100 Places You Will Never Visit (11 page)

Others, though, prefer a more rational solution. They do not believe the pit is a man-made construct at all but simply a natural sinkhole or underground cavern. What is for sure is that until there is conclusive evidence either way, the search for the secret treasure of the Oak Island Money Pit will go on.

Key: 1. Top of original pit, dug in 1795, 2. Secondary shaft excavated in 1849, 3. Shaft dug through original pit in 1897, 4. Oak platforms, 5. Level of 1804 flood, 6. Level at which inscribed stone was discovered in 1804, 7. Flood tunnel, 8. Layers of metal and wood discovered in 1849 shaft, 9. Iron sheet discovered in late 1890s, 10. Stone and wood layers at base of 1898 shaft, 11. Parchment fragment recovered from base of pit.

35 Guantánamo Bay Detention Center

LOCATION Guantánamo Province, southern Cuba

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Guantánamo, Cuba

SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: home of a notorious US prison camp established after the attacks of 2001.

Established in 2002, following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Guantánamo (sometimes known colloquially as Gitmo) was set up to detain terror suspects captured during fighting in Afghanistan and, later, Iraq. The US has come under international pressure to close it down, with human rights group Amnesty International describing it as “the gulag of our times.”

There has been a US naval base on the banks of Guantánamo Bay ever since 1898, when the country took control of Cuba following the Spanish-American War. In 1902 Cuba won independence, and the following year its government agreed to lease Guantánamo Bay to the Americans in perpetuity (though the communist regime in place since the Cuban revolution of 1959 does not recognize the agreement as legal).

The naval base covers 120 square kilometers (46 sq miles) and is the only US base situated in a country with which it does not share diplomatic ties. After the 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Philadelphia, George Bush famously declared a “War on Terror” and set up a detention camp at Guantánamo for individuals considered a potential threat to American security. Natural defenses including sea and surrounding swampland, combined with nearby minefields and a permanent military guard, makes Guantánamo one of the most secure detention facilities on the planet.

Many of the inmates held here were captured during US military action in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s, but a large number came from elsewhere, and were handed over by third parties in exchange for rewards. Guantánamo’s main detention camp, Camp Delta—with room for over 600 prisoners and perched on a cliff overlooking the sea—opened in April 2002, taking over duties from Camp X-ray, which closed in the same month.

WHO GOES THERE? Detainees at Guantánamo are kept under constant surveillance by US military personnel. To date, there have been no recorded instances of escapes from the Cuban enclave. The chances of success for such an enterprise are minimal, given the camp’s physical position and its state-of-the-art security systems.

Images of manacled prisoners in orange jumpsuits, kneeling on the ground in outdoor cages as guards watched over them, rapidly became one of the most enduring images of the early 21st century—particularly among those concerned that Washington was dispensing with acceptable judicial practice in respect of terror suspects.

The Bush administration categorized the Guantánamo detainees as “unlawful enemy combatants”—a status that denied them the rights of prisoners of war set out under the Geneva Convention but did not require that they be put through the US criminal justice system. Instead, a system of military commissions was put into operation. According to Amnesty International, as of 2009 almost 800 prisoners had been held at the camp, but only 26 had been charged for trial by military commission and just three had been convicted.

Within a very short time of opening, Guantánamo was attracting international attention as inmates were held indefinitely without trial. There were also regular reports of alleged mistreatment, ranging from excessive use of solitary confinement to beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged exposure to extreme noise and light, and mishandling of the Koran by guards. Some former inmates even alleged sexual degradation. The United Nations called for the closure of the camp, but Washington insisted it was necessary for the defense of the nation and denied allegations of inhumane treatment.

The camp’s defenders claim that it has produced intelligence key to preventing further terrorist attacks in the US and elsewhere. However, questions over techniques used to interrogate prisoners prompted a debate as to the definition of torture. For instance, there have been widespread claims that “waterboarding” was used on certain inmates, in which an immobilized prisoner has water poured over them, causing them to feel like they are drowning.

