I ARRIVED on St Helena exactly 189 years to the day after
Napoleon landed on the remote South Atlantic island as a prisoner
of the British, following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
Sometimes described as “one big volcanic pudding”, St Helena is one
of the remotest spots on Earth – 1,200 miles from the nearest
African mainland (Angola, to the west) and some 1,800 miles from
the next land mass east, Brazil. There is no airport, and only one
ship servicing the island.
Officially a British Dependent Territory, St Helena is in
reality a colony, comprising a huge lumbering bureaucracy of expats
fussing over the lives of the Saints. The island has 3,000 or so
inhabitants.
It took me seven days to get there aboard the 7,000-ton Royal
Mail Ship St Helena, one of the two remaining true passenger-cargo
ships in the world. The ship carries 128 passengers, 65 crew and
all of St Helena’s needs, apart from fuel. It also acts as
the single link between the thousands of Saints working in the UK,
Ascension Island and the Falklands, and their families back
home.
The ship is managed and marketed by Andrew Weir Shipping. Until
earlier this year it sailed from Portland to Ascension Island, St
Helena and Cape Town, with calls at Tenerife and Vigo. While this
trip took two weeks, it was always possible (and still is) to join
the ship at Ascension by hitching a lift on an RAF Tristar from
Brize Norton, or by flying to Cape Town and picking up the ship for
a week’s cruise to the island.
However, in order to boost cargo traffic and provide a more
frequent link to the island, the RMS is now based in Cape Town for
an experimental period, sailing via Lüderitz and Walvis Bay in
Namibia to St Helena, before taking a dog leg to Ascension and
returning to the island a week later. It is now possible to fly to
Walvis Bay via Cape Town or the Namibian capital Windhoek, join a
three-day cruise, spend a week on the island and then return to
Walvis Bay. The whole journey can now be done in 17 days, opening
the trip up to a much wider market of younger travellers with high
disposable incomes but limited time. A St Helena and Namibia
package is also possible.
Andrew Weir’s captain Bill Langworthy said: “The new
schedule offers around 200 standard options ranging in duration
from eight to 46 days. We are also happy to work with clients who
want a slightly different approach.”
The combination of St Helena and Namibia offers an unusual and
interesting holiday experience. The contrast between the two is
extraordinary – a small remote island and a vast empty
country now linked by one ship.
Despite its severe rocky exterior, St Helena’s interior is
tropical, lush and varied. The island has no snakes, poisonous
spiders or malaria to bother the visitor, the weather is tropical,
with warm summers and mild temperate winters and everyone speaks
English. There is very little crime and it took me a day or two to
get out of the habit of locking my car – I ended up leaving
the keys in the ignition.
While the coastal strip – including capital Jamestown
– is semi-desert, the interior, with its narrow, winding
roads consists of a series of lush ridges and valleys and tropical
forests clinging to the mountain sides. One moment you are in the
Lake District; the next a romantic tropical oasis.
Napoleon was, of course, St Helena’s most famous temporary
inhabitant and his house at Longwood is now a well-preserved museum
owned and run by the French Government. The house, his tomb and The
Briars, where he stayed until Longwood was ready for him, are
popular with tourists. There are varied and well-signposted walks;
you can take a leisurely tour around the island on Colin
Corker’s 1929 open top Chevrolet charabanc, or a walking tour
with the knowledgeable Basil George.
For naturalists there is an abundance of flowers and birds
including the endemic wire bird. Fishing and snorkelling are also
offered and a round on the nine-hole St Helena Golf Course –
possibly the most remote in the world – is an experience not
to be missed.
A word, however, on accommodation. St Helena is new to tourism
and its hotels and restaurants have a little to learn about modern
expectations. Visitors may feel a bit dictated to when it comes to
meal times and drinking hours.
The main hotel in Jamestown is The Consulate (£51 per
person full-board) which has spacious en-suite rooms and a good
dining room, although the owners are rigid about dining times. In
fact only Anne’s Place, an informal restaurant near the
harbour, will willingly serve meals ‘on spec’ without
pre-ordering. There are a number of good bed and breakfasts costing
around £20 a night – The Harlan, right above St
James’ Harbour, served an excellent breakfast on a terrace
perched high above the Atlantic.
However, the majority of visitors seemed happy because the
island is beautiful, its hosts are friendly and fellow tourists
thin on the ground.
St Helena is unforgettable and, with the right approach to
sustainable development, will be one to watch.
