Is this the hardest place in the world to visit?

I find it interesting that we're so starved for authenticity and anything uncontaminated by modern society, we even embrace the worst and most savage of what came before.

For folks who romanticize cannibals and killers....Tribal or not... Would that be as amusing as they sit there examining your prone form for what part of your body to eat first? .....as I gathered from looking at some of these tribes in anthropology? Killing the victim first isn't necessarily important and can detract from the culinary 'delights'...or so it's speculated for purpose.

I love native tribes untouched as well. There are some in South America with very little to no contact ...but they don't turn homicidal and murder anything they come in contact with either. They just choose to disengage or keep a distance in most cases... Hmmm..

Shoot at aid helicopters? Well.. I'm a little mean at times ..but fighter/bombers have to dump excess fuel and unexpended ordnance somewhere before landing..... Let the next package be something more powerful than MRE's and packaged aid supplies. (I just lose all humor when people are determined to kill and/or skin me on sight)

I don't think it counts as "shoot first, ask questions later" and terrible human behavior that after two children and an adult who never returned were abducted from them they started attacking anybody who tried to come near them. Pretty sure most people here would say if a bunch of Canadians came over, kidnapped your kids, then returned them with gifts, you wouldn't be like 'oh, that's nice, let's have tea'.

reply to post by sepermeru


Hmmm.. Pretty sure homicidal mania and the threat to any living thing coming too close to a whole island isn't tolerated anywhere else in the world.

It'll take a high profile "postcard" type family on vacation landing on that island for the world to see what became dinner ...for outrage I suppose.

Give it time... Eventually, some sailboat will get into trouble and by sheer odds...will pick that one to land on for help, and this island and it's people will become as well known as Paris Hilton for very very different reasons.

Interesting to read about until then tho.

Wrabbit2000
reply to post by sepermeru

 

Hmmm.. Pretty sure homicidal mania and the threat to any living thing coming too close to a whole island isn't tolerated anywhere else in the world.

It'll take a high profile "postcard" type family on vacation landing on that island for the world to see what became dinner ...for outrage I suppose.

Give it time... Eventually, some sailboat will get into trouble and by sheer odds...will pick that one to land on for help, and this island and it's people will become as well known as Paris Hilton for very very different reasons.

Interesting to read about until then tho.

Wouldn't matter if the world became outraged, it comes down to them owning the island and their laws. If a postcard family did go and die by their hands there is nothing anyone could do to 'bring them to justice'. There would be no war against them as one attack would wipe out their civilization causing global backlash for the country stupid enough to commit genocide on them.

Best way to deal with this? Leave them be, let them keep their land and way of life. If any unfortunate soul winds up there the world would mourn and move on.

reply to post by thekaboose

Best way to deal with this? Leave them be, let them keep their land and way of life. If any unfortunate soul winds up there the world would mourn and move on.

That works for me too.. No need to seek out trouble with people and I hope nautical charts mark it as a potentially deadly hazard.

I'd still say attitudes change about 180 degrees when/if a photogenic family on their idyllic sailboat tour has trouble and lands there ...to die there.

Time will tell..and maybe everyone is happier if little to no contact ever comes. Good or bad..disaster or not.

* BTW .. among others.. There is a little island nation named Grenada that learned in a very powerful way just HOW small a world this really is when national citizens are under threat for no good reason

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Hmmm.. Pretty sure homicidal mania and the threat to any living thing coming too close to a whole island isn't tolerated anywhere else in the world.

I do understand your perspective and I guess my stance is a bit impassioned because I personally feel that the inevitable "contact" with this tribe could be their downfall and the "homicidal mania" is the ultimate defense for people who wish to be left alone, and are being contacted against their will. Now I do not wish harm on anyone, but since it is known that these people react this way, it is the responsibility of inquirers to protect themselves by abiding the tribes stance.
This island isn't just "anywhere else in the world" it is special and unique, so my feeling is let them be.
I agree with other posters about medical concerns, but since we do not know what is going on there we can only speculate. Perhaps their ecology is so balanced that,like the Yanomami, they maintain optimum health.
To be fair and honest, they may also be riddled with disease from incest or lack of meds too. Honestly I am curious and would love a peek into their ways, perhaps a drone or something, but then I am reminded of the prime directive notion and how whatever we expose them to, may forever change them. What to do? IMO leave em' be.

