The Traveling Adjunct – 12 of the Most Remote Places on Earth (Part 2)

For all of you who think the world is really small, this is post is for you! Last month in the Traveling Adjunct, I posted Part 1, this month, I’m covering six more remote places on the planet – Enjoy!

7. MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA

A friend of mine was stationed at McMurdo when he was in the military and he took this photo in Antarctica. McMurdo is actually a research station and it’s operated by the United States, although technically, McMurdo is in the New Zealand part of Antarctica called the Ross Dependency. You’ll probably only go to McMurdo if you’re a scientist or in the military, but if you’re wondering how you get there…Uh, well you take a ski plane. Yup, that’s right, a plane equipped with skis – Crazy!

8. COOBER PEDY, AUSTRALIA

I know Coober Pedy from a movie called, “The Adventures of Prescilla Queen of the Desert”, but Cooper Pedy is really known for being the “opal capital of the world.” Opals were first discovered in the outback town around 1915 and Cooper Pedy still relies on opal mining (and tourism – it gets around 150,000 tourists every year). Roughly 525 miles from Adelaide, Cooper Pedy has just over 1,700 residents.

9. ITTOQQORTOORMIIT, GREENLAND

Ittoqqortoormiit is fairly young, having only been founded in 1925. Formerly named Scoresbysund, after the English Arctic explorer and whaler William Scoresby, it was later renamed “Ittoqqortoormiit” which is Greenlandic for “Big-House Dwellers”. As far as remote, Ittoqqortoormiit is about as remote as you can get, even for Greenland (and that’s saying something)! There aren’t many people there – only 450! And, to get to the town, you have to take a helicopter…from the airport! So, what’s there to do? Well, there are the Northern Lights, of course!

10. OYMYAKON, RUSSIA

Just a few hundred miles from the Arctic Circle in Siberia is Oymaykon, Russia. It’s the record holder for recording the coldest temperature ever -90 ! Yes you read that right NEGATIVE 90 degrees!  No. Thank. You. I mean, how do you even stay warm? Still, about 500 hard core people do live there. The most insane part – in winter, people just leave their cars running 24/7!

11. CHANGTANG, TIBET

Changtang is in the high altitude Tibetan Plateau between 2.5 to 4 miles above sea level. Where the heck is that? Well, that would be in western and northern Tibet. The Changpa, the nomadic people of Changtang, rely on livestock for survival – not only for food, but also for their livelihood. Today, most of Changtang is protected nature reserves consisting of the Chang Tang Nature Reserve, the second-largest nature reserve in the world.

12. SOCOTRA ISLAND, YEMEN

Sometimes called Soqotra, 37% of Socotra’s plant and animal species aren’t found anywhere on earth.  Socotra Island has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth” and was actually designated as a UNESCO world natural heritage site in 2008. The island is about 82 miles long and 31 miles wide and the thing I found interesting was that 145,000 people also live on the island!

Have you been to any of the places we’ve talked about over the last two posts?