Ascension - the Story of a South Atlantic Island

The bleak volcanic landscape of the remote Ascension Islands, 800 miles from its nearest neighbour St Helena, was described by a naval officer in the 1850s as one of the strangest places on earth. Man has since transformed this heap of clinker, slag and cinders into pockets of greenery. Into an almost perfect natural vacuum the early settlers brought many plants and animals which escaped and went wild. Today the giant green turtles still return to lay their eggs on the beaches, the seabird colonies festoon the cliffs and the island's small permanent human population thrives in one of the world's most isolated locations.