Some have argued that waterboarding constitutes a form of coercion that falls outside the definition of torture, though many others—including President Obama—concluded that it does indeed qualify, rendering any intelligence it produces as without legal merit. (It should be noted that Donald Rumsfeld, the former US Secretary of Defense, has dismissed the allegations that waterboarding took place at the camp as a “myth”).

Guantánamo has been the subject of fierce courtroom debate for years, principally concerning the legal status of inmates. During his bid for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama referred to the camp as a “sad chapter in American history.” He would later say that his administration would have failed if within two years of coming to power it had not “closed down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our constitution.” However, plans to transfer prisoners to high-security facilities on the US mainland met significant domestic opposition, and as of 2012 the camp was still operating.

1 AMERICAN ENCLAVE Surrounded by steep hills on all sides, Guantánamo is the largest bay on Cuba’s southern coast. Christopher Columbus landed here in 1494 during his exploration of the “New World,” and it has been a de facto American possession, by virtue of a perpetual lease, since 1903.

2 HARD TIME Camp Delta, the permanent detention camp that replaced the temporary Camp X-ray in 2002, is divided into a number of sub-camps, with some running a moderately more relaxed regime than others. Nonetheless, conditions here remain a concern for human rights groups.

36 Snake Island

LOCATION Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of São Paulo State, Brazil

NEAREST POPULATION HUB São Paulo

SECRECY OVERVIEW Access restricted: a snake-infested island off-limits to visitors.

Lying just off the coast of Brazil, the island of Ilha da Queimada Grande is populated by a unique and highly venomous species of lancehead viper. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this small island has become known as Snake Island—an ophidiophobic’s vision of hell, only doughty scientists and crazed adventurers dare set foot on its ground.

Snake Island is home to a vast colony of golden lancehead pit vipers (Bothrops insularis), among the most poisonous snakes on the planet. The golden lancehead is only to be found on this one particular island, so it is understandably rather protective of its territory. Its venom is about five times as potent as that of its cousin, the fer-de-lance, which is itself responsible for more South American snakebite deaths than any other species.

Just getting to the island, which covers about 45 hectares (110 acres), takes considerable determination. It is first necessary to cross a 30-kilometers (19-mile) stretch of choppy water from the coast of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and there are few local sea captains willing to make the trip. Once at the island, there is no beach to speak of, and access is via a steep, rocky slope covered in hand-mincing barnacles. All of which is somewhat academic, given that the Brazilian Navy expressly forbids civilians from landing there anyway. Only accredited scientists are occasionally given special dispensation to visit.

There are at least 5,000 snakes writhing around the place, with conservative estimates suggesting one for every square meter (10 sq ft): they have even taken over a now-defunct lighthouse. Being lighthouse keeper here surely ranked high among the worst jobs in the world. Legend has it that the last keeper lived there with his family until snakes got into their cottage. As they tried to flee, they were taken out one by one by vipers dangling from the branches of overhanging trees. Myth or not, the best advice is to leave their home as it is—a secret serpentine paradise.

37 Surtsey

LOCATION South of the Icelandic coast

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Reykjavik, Iceland

SECRECY OVERVIEW Access restricted: arguably the world’s most pristine natural habitat, unspoiled by human intervention.

The North Atlantic island of Surtsey is among the planet’s youngest places, having emerged from the sea during an underwater volcanic eruption that lasted from 1963 until 1967. The territory was quickly declared a nature reserve, and only a small band of accredited scientists has ever been allowed to land there to record how life on Earth spontaneously develops.

The infant island lies around 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southwest of Heimaey, the largest of the Westman Islands. The first indications of a volcanic eruption underway here came on November 14, 1963, when changes in the surrounding water temperature, a rising plume of smoke and the smell of hydrogen sulfide were all observed. However, the eruption is thought to have begun several days earlier, some 130 meters (430 ft) beneath the sea.