ETA: Just read your comment about random sailboat and family landing there and yea that is a genuine concern. I am not sure how warnings could be throughly placed around the island, but the entire maritime community should make this place, and the general notion of uncertainty and potential danger with some of these islands, paramount.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


Make me feel like there are still some hope for the future when tribes like this still can be allowed to exist. When there are places in the world that is still pretty much undiscovered. It should humble ppl in the western world because it reveals to us how close to our past we really are.

There are animals on earth that during the course of evolution have changed their appearance completely, and we, we discovered electricity and know how to make a cup of cappuccino. Not so far ahead as we would like to think.

This little island fascinates me. Not so much the people, I'm ok with leaving them be, but the flora & fauna is pretty undocumented. I've always wondered what gorgeous plants & creatures live in the jungle there that we can't document because no outsiders are welcome. THAT to me is a bigger shame than no diplomatic relations Hopefully some day, they realize they may want to preserve their history with others just in case they dwindle into nothing, and want to help document their land's beauty. I doubt it'll happen, but hopefully, someone will, someday.

The plus side is that with the hostility, this is a place where WBC will get their karma back in full force if someone's kind enough to dump Fred & fam overboard.

thekaboose
Honestly the saddest part of all of this, even without the rest of the world interfering with them; It is only a matter of time before they die out. This will not be to lack of resources or med's, it will be due to inbreeding causing more and more issues in the community.

I do love the fact that they do not welcome outsiders, the second they show weakness and let someone tour the island will be the downfall of their society as a whole.

The article said that they are likely to have been there for 60,000 years.
So, my guess is that they're doing just fine without our interference, and good luck to them.

On a more general point - Their "anti-social" behaviour might be as a result of interference in the past? Perhaps they've had "bad" encounters with outsiders?
Maybe attacks from neighbouring tribes, or diseases spread by visitors? and have decided that isolation is their best bet for survival.

I have to say, I admire their stance. It must take a lot of courage to maintain that position and repel all visitors regardless.

Quick! somebody dump some whiskey and guns on that island. They will be requesting iPhone's in no time!

For real though, why don't researchers show up wearing heavy armor? Are we really scared of bows and arrows in 2014? A few layers of kevlar should do the trick. No?

reply to post by Agent008


Or we could dress up in scary costumes! I bet a landing party dressed as the Telletubies would frighten even their toughest warrior.

reply to post by Agent008


You do realize that you can stab rt through Kevlar vest don't you.... It may top a bullet but a knife will penetrate.

CaptainBeno
www.news.com.au...

Whoa! You wouldn't want to be washed up here ladies and gentlemen. Seems you might be thrown on the BBQ.

DON'T expect to be greeted with a smile if you attempt to visit this island - you'll be lucky to make it out alive as spears and arrows fly towards you.
North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which is a group of 572 islands in the Bay of Bengal between Myanmar and Indonesia, could be the hardest (and perhaps least desirable) place in the world to visit.
The locals who live here just don't like visitors ... and never have.
Rare footage release of lost Amazon tribe
The inhabitants are a tribe of Sentinels said to be direct descendants from the first humans to emerge from Africa. It's estimated that they have lived in the Andaman Islands for up to 60,000 years, but the fact that their language is so different even from other Andaman Islanders suggests that they've had very little contact with the outside world for thousands of years.

Today it's estimated that there are between 50-250 residents that call North Sentinel Island home.
The Sentinelese don't like anyone entering their land: Regardless of whether you come bearing gifts, as a fisherman, as a journalist, accidentally get shipwrecked on the island, or come wanting to help, you'll be met with hostility.
No-one has ever left the island without running for it ... or being killed.
In the days following the shocking 2004 tsunami (that hit the Indian Ocean), a group of people on an Indian Navy helicopter reached out. They didn't have much hope to find survivors - it seemed implausible that the Sentinelese could have survived, living on such a remote island directly in the tsunami's path.
Optimistic and wanting to help they dropped food parcels onto the land, and were met with a sole Sentinelese warrior, who emerged from the dense jungle with a bow and arrow and shot at the helicopter.
Even after such a drastic, horrific event, the Sentinelese did not want help … they did not wish to have any further human contact.
Thanks to technology, today anyone with access to the internet and a computer can check out never-before-seen places from above using Google Earth.
Expert used google Earth to find 'lost' tribe
When you look at North Sentinal Island you can only see an old shipwreck still stuck on the reef. Anything to do with the Sentinelese - homes, lives, people - is hidden in the dense jungle.


