INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
ESCAPE TO ST HELENA
BY BYRON LUKAS
Remote, rugged, and wonderfully slow, St Helena offers volcanic cliffs, cloud forests, historic charm, and one of the world’ s most unusual island escapes.
Welcome to St Helena. This tiny speck in the South Atlantic Ocean is so wildly isolated that when Napoleon Bonaparte got exiled here back in 1815, the British basically said:“ Good luck leaving.” summer season. Then, after hours of ocean, towering cliffs and wild green mountains rise out of the Atlantic like a lost world. It’ s the kind of landing where the cabin goes suspiciously quiet and everyone starts holding onto their armrests a little tighter.
But the second you arrive, island life kicks in. Slowly. Very slowly.
The capital, Jamestown, looks like a tiny colonial town squeezed into a crack between massive cliffs. Colourful houses line the
There’ s no quick ferry escape here – just towering volcanic cliffs exploding out of the Atlantic like the opening scene of a pirate film. St Helena feels less like a normal holiday and more like stepping into a strange little adventure novel, where giant tortoises roam the gardens, roads twist through clouds, and everyone knows everyone else’ s business.
Picture this: one flight a week, maybe two during the busier
16 INBOUND SA / JUNE 2026