Search results
Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km (1,165 miles) west of mainland Africa, with Angola and Namibia being the closest nations, geographically.
- Jamestown
Jamestown is the capital city of the British Overseas...
- Flag of Saint Helena
Fixed the plover, based on a high resolution image provided...
- Legislative Council of Saint Helena
The Legislative Council of Saint Helena is the unicameral...
- Saint Helena of Constantinople
Flavia Julia Helena (/ ˈ h ɛ l ə n ə /; Greek: Ἑλένη,...
- Demographics of Saint Helena
Saint Helena is the most populous part of Saint Helena,...
- Briars Pavilion
Briars is the small pavilion in which Napoleon Bonaparte...
- Half Tree Hollow
Half Tree Hollow is the smallest by area of the eight...
- Melanodendron
Melanodendron is a genus of trees in the family Asteraceae,...
- Longwood
The district also contains the island's only golf course....
- Saint Helena (Disambiguation)
Saint Helena is a British island in the South Atlantic....
- Jamestown
- Overview
- From British port to sleepy backwater
- Will the airport open things up?
- Hikes, stars, and a very old tortoise
- In search of Napoleon
- An idyllic and isolated island
- More change is coming
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
A new airport brings tourists—and change—to wild, windswept St. Helena.
Nestled between volcanic mountains, Jamestown serves as the capital of the isolated Atlantic Ocean island of St. Helena.
“St. Helena. Small Island.” In 1785, when Napoleon Bonaparte was still a student, he scribbled these words on the last page of his geography book. And oh, the irony: 30 years later the deposed French emperor was exiled (and later, died) on this remote British outpost in the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet even today, few people know anything about the place, or even where it is. But that’s changing because, in October 2017, St. Helena welcomed its first commercial flight. Previously only accessible via a five-day trip on the RMS St. Helena, the 47-square-mile island can now be reached by a four-hour flight from South Africa.
About the size of Nantucket, some 1,200 miles from the Angolan coast, St. Helena—surprisingly—used to draw many visitors. Naturalist Charles Darwin, explorer Captain James Cook, novelist William Thackeray, and astronomer Edmond Halley all stayed here.
1 / 6
1 / 6
A swimming pool in Jamestown draws “Saints,” aka St. Helena residents.
A swimming pool in Jamestown draws “Saints,” aka St. Helena residents.
And Napoleon’s future war foe, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, made a memorable visit in 1805 as he returned to England from India. “The boat taking him ashore capsized in the rough seas. Three people drowned,” says octogenarian local tour guide Basil George, as we stroll around the docks of the capital city, Jamestown. “Wellington couldn’t swim, but a young boy came to his rescue. If he hadn’t, the Battle of Waterloo might never have happened!”
Residents hope the airport will give younger islanders (known as Saints) a shot at a future that doesn’t force them to leave in search of work. Aaron Legg—a fifth-generation Saint—used to depend on farming, but has diversified to offer 4x4 adventure tours of the island. “I don’t have to wait three weeks for my next client,” he says as we scan the scrub for the endemic wirebird (also known as the St. Helena plover). “The airport also gives me the freedom to travel, without taking too much time away from my business.”
But not everyone is pro airport. In 2002, a referendum was held allowing islanders to vote for or against it. Only half the population turned up, making the win somewhat skewed. The economic crisis hit, funds dried up, and plans were iced until 2012, when ground was broken without a second vote. “I didn’t vote for the airport. I wasn’t sure if we could adapt quickly enough. The younger ones can, but we’re used to a slower pace of life,” says Robinson. She worries that this impingement on their isolation will be detrimental. “We’re so protected here: no crime, no locked doors.”
Left:
Young St. Helena residents take to the hills for recreation.
Right:
Dramatic rocky landscapes lure hikers to St. Helena.
So what can travelers expect? Forget fantasies of white-sand beaches and palm trees. St. Helena stars ocean-carved cliffs, steep rain-cut valleys cloaked in vast fields of flax, and lush fern-filled forests lapped by swirling tidal mists. And the sand spread along the curve of Sandy Bay is black.
The island seems rigged for adventure. Thirty species of endemic fish wiggle in its waters, and, from January to March, so do whale sharks. Naturalists can go nose to nose with the world’s oldest living animal, Jonathan the Giant Tortoise (hatched around 1832) at Plantation House, and spot endemic species such as the wirebird and miniature blushing snail.
You can sip the world’s most-remote coffee, down a dram of Tungi (prickly pear-cactus spirit), and munch on fishcakes or bread ‘n’ dance (tomato paste sandwiches). And, come nightfall, tip your head back to gaze at very twinkly skies. The island is awaiting official Dark Sky Association recognition. “We’re unique because from here you can see both the Southern Cross and the Plough,” says Thompson.
