De Nova failed to register his discovery thus it became Ascension Island when Portuguese navigator, Alfonso de Albuquerque rediscovered it on Ascension Day in 1503. The island was first discovered in 1501 by Portuguese explorer, Joao De Nova, who named it Conception. Car hire is your only option (two providers)įuel – one provider with very limited and irregular opening hours. Getting around – There is no public transport. Sleeping – there is one hotel provider on the islandĮating and “shopping”– very limited options with the establishments all having rather limited and irregular opening hours A small number of cruise ships have Ascension Island on their itineraries but for reasons I will explain in a separate review this is not the best option for seeing the island. I arrived from Cape Town via St Helena and continued on to Brize Norton. Getting there is neither easy nor cheap – you have two options (unless you own a yacht or can hitch a lift on one) – a Royal Air Force flight from Brize Norton in England or by ship – the RMS St Helena from Cape Town via St Helena. Some practicalities (none of which should put you off visiting) I do hope you enjoy this introduction and the reviews which follow and hopefully a few of you will be inspired sufficiently to visit this fantastic island. My subsequent reviews elaborate on and add to the details provided in this introduction. In this review I make an attempt to provide a potted history of the island and some rudimentary commentary on its animal and plant life. “A strange farrago of volcanic activity and tropical verdure, a true medley of ugliness and beauty painted in red, brown and grey, the home of the giant turtle and in the track of the south-east trades – Such is Ascension Island” LS Bartlett, Resident Magistrate, on the island from 1934 to 1936 well summed it up thus:. (Oct 17 update – sadly the termination of flights to/from the UK and the closure of the Island’s only hotel have made a private visit to the island pretty difficult to arrange – hopefully a solution to transport problems will eventuate in the neat future). It is one of the most remote inhabited places on the planet. Ascension Island is a tiny dot (88 square kilometres) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, some seven degrees south of the equator.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |