In the world there are numerous places that it is forbidden to visit for various reasons. In the Supercurioso article 5 prohibited places that you CAN NOT visit we have seen some of them like the Vatican Archives, the island of the snakes in Brazil or the Area 51 of Nevada, in the USA On this occasion we wanted to get closer to Ni'ihau, the Forbidden Island of Hawaii and discover what is in it so that the entrance to the visitors is banned.
Google Earth is a tool that has also made it possible to detect many places in the world that, for security reasons, are generally forbidden to the general public that consults this computer program that based on photographs of satellites and airplanes does not send maps and images from around the world. If you want to know some of those sites that appear pixelated, we invite you to read the post: 5 places that Google Earth does not allow you to see.
Ni'ihau, the Forbidden Island of Hawaii
Ni'iha u is not an uninhabited island nor its inhabitants are prohibited from leaving it. However, you will not find any police, roads or paved roads. The island is a very special place, the result of a commitment between a rich Scottish widow and King Kamehameha of Hawaii who sold it to her in the middle of the 19th century.
Ni'ihau It is the westernmost island of Hawaii and the seventh largest inhabited. It has an area of 180 km.2, which, to have an idea, is more than double that of Formentera in the Balearic Islands. Since 1810 it belonged to the "Unified Kingdom of Hawaii" and in 1864, King Kamahameha V sold the island to Elizabeth McHutchison Sinclair, a wealthy Scottish widow who chose that island among several others that I could have bought. The island cost him $ 10,000 in gold and about 350 native Hawaiians lived in it at that time. Ni'ihau . Kamehameha agreed to sell it with the commitment that everything possible would be done to keep the Hawaiian traditions in force on the island.
In 1915, Elisabeth Sinclair's grandson, Aubrey Robinson, banned visits to the island and even the relatives of the islanders who lived outside needed a special permit to access it. Contacts with the outside were restricted to the minimum except for a small base of the US Navy. which was established at one end of the island. All this was to respect as much as possible the terms included in the purchase-sale agreement of Ni'ihau that forced its new owners to preserve the traditions and culture of the natives.
Thanks to this isolation, in Ni'ihau The common language in families is still Hawaiian, although at school they also learn English. You will not find in it neither water nor gas pipes and electricity is produced by solar energy. There are no telephones or paved roads and transports are made with horses or by bicycle. The approximately 160 inhabitants who live on the island permanently are mostly native Hawaiians and their method of subsistence is agriculture and state aid. They do not pay any rent for their houses and the meat, very abundant on the island, is free. The main settlement in which practically all islanders live is Pu'uwai. There are no hotels and periodically a barge brings everything you may need from the nearby island of Kaua'i . The Robinsons, who are the current owners of the island, have established a helicopter system so that in case of emergency there is a quick transfer to one of the largest islands in Hawaii.
It might seem that the inhabitants of the forbidden island are completely isolated, but this is not the case since the lack of water periodically causes the entire population who so wishes to have the option of moving to Kaua'i while the drought lasts. Also the students of Ni'ihau, when they finish their primary studies, they leave for the larger islands if they wish to continue their studies. Despite this, visits are still very restricted at present, so it continues to speak of a forbidden island. In addition to the owners and their families as well as the natives and their relatives, only the base's military can remain on the island. To increase your income, there is now the possibility of a half-day excursion to the island to hunt or discover its fauna and flora, but there is no place or possibility to spend the night in it and contact with the natives is very scarce .
Ni'ihau It is an island suspended in time and perhaps for that reason it was chosen in 1992 to shoot some scenes of Jurasic Park. Did you know about the existence of this mysterious forbidden island? Did you know that with the restriction of visitors you wanted to preserve a culture that was beginning to disappear? Do you think it is lawful to act in this way? Share your opinion with us! If you want to know other curious places in the world, we invite you to read:
- 7 super curious places on the planet
Images: Polihale