Left:
St. Helena natives Gloria Yon, left, and Pamela Moyce, work at Plantation House, the 1792 manse built by the East India Company. The building now serves as the residence of the island’s governer.
Right:
History buffs can dig into Napoleon’s past by touring Longwood House, where he lived from 1815 until his death in 1821. Highlights include a copper bathtub where the “little corporal” spent hours reading and composing his memoirs as well as the peepholes he had carved in the window shutters, the better to spy on his guards outside. The tomb where h...
Against this ruggedness and history, island life is a calm succession of days where locals still barter pumpkins for chickens; mobile-phone coverage was only rolled out in 2015; and the two traffic circles “haven’t quite been mastered yet,” says Stephen Biggs, owner of Farm Lodge Country House B&B. With only around 4,500 islanders, family is, literally, everything. “Everyone’s an auntie and uncle—even if they’re not!” laughs resident Matt Joshua. So it’s first names only on the island radio. Indeed, on my second day, as I’m wandering around Jamestown taking photos, a woman crosses my camera shutter. “Can I have a copy? My name’s Molly,” she smiles, as if that’s all the information I'd need to pass it along.
Remoteness does come with challenges: It’s hard to find some cooking ingredients, and internet and mobile phone coverage can be spotty. But isolation is also St. Helena’s appeal. Stranded both digitally and geographically, you slip back into a slower gear and return to simple pleasures. Locals greet you in the street or wave to you when passing on the roads (regardless of whether they know you). There are pockets of prolonged silence, and you find yourself playing board games beside roaring fires.
Travelers should grab this chance of a digital detox. Snaking beneath the ocean is a branch of the South Atlantic Express submarine fiber-optic cable—connecting South Africa to the U.S. East Coast—which will arrive soon and end St. Helena’s digital isolation. “It’ll have a much bigger effect than the airport,” says Helena Bennett, director of tourism.
The RMS St. Helena was retired in 2018. Cargo ships still come, but the age of travelers glimpsing this halo of rock from the water is over. Does arriving by air change the experience? Rainer Schimpf, a South Africa-based dive operator hoping to lead expeditions here, has tried both. “People loved the RMS because it was like stepping back in time—you’d expect to see Humphrey Bogart in the corridors. By the time you arrived, you were friends with everyone and knew all about the island. I was expecting the plane to be different, but there were still lots of conversations being held back and forth across the aisle—it’s not like a normal flight.”
The airport may be a real solution to ending the island’s economic dependency, but tourism can only be sustainable when visitors arrive weekly instead of once a month. Wanted or not, change is—literally—winging its way to St. Helena.
This story is adapted from National Geographic Traveller U.K. Emma Thomson is a travel writer based in the U.K. Follow her on Twitter.
•Nat Geo Expeditions
Book your next trip with Peace of Mind
St. Helena is a British outpost in the Atlantic Ocean, where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled and died. Learn about its history, culture, wildlife, and challenges of tourism.
St Helena Island. South Atlantic Ocean. A breath of fresh air. St Helena Island is one of the remotest Islands on Earth. It is a subtropical paradise where the mountainous terrain and micro-climates create an astounding diversity of landscapes all within a few minute’s drive.
People also ask
Why did Napoleon Bonaparte leave Saint Helena Island?
Are there Scouts on Saint Helena and Ascension Island?
What happened to St Helena's native flora and fauna?
Apr 19, 2024 · Saint Helena, island and British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies about 1,200 miles (1,950 km) west of the southwestern coast of Africa. St. Helena has a maximum length (southwest-northeast) of 10.5 miles (17 km) and a maximum breadth of 6.5 miles (10 km).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Island. The Location. The Climate. The People. The Tradition. With its uniquely rich diversity of heritage-based attractions, both built and natural, St Helena offers many things to see and lots to do — from visiting the Georgian town to the rugged coastline, from the rolling hills to the stark yet striking geology at Sandy Bay.
Saint Helena Island (pron. huh-LEE-nuh) is in the eastern part of the South Atlantic Ocean and is one of the world's most isolated islands. If you start crossing the Atlantic due west from the border between Namibia and Angola, Saint Helena Island will appear about one-third of the way across to Brazil.
Apr 28, 2021 · Saint Helena is a remote tropical volcanic island that is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the South Atlantic Ocean. The island is geographically positioned about 1,950 km west of the southwestern coast of Africa and about 4,000 km to the east of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
