 degrees Celsius or 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
Along with the extreme temperatures, the people of Utqiagvik also deal with polar night normally starting in November. The Sun sets in Utqiagvik and does not rise again for roughly 65 days. Nevertheless the area’s 4429 residents thrive over 60% are a Inupiat Eskimo. Even in the Arctic tundra these polar survivors have a great quality of life and modernity.
Their homes are heated by natural gas from local oil fields. They also have modern water and sewer systems. Trash pickup is also available from the city. It has seven churches, various schools and college. Communication is easy, because there is phone, mail, radio cable and internet. If you visit Utqiagvik you can take advantage of hotels, restaurants, a drycleaner, a bank and a fur shop.
Though modernity has a hold in Utqiagvik, the natives still take part in whaling and seal hunting to get them through the long hard winters. However, you can only get to this remote location by plane and it doesn’t come cheap. So if you’re interested in extreme cold remote, solitude and perpetual night food, Utqiagvik might just be the best place for you.
Number 1: La Rinconada, Peru
High in the Peruvian Andes 64 kilometers or 40 miles north of Lake Titicaca lies the town of La Rinconada, Peru. What makes this town so special it is the highest human habitation in the world. La Rinconada was built at a height of over four thousand nine hundred meters or 16,000 feet lying at the top of Mount Ananya.
It experiences sub-zero temperatures for most of the year. At this remote altitude, visitors can expect to experience the effects of extreme altitude sickness including headaches, nausea, shortness of breath and even death in some extreme cases.
Approximately 50,000 people now call this squalid city home. Beyond the isolated locale and freezing temperatures this town has no basic modern amenities and little infrastructure. La Rinconada has no sanitation system and no plumbing making the entire community one of filth and destitution. Trash pickup is non-existent. Most people bury their trash outside of town or simply leave it where it falls.
Ppeople living and working in La Rinconada also face treacherous conditions when coming in and out of their high-rise city as the only roads leading into La Rinconada are as dirty as the city itself and iced over for most days of the year. But what drove all these people to live in a city of isolation and filth is gold.
Word got out that area around La Rinconada was chock-full of gold. Between 2001 and 2009 the town boomed with a 230 percent increase in habitation. Without regulations the mines operate under an informal structure called the cash alrea system. Miners work through the month for no pay. However after their shifts they can take home as much or as they can carry. But they never know how much gold is in the ore.
Isolated, filthy, poor, sad. These are a few words to describe La Rinconada. This is one remote community that is not worth the struggle to visit even if the greatest fortune could be found in its hills.
Source: Mind Blogger Channel on Youtube
I think the place is with a peaceful, not puluttion and not many vehicles. I like it!