All over the planet, places of isolation, reclusion, and obscurity fly under the radar. Whether they’re separated by thousands of miles of ocean, protected by indigenous residents, or they require specific modes of transportation, many of these secluded environments and communities are once-in-a-lifetime journeys made by the bravest of adventurers and forever itemized on the bucket lists of others. Read on to find out more about the most remote locations scattered around the globe.
Tristan da Cunha
Easter Island
With more than 1,200 miles separating Easter Island from the nearest populated island to its east, and set more than 2,200 miles west of Chile, this is one of the most isolated places in the world. Though it’s set far out from continental land masses, many people know about and can identify the moai statues carved by Polynesian settlers, showing the extended reach of the culture, even from its distant location in the South Pacific Ocean.
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Situated below the Ross Sea, on a peninsula poking into McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station is one of the final places reachable by ship in Antarctica. With a rotating population that reaches around 1,200 in the summer, it drops dramatically to about 250 once harsh winters return, McMurdo Station is inhabited by both scientific researchers and civilians who keep the tiny town moving, even when everything else is frozen.
Javari Valley, Brazil
To preserve their way of living and governing, several indigenous Amazonian tribes are concentrated in the Javari Valley. Though the Javari Valley encompasses close to 33,000 square miles in Brazil, it shares a border with Peru, edged by the Javari River it’s named after. This part of the Amazon is considered an exclusion zone and often observed through footage captured by air.
Hawaiian Islands
Though the Hawaiian Islands are a highly visited archipelago, the island chain is 2,390 miles away from the mainland US and nearly 4,000 miles away from Japan. Made up of eight main islands, the state of Hawaii has more than 1.4 million permanent residents, most of whom live on Oahu, making it the most isolated center of population in the world.
Socotra Island
The Yemeni island of Socotra is so remote, visitors can only only access the wonderland by hopping on a flight that leaves weekly from Cairo, Egypt (and includes a layover in Seiyun, Yemen), or via a two- to three-day voyage on a cement ship from Salalah, Oman. Because of the limited accessibility, Socotra has escaped much of the devastation of Yemen’s civil war and is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for its unique flora and fauna, much of which does not occur naturally anywhere else in the world.
Pitcairn Islands
The only British Overseas Territory located in the South Pacific Ocean, the Pitcairn Islands have a year-round population of fewer than 100 people. Without an airstrip, hopeful visitors have to first fly from Tahiti, which is nearly 1,400 miles away, to the French Polynesian island of Mangareva, then finally take a cargo ship to reach the subtropical paradise of the Pitcairn Islands.
