WORDS AND PHOTOGRPAHS: SCOTT BENNETT
From my lofty vantage point, a world in miniature spread out, a rugged coastline encompassing a landscape of mountains, forests, grassland and semi-desert. With place names like Longwood, Half Tree Hollow, Deadwood Plain, and the Gates of Chaos, it was easy to envision I had been transported to Middle Earth. However, this was not New Zealand. This was the island of St Helena.
A mere speck 16km long and 10km wide, St Helena could be the dictionary definition of isolated. Anchored in the South Atlantic between southern Africa and South America, the island ascends 4000m from the ocean floor to its highest point at 820m above sea level. First discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century, it remained uninhabited until the British East India Company founded Jamestown in 1659. Today, the island is Britain’s second oldest territory after Bermuda.