Saint Helena

The British chose Saint Helena for Napoleon's second exile precisely because of its isolation — no other inhabited landmass sits within nearly 2,000 kilometres, which made an unassisted escape effectively impossible, unlike his first, much closer exile on Elba. He lived at Longwood House, now maintained by the French government under a 19th-century treaty, from 1815 until his death in 1821; The Briars, where he stayed during Longwood's renovation, and his original tomb site — his remains were returned to France in 1840, so it's the site itself, not a grave, that remains — round out the three protected Napoleonic sites open to visitors today.

Jamestown occupies the island's only significant flat ground — a narrow volcanic ravine running down to the sea — which is why the capital reads as one long street between cliff walls rather than a spread-out town; the same geography made it easy to defend, and Georgian-era fortifications still line the approach. Jacob's Ladder, the 699-step staircase climbing the cliff face above town, was originally built in 1829 to carry an inclined hoist moving manure and supplies between the town and the garrison above; the hoist is long gone, but the steps remain as both a shortcut and a genuine physical challenge for visitors.

Saint Helena's volcanic isolation — no landmass close enough to share its ecology — let its highest ground, Diana's Peak at 823 metres, develop cloud forest found nowhere else on Earth, thick with tree ferns and endemic plants that evolved in place over millions of years with no competition from mainland species. That same isolation explains the island's run of endemic wildlife beyond the peak: the wirebird, Saint Helena's national bird, and species like the giant earwig evolved within the same closed system. Trails range from easy coastal walks to the steeper interior routes up to the peak itself, with Heart Shaped Waterfall and the coastal rock pools at Lot's Wife's Ponds as popular lower-altitude targets.

Jonathan, resident at Plantation House, the Governor's official residence, is generally reckoned the world's oldest known living land animal at over 190 years old — he arrived on the island as a young adult tortoise from the Seychelles in 1882, which means he predates virtually every building and road in use on Saint Helena today. Plantation House has been the Governor's residence since the 18th century, and Jonathan has simply outlasted every governor who has lived there since his arrival; visitors can see him grazing the grounds, generally without needing a formal appointment.

The island sits in cold, nutrient-rich South Atlantic water rather than the warm shallow seas coral needs to build reefs, so diving and snorkelling here centre on deep volcanic rock formations and open-water pelagic life instead of a reef ecosystem. That same nutrient-rich water draws whale sharks to gather seasonally around the island, one of relatively few places worldwide where they aggregate predictably enough to dive with them. The ocean here runs deep close to shore and can be powerful, so boat trips and dive sites are chosen with local operators who know the current conditions.

Saint Helena Airport opened in 2016 specifically to end the island's total dependence on the RMS St. Helena supply ship, but its single runway sits on a narrow plateau exposed to strong crosswinds and wind shear off the cliffs, which is why only specially certified pilots fly the route and why the weekly service — currently via Johannesburg — is more schedule-sensitive to weather than most commercial flights. There is still no way to reach the island except that one route, so a trip here is planned around a single weekly connection rather than a choice of flights, and most visitors build flexible days into either end in case of delay.