Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland, one of the remotest settlements on Earth
Ittoqqortoormiit (formerly known as Scoresbysund) is remote. So remote, in fact, that it bears the distinction of being the remotest inhabited community in the western hemisphere. This “edge of the world” settlement is home to just 450 hardy souls. To the north lies the Northeast Greenland national park, to the south Scoresby Sund, respectively the largest national park and fjord on Earth.
The town is made up of a scattering of wooden buildings, painted in an array of bright blues, reds, yellows and greens, across a coastal bluff of pink and grey gneiss (some of the planet’s oldest rock).
Just two flights a week arrive on a Wednesday at Constable Point airport (one from Akureyri in Iceland with Norlandair, the other from Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland, with Air Greenland), and a helicopter meets incoming flights for the transfer to town.
Photograph: Alamy
Or you can come by sea. When our boat arrived from Milne Land (an island in eastern Greenland) where we’d been on expedition researching my book, it was immediately obvious something was going on. Crowds had gathered on the cliffs and gesticulated excitedly to the occupants of a flotilla of small craft zigzagging around the bay. A marbled grey and white flank suddenly rose from the water. A narwhal! The thrill of the sight was cut short by the retort of three gunshots. A crimson slick spread around the lifeless body.
Ittoqqortoormiit has just one bright orange guesthouse in town, a pub that opens one night a week, a shop selling the basics and a post office. Nanu Travel can arrange all manner of adventurous excursions, from dog sledding and kayaking to hiking and hunting.
Adrian’s Hall’s book, Follow that Musk Ox: Tales from Milne Land, is out now