You don't have to be so far away from land to be remote. On some islands, you could be the only person and have little communication with the outside world. On others, you could be remote by staying away from other people.
During World War 2, a Japanese soldier called Hiroo Onoda was sent to Lubang, a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. Thirty years later, he was still there and didn't know that the war had ended years and years before! Click here to read Hiroo's amazing story.
Imagine you were one of the first people to meet Hiroo on his return to Japan. What would you tell him about the world today and the changes he has missed? Can you think why it would be very difficult to repeat an experience like Hiroo's today?
The Galápagos are a group of 600 remote islands that belong to the South American country of Ecuador. These islands have never been connected to anywhere else. Instead, they are the peaks of gigantic underwater volcanoes that have burst out and above the ocean surface.
Stuck out in the Pacific Ocean, plants and animals on the islands have developed differently from elsewhere. Charles Darwin developed his ideas on evolution after he visited the Galápagos in 1831.
One of the special inhabitants are eleven kinds of giant tortoise. On Pinta island, one giant tortoise is known as 'Lonesome George'. People introduced goats to the island and they munched their way through the plants that George and his family needed for food. Now George is the last of his kind! He is already about 80 years old - and unless George finds a female partner his species will be lost forever!
Help George by writing him an advert for a lonely hearts column! Click on the heart for some instructions.
Like the Galápagos, the Caribbean island of Montserrat has a volcano. In 1997, the volcano changed the lives of the people living there forever. Go to the next page to find out more.
You don't have to be so far away from land to be remote. On some islands, you could be the only person and have little communication with the outside world. On others, you could be remote by staying away from other people.
One of the special inhabitants are eleven kinds of giant tortoise. On Pinta island, one giant tortoise is known as 'Lonesome George'. People introduced goats to the island and they munched their way through the plants that George and his family needed for food. Now George is the last of his kind! He is already about 80 years old - and unless George finds a female partner his species will be lost forever!
