Saint Helena – one of the most remote islands

Saint Helena – one of the most remote islands

Everyone knows the island of Saint Helena as the place where Napoleon was exiled to. It’s part of the British overseas department of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Since 2017 it’s been possible to get there by plane, in the past it would only be possible to get there by boat, which would take 5 days. I went there in 2018 and I’m going to tell you how to get there and what’s there to see and do!

The ship RMS Saint Helena has been decommissioned, so you should get there by plane. There’s only one flight a week and it’s operated by Airlink. There are some quarks with this flight, so be vigilant. In my case, (un)lucky as I am, my return flight was delayed for 3 days. Fortunately it was not the flight in, but I did miss my return flight back to the Netherlands. Strangely the flight check-in was in the domestic terminal at OR Tambo, so be sure to check that as well. Lastly you’ll make a stop  at Windhoek airport for refueling.

Upon entry you have to show proof of medical insurance and pay landing fees of 20 GBP, in cash. You can only get cash (from a desk) after immigration. If you are sometimes slightly unprepared like yours truly, and you cannot pay, you must report back to the immigration office in Jamestown on a later date to pay and get restamped. It’s not a big deal though, it’s not like you can go off to anywhere. Prepaid sim cards are available but expensive.

There are various nice hotels, most of them are located in Jamestown. I stayed at Briar Rose which is a bit more uphill from Jamestown. This made me a direct neighbour of The Briars Pavilion, the house where Napoleon lived for the first two months on Saint Helena.

There’s no public transportation. Therefore I recommend you rent a car for touring Saint Helena. The island is beautiful with various landscapes on the different sides of the island, and the freedom to stop everywhere for pictures is priceless. You can view and contact the various providers here, with a special shout out to Patrick, I had some scratches to the front left and the left mirror for which he let me off the hook.

Driving in Saint Helena is not dangerous, it’s (not yet) overcrowded. The roads are very small though. Climbing traffic comes first. Video below shows a first person view of driving and the roads in Saint Helena. Here I was driving down towards Sandy Bay Beach. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing be sure to watch around the 14:00 minute mark because it shows a bit of a view of the valley towards Sandy Bay Beach.

^{First person view driving on the island of Saint Helena. It’s almost like driving yourself 😉}

There are various Napoleon landmarks scattered around the island to visit. Saint Helena also has a lot of beautiful nature to discover, the land has various different landscapes. You can do so by car, various hikes or rent a boat in Jamestown.

The middle of the island and the north are quite green while the south suffers harsher conditions. It’s safe to swim on the north side of the island, you can get in at the harbour. I do not recommend swimming on the south side of the island. If the season’s right, whale sharks can be observed around the island.

The most iconic view in Jamestown is Jacob’s Ladder. With 699 steps it’s quite a climb, even moreso because the steps are quite big, but the view’s wonderful. If you don’t feel like climbing you can cheat by driving around and you can also enjoy the view.

There’s also a little museum about Saint Helena which is a good place to start your visit. Be sure to send a postcard from the Post Office and you can walk the harbour and the fortifications close to it. If you fancy a swim or want to snorkel, you can do so safely from the harbour. I went out a bit into the harbour to snorkel to one of the sunken ships. Visibility was not good and I did not see anything special unfortunately. If you’re interested in where they are you can visit the tourist office as they can tell you.

Check the tourist office for opening times of the various Napoleon sights. It’s possible to do all three of them in one day. Quite close to Jamestown or maybe still is Jamestown, a little uphill there’s the Briars. Here’s the Briars Pavilion, where Napoleon waited for his main mansion to be built. It’s nice, but not as impressive as the mansion. All three sights are owned by the French government, but Saint Helena and France take care of the sights together.

The second sight is Napoleons tomb. It’s a single tomb in a big patch of green. The grave is currently empty as Napoleon has been relocated to Les Invalides. There is not engraving on the stone because France wanted only NAPOLEON on it, but the Governor of Saint Helena insisted that BONAPARTE be added. Thus the stone was left bare. It’s not allowed to go too close.

Longwood House is where Napoleon stayed the last 5 years of his life and died. It’s currently a museum and well worth a visit. The gardens around it are beautifully kept and worth some time too. I doubt the furniture in there is still original, but there’s a lot of history in there. Impressive.

The nature in Saint Helena is beautiful, there are several points which are only accessible by hiking. I did 3 hikes and a short one to the Heart Shaped Waterfall. It’s got it name from the shape of the rocks. If you like to walk this is a nice walk through the forest, but you don’t get a better view up close.

The first hike I did was to Lot’s Wife’s Ponds. This one is absolutely amazing. The ponds are natural sea pools, the terrain is rough but the ponds are safe to swim or waddle in. High waves will splash over the rocks and add additional water to the ponds. Because it’s not busy in Saint Helena, there’s a fat chance you will here all by yourself when you decide to go.  There are a lot of crabs and if you’re lucky you can see an octopus here.

The hike towards it is not for the faint of heart, there are some narrow paths along the mountains. Sometimes these paths consist of loose sand or rubble which can slide. Along the way you will also witness Gorilla’s Head rock. At the end of the hike you will find a rope which you need to use climb down to the ponds. Be sure to go with multiple persons or inform someone that you are going. There is no cell phone reception.

The second one I went to was Lemon Valley. I chose this one because I already saw the south of the island with my previous hike and now I wanted to see the north. At the end of this hike I end up by the sea, I took my snorkel with me so I could have a dip in the sea, have some rest and then hike back up. There’s a lot of difference in vegetation in comparison to Lot’s Wife’s Ponds and Sandy Bay Beach, no lemon trees here though!

Because Lemon Valley Beach is at the north of the island it’s safe to swim. I snorkeled around the beach a bit, there were some colourful fish, the biggest one I saw was a parrot fish. But if I’m honest there are better places to go snorkeling. If you only want to go here for the beach, this is the only beach suitable for actually sitting and relaxing on, you can also go there by boat.

The third hike I did was to the top of the island, Diana’s Peak. On bright days this shows a full overview of the whole island. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy the whole duration of my visit. The upside was that it wasn’t too hot when I was climbing, the downside was that this hike was very slippery on some parts because of wet grass and mud. This hike shows you how green the center of the island is.

All these hikes and more are part of the postbox walks. You can find them here and for some more information you can visit the Tourist Office in Jamestown.

Lastly you should also visit the Plantation House and the tortoises. I believe most of them hail from the Seychelles. Jonathan is claimed to be the oldest land creature still alive. In total there are still 4 tortoises around. I also walked through the forest close to the Plantation House and climbed up the hill a bit, from there you can get a nice view of the Plantation House.

A week is just enough for a visit and you will be able to see the whole island. The mix of history and nature is just perfect in Saint Helena. If you’re really into hiking you can stay for two weeks and do all the postbox walks.

This trip was made in 2018.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

 culture hiking island nature