Those who have visited have either come back terrified, or not at all.
In 1880 a large British group landed on the island, but it took them days to make contact with the natives. After several days they found an elderly couple with four small children, and took the group to Port Blair. The elderly couple were not able to survive and died, perhaps after being exposed to Western diseases, after which the children were returned to the island with presents … quickly.
Indian authorities have been attempting to make peaceful contact since 1967, but have always been met with bows and arrows, and in 1974 a film director even took an arrow in his thigh. In the 1980s government-sponsored groups left gifts on the island, but quickly left.

Unintentional visitors too, have never been welcomed, whatever the circumstances. An escaped convict who drifted to the island on a raft in 1896 was killed there. His retrieved body was punctured by arrows and his throat cut.
A Hong Kong freighter, called Primrose, became stuck on the island in 1981. After a few days armed natives descended on their ship. The captain made a distress call and the crew were flown to safety.
The last recorded contact with the Sentinelese was in 2006. Two fishermen were killed fishing illegally within the range of the island.
Today the Indian government has backed away, altering its policy to no longer attempt visits, friendly or otherwise. It's now recognised that the Sentinelese have the right to live as they wish - which in this case is obviously away from the rest of the world.

S&F for a cool story. A group of humans completely isolated for thousands of years would be a fascinating study on so many levels. The genetic information alone would be very interesting not to mention cultural and social dynamics.

StoutBroux

speculativeoptimist
I hope there will always remain places where the wild things are, untouched and unspoiled by modernism.

edit on 6-1-2014 by speculativeoptimist because: (no reason given)

Yes, untouched by our values and politics and our way of life. The VIRGINS of the earth should remain as such. We have ruined SO many..... the Eskimos, the Native Americans, the Mexicans. Please LEAVE THEM ALONE! I watched a documentary once, can't remember what or where, but a white gal was doing the hula in front of African men and they were salivating and had big grins. Whatever, we all have animal instincts but why should people pollute others?

Who pollutes whom? There is much evidence that syphilis was brought back from the Americas by the Spanish explorers.

I can understand the argument to leave those untouched alone, OTOH, I also understand the myth of "the noble savage" and see how modern peoples glamorize Neolithic level of life and assume that their way of life is somehow more moral, or comfortable, or happy, or carefree or innocent compared to ours. That really is not true at all. Those peoples have the same problems we do: anger, jealousy, theft, violence, rape, etc...just on smaller scales.

sepermeru
I don't think it counts as "shoot first, ask questions later" and terrible human behavior that after two children and an adult who never returned were abducted from them they started attacking anybody who tried to come near them. Pretty sure most people here would say if a bunch of Canadians came over, kidnapped your kids, then returned them with gifts, you wouldn't be like 'oh, that's nice, let's have tea'.

You honestly believe that, in thousands of years, was the first bit of violence they encountered? I also would suggest that they probably don't remember much of it over 100 years later.

Dear All,

Thank you so much for your replies. Sorry I was in Bed (Australia time!)

I can't help think about James Bond and a "Evil Henchman" on this island. Promoting ideas about "the evil visitors" and "you must kill them all" "They will take everything from you".

The story has been passed down for years.........maybe?

What makes them so violent in the first place do you think?

reply to post by CaptainBeno


Interesting thread, thanks.

I wonder if the hundredth monkey thing apples to these people, or if they infer evil magic with the technology they must witness from time to time...or find washed up on shore.

I'm thinking the small amount of contact they may of had years ago gave them a bad taste.

Cheers.

reply to post by Treespeaker


Yep, very odd welcome to give strangers?

If they don't want anyone on their land then let it be! They prefer to live a life outside of all of this chaos and I can definitely respect that. Looks like a beautiful island, but some things are best to be left unspoiled.

reply to post by Rainbowresidue


I would tend to believe there has been contact in the tribes past, especially if they are that old. The probably found it not to their liking and killed them. Each group appears to be different and most have or are cannibals. Isn't that part strange. I mean you really have to be hard to eat the cooked brain from someone you knew lol.

I think I would have to be starved out of my mind to be able to do it.

Could you, what body part would you start with.

I vote they be assimilated, hey they stole America, why should they get off free.

Just kidding but trying to make a point. They should be left alone. Float in some cameras in some logs or something useful that will be taken back to village and learn without interfering. I mean we may need to live this way again lol.

Would like to know how they survived the sunami.

The Bot