An idyllic looking island, remote in the Indian Ocean, is hiding a secret so dangerous, tourists are warned away.
North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It is about five miles long and 4.3 miles wide. It is surrounded by coral reefs and lacks natural harbours. Other than the shore, it is mostly covered in jungle.
None who have stepped foot on the island have lived to tell the tale and all travel has been prohibited. It is not dangerous due to wild animals or toxins, but because of the indigenous people that live on it.
The Sentinelese are an uncontacted indigenous tribe of mostly unknown numbers (estimated between 80 and 150 in 2011) in voluntary isolation. Since the 1800s, they have defended their island with force.
They have repeatedly attacked boats that come too close, whether intentionally or by accident. They shoot arrows at boats and helicopters with some attacked resulting in injury and death.
In 2006, they killed two fishermen who drifted ashore and in 2018, they killed an American Christian missionary who tried to illegally make contact three times, paying local fisherman to take him to the island so he could convert the tribe.
The islanders are believed to live in groups of lean-to huts and built outrigger canoes they manoeuvre with long poles for fishing.
If they are like the Andamanese people on a nearby island, they likely live on fruits and tubers that grow wild on the island, eggs from seagulls or turtles, and small game like wild pigs or birds.
They carry bows and arrows as well as spears and knives, weave mesh baskets and have been heard by boats nearby singing.
An earthquake in 2004 prompted a tsunami but the Sentinelese seemed to have survived. Afterwards, the Indian government flew over to check on the islanders and were greeted with arrows and spears thrown at the helicopter.
The Indian government prohibits travel to the island in order to protect the remaining tribe from “mainland” diseases they have had no contact with and thus no immunity.
Though the Indian Navy patrols the area to keep people away, they do not interfere with the islanders or prosecute them for killing those who try to come ashore.