The eruption followed the line of a tectonic fissure, and emerged from the sea in columns of dust and ash that reached heights of several kilometers. Within a week, an island had formed. It was named Surtsey, after Surtr the fire giant of Nordic mythology. Although the sea immediately began to erode some of its territory, continuing eruptions that added to the land mass more than kept pace. The island achieved its maximum diameter of more than 1,300 meters (4,300 ft) in the early part of 1964. Iceland quickly asserted dominion over it, and declared it a nature reserve.

By the time the eruptions came to an end in June 1967, Surtsey covered an area of 2.7 square kilometers (1 sq mile). It consisted of roughly two-thirds tephra (rock fragments thrown up during an eruption) and one-third rapidly cooling lava. While the tephra has gradually washed away over the years, the hard lava core has proved far more resilient. It has been estimated that the wind-battered island will not be returned to the sea before 2100 at the earliest, and it may survive for several centuries. However, two smaller sister islands that appeared during the original eruption were soon eroded to nothing by the Atlantic waves.

Scientists were quick to realize that Surtsey offered a unique opportunity to study geological and biological evolution on virgin land. If man can be kept at bay, the island’s remote location means there are few threats to its well-being other than the sea itself. The first vascular plant was discovered as early as 1965, although the first bush, an altogether more complex and demanding form of plant life, was not to appear until 1998. The island’s poor-quality soil was quickly improved by the guano from birds that started flocking there around 1970. The first resident bird species were the fulmar and guillemot, and the soil can now support complex life forms, such as earthworms. Seals started breeding on Surtsey in 1983.

As for humans, landing on the island is strictly forbidden, unless you are a scientist who has been awarded a permit by the Surtsey Research Society, which supervises all activity on the island on behalf of the Icelandic Environment and Food Agency. Diving in the island’s environs is not allowed, nor is disturbing any of its natural features, introducing any organisms, soils or minerals, or leaving any waste. It is also forbidden to discharge a firearm within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of the coast.

LONELY OUTPOST The only concession to mankind on the island is a rudimentary hut that serves as home to visiting scientific personnel. It is administered by the Surtsey Research Society, which works hard to ensure that the landscape remains unspoiled for the species that have gradually colonized it.

While most of the species so far found on Surtsey have clearly been brought here by natural “vectors,” human-imported crops were discovered (and promptly removed) on two occasions during the 1970s. In the first instance, a tomato plant was found: it is thought that a researcher must have had a hearty lunch and then been caught short, prompting an instance of unregulated seed dispersal! In 1977 a crop of potatoes was discovered dug into the ground, and the finger of blame was firmly pointed at some spirited young boys from the nearby Westman Islands who had rowed out to Surtsey during the spring.

The island was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 2008. By 2004, the assorted life recorded on the island included 69 vascular plants, 71 lichen, 24 fungi, 14 bird species and 335 species of invertebrates. In 2009 it was widely reported that a Golden Plover was found nesting on the island, the first wading bird to do so. Each year, somewhere between two and five new species are discovered.

The one nod to human comforts is a basic prefabricated hut where scientific researchers are stationed. It contains little more than a few bunks, a solar panel to produce energy and a radio for use in emergencies. There is also a dartboard to provide entertainment.

1 VOLCANIC ISLAND Surtsey’s geography has changed considerably since it first emerged from the sea. For instance, it lost about a meter in height in the 20 years following the original eruption. The island is still subject to volcanic activity, as evidenced in the close-up photo.

38 The Royal Mint

LOCATION Llantrisant, South Wales

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Cardiff, Wales

SECRECY OVERVIEW High-security location: where people literally make money.

Since the late 1960s, responsibility for minting all of the UK’s money has fallen on the Royal Mint’s operations at Llantrisant in South Wales. Able to produce 5 billion coins each year, it is now the world’s leading exporting Mint as well, manufacturing coins for some 60 other countries. With all that cash floating around, it is no surprise that the Mint does not welcome uninvited guests.