Uninhabited Japanese Island Offers Survival Adventures

Diaoyu Islands. Photo: AFP
Diaoyu Islands. Photo: AFP
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Uninhabited Japanese Island Offers Survival Adventures

Diaoyu Islands. Photo: AFP
Diaoyu Islands. Photo: AFP

Feeling ground down by the pressures of everyday life? Wish you could get away from it all? The island city of Iki in Nagasaki prefecture has an unusual and appropriate holiday destination, and its name is Tsumagashima Island.

There are many uninhabited islands that dot the coasts of Japan, and Tsumagashima, in particular, lies off the coast of Nagasaki. While humans did live on the island at one point, it was declared uninhabited in 2002, and since then has lain in relative obscurity—although people who fish treat the island as a especially lucky spot, according to the Japan Today website.

You can access the island with relative ease from Nagasaki's Indoji seaport, but it's far removed from civilization and the chance of bumping into strangers is practically zero, reported the German News Agency (dpa).

You can take also a 30-minute airplane ride from Nagasaki Airport. Prospective campers need not worry about the safety of the island—the campsite areas are being tended to and monitored by capable staff, which is currently undergoing a survival adventure of their own.

Camping on the island allows guests to try out a unique camping experience where they stake out their own lodgings, forage for food, fish, and cook their own meals using bamboo and camping tools.

And speaking of camping tools, only the barest minimum is included in the camping plan. Vacationers can also expect a beach reserved for their own use, a jungle expanse to venture through, and a stimulating environment without electricity or running water.

A two-day, one-night stay will cost 19,800 yen, while a three-day, two-night stay will cost 29,800 yen per adult. Elementary school students are expected to pay half of that price, while children younger than that can attend for free. Your party must consist of four people or more.

Don't worry if you aren't a serious camper because the island will also offer camping experiences for beginners where a qualified instructor will assist you on your survival experience.



Plant Native to Sumatra Warms Up to About Temperature of Human Body

A flowering titan arum at Kew Gardens, London. Photograph: Clara Charles/AFP/Getty Images
A flowering titan arum at Kew Gardens, London. Photograph: Clara Charles/AFP/Getty Images
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Plant Native to Sumatra Warms Up to About Temperature of Human Body

A flowering titan arum at Kew Gardens, London. Photograph: Clara Charles/AFP/Getty Images
A flowering titan arum at Kew Gardens, London. Photograph: Clara Charles/AFP/Getty Images

This giant plant stinks to high heaven and warms up to about the temperature of a human body. It's the inflorescence of the titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, a plant called a spadix that stands up to three metres tall, warms up to 36C at night and gives off the stench of a rotting corpse.

This wonder is actually a ruse to attract carrion flies and beetles to pollinate the small flowers that are tucked away at the base of the spadix inside a large bucket-shaped leafy wrapper, where the insects are trapped until the flowers are successfully pollinated, The Guardian reported.

A recent study revealed the plant’s pungent odours were made up of a stinky cocktail of sulphur chemicals, including the aptly named compound putrescine, which is given off by rotting animal carcasses.

This foul concoction is released only when the spadix warms up in short pulses.

The titan arum grows in the forests of Sumatra in Indonesia, and to add to its otherworldly qualities, the plant takes years to come into bloom for the first time, and when it does flower, the bloom only lasts a few days.