Our editorial team has looked at nine potentially deadly islands where you wouldn’t want to get stranded or
Summary
- Queimada Island, Brésil
- Miyake-jima, Japan
- Saba, Netherlands Antilles
- Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
- North Sentinel Island, Andaman Islands (Indian Ocean)
- Gruinard Island, Scotland
- Farallon Islands, USA
- Ramree Island, Burma
- Thilafushi Island, Maldives
Most of the islands that we are going to present to you here seem to have everything to be among the most beautiful islands in the world … On closer inspection, no one would want to set foot there. Why ? They are the most dangerous islands on Earth. Poisonous snakes, hungry crocodiles, irradiated soil, etc. Each of these islands has something that makes it a nightmare for a vacation in the sun.
1. Queimada Island, Brésil
Photo credit: viajeaqui.abril.com.br
Ilha da Queimada, nicknamed “Snake Island ,” sits off the coast of Brazil and is home to thousands of Golden Spearhead Vipers, and little else. These snakes are among the most venomous in the world, and there are, according to local legend, about five of these crawling critters in every square meter of the island. For years the only human inhabitant was a lighthouse keeper, but now the Brazilian Navy prohibits any civilians from entering the island.
2. Miyake-jima, Japan
Located in the Izu Archipelago off Tokyo, Japan, Miyake-jima’s most prominent feature is its active volcano, Mount Oyama, which has erupted several times in recent decades. Since the most recent eruption in 2005, toxic fumes have been leaking from the volcano and visitors are forced to wear a gas mask at all times. Sirens go off across the island when sulfur levels rise sharply.
3. Saba, Netherlands Antilles
According to the Caribbean Hurricane Network, the tiny island of Saba has been hit by the heaviest hurricanes in the past 150 years, more than any other island in the region, including fifteen Category 3 and seven Category 5 hurricanes. you on this island only in winter.
4. Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is dangerous for two reasons: nuclear radiation and sharks. It was the site of more than 20 nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958, and although the islands were declared ‘safe’ in 1997, their inhabitants have refused to return, and eating locally grown produce is discouraged. Additionally, the lack of fishing in the area over the past 65 years has resulted in a thriving marine life and especially sharks which, along with the many shipwrecks in the area, attracts hundreds of divers each year.
5. North Sentinel Island, Andaman Islands (Indian Ocean)
This small island populated by about two hundred individuals, called the Sentinels, is famous for hosting the most isolated people in the world. Any attempt to contact the outside results in the firing of stones and arrows. In 2006, two fishermen who had ended up in the North Sentinel Island sea area were killed by archers.
6. Gruinard Island, Scotland
This small island in northern Scotland was used by the British government for biological weapons testing during World War II. Experiments were carried out on the uninhabited island using the highly virulent anthrax bacillus , which killed hundreds of sheep and forced authorities to quarantine the island. The island was decontaminated in the 1980s, using hundreds of tons of formaldehyde, another potentially dangerous material.
7. Farallon Islands, USA
Between 1946 and 1970, the waters around the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco served as a dumping site for radioactive waste. An estimated 48,000 barrels of low-level radioactive waste were dumped off the islands, but their exact location and environmental hazard remain uncertain. There is also a large elephant seal population, which attracts dozens of great white sharks. In March 2015, the wreckage of the aircraft carrier USS Independence was rediscovered in the area; the measurements taken near the wreck do not show any nuclear contamination, despite a load of barrels of waste during its voluntary torpedoing in 1951.
8. Ramree Island, Burma
This island, off the coast of Burma, is famous for a horrific incident that took place during World War II. In 1945, following fighting between British and Japanese troops, some 400 Japanese soldiers were forced to flee to the swamps surrounding the island, where they were apparently attacked by a large population of saltwater crocodiles. The incident is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, “the greatest catastrophe endured (by humans) by animals”.
9. Thilafushi Island, Maldives
We call it the trash island. Indeed, the island nation of the Maldives cannot bury its waste in huge landfills like the rest of us do. Faced with a lot of waste and few options, the Maldivians decided to start dumping it in an uninhabited lagoon. No need to come with your towel and bathing suit here, there is no place to spread out on the beach
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