The island at the end of the earth

Imagine adlace-with the cleanest air arid:the clearest seawater, where_no human.oranimabwants to:harm you: A placewhere the climates balmy. year-round:-with a sekrhistory ahd wwild scenery. A place like this:exist8” and it’s called St Helena.

- PIERRE STEYN

Some people believe in love at first sight, but when it comes to St Helena Island, that’s not always the case. This volcanic outcrop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is barely 16km long and 8km wide.

“It is not an attractive place, I should have done better to remain in Egypt,” said the island’s most famous resident, Napoleon Bonaparte, on 15 October 1815 as he studied the black cliffs towering over Jamestown through his telescope on the deck of a British warship.

St Helena is almost 1900km west of the Kunene River mouth (the border between Namibia and Angola) and 4000km east of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. “It’s further away from anywhere than anywhere else in the world,” wrote the French naval officer Gilbert Martineau in his book Napoleon’s St. Helena.

The residents of Tristan da Cunha might have a bone to pick with Martineau about that statement, but it’s true that the British exiled the French emperor to St Helena because it was so remote. At the time, it was Britain’s favourite exile destination for most “troublemakers”. The Zulu king Dinuzulu was sent here in 1890 for seven years, and the first of nearly 4500 Boer prisoners of war arrived in April 1900.

The island’s isolation, its rich history and its strong connection to South Africa have always captivated me. But there’s far more to see here than historical ruins, as I’ve been assured by others who’ve been to St Helena and fallen in love with the place.

It’s January when my wife Ronel and I join a tour to St Helena led by Live the Journey. We’ll spend a week on the island with 11 other South Africans, exploring with local guides.