15 Most Mysterious and Unusual Islands on Earth

mother nature has gone berserk these islands don't even look real here are the 15 most unusual-looking islands on earth number 15 Diavik diamond mined Canada about 190 miles northeast of the Canadian city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories is the 7.7 square mile west island which until 2001 looked just like any other small outcrop of land in the region it was found to be the site of a large deposit of diamonds however so in that year the construction of the Diavik mine began and transformed the look of the island forever as well as the striking open-pit the facility also has a processing plant power plants accommodation for workers and even a small airport which is necessary because it's in such a remote region since opening the site has been responsible for producing around 7 million carats of diamonds each year including a 550 to carry yellow diamond that was found in 2018 and it's the largest to have ever been discovered in North America number fourteen fell youth Senegal just a 1,300 foot walk across a bridge from the Senegalese coastal town of y'all he's one of the most unusual islands in the world for hundreds of years residents here have caught and sold mollusk meat and discarded the shells into the water as these remains got caught up in mangroves boa Bob's and reeds there are so many that they created an entirely new island which is called ffedith wherever you walk you hear the crunch of shells beneath your feet and the buildings and roads have also used shells in their construction one of the most famous sites on the island is the cemetery which itself is completely made from shells - in what wise as a testament to how much this coastal community has relied upon the natural resources that the ocean has provided to them number 13 isla La Jolla Italy guy Ola Island is off the coast of Naples in the Gulf of Naples and is the center point of a protected marine reserve around the area and so close to the mainland that you can easily swim to it and at one point there used to be a cable car that made the trip possible without even getting wet it has long been used as a sign of importance and was once covered in a series of Roman factories before the villa that still stands there today was built in the 19th century due to being formed by volcanic processes the exposed rock faces a series of yellow and white colors and ancient tunnels allow you to pass through the island from water level without having to climb up to its surface number 12 Alcatraz the island of Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay around one and a quarter miles offshore from the city itself and is one of the most famous prison sites in the u.s. fortifications were first built there in the mid 19th century and over the years further upgrades were made until it became the famed federal penitentiary in 1934 it was seen as the ideal place to hold dangerous criminals thanks to the freezing waters and strong currents that surrounded it and during its operation only a handful of people have ever been claimed to have successfully escaped despite its closure in 1963 the human activity on the island is clear to see and it remains to this day one of the most recognizable and unusual looking islands on earth number eleven Vulcan Point Philippines this unassuming small island is known as Vulcan Point and it holds a series of records that mean it's unlike any other island you'll find elsewhere in the world it's the largest island that lies within the lake that's on the summit of a volcano which itself is within the lake that lies on an island and as such is known as a third-order island despite its serene surroundings on popularity with tourists it's a place to approach with extreme caution to all volcano which lies within is one of the most active volcanoes on earth and has been linked with thousands of deaths Vulcan Point is actually a remains of one of the volcanoes cones on the lake that surrounds it is the largest crater lake in the world there's always a chance another eruption is imminent this island may not be around for much longer number 10 Kemper's dam Kemper's dam is a body of water to the north of the city of Kimberley in South Africa it used to be a temporary water source but thanks to the new constant release of runoff and treated water from the city it's now become a permanent feature conservationists noticed that the way the region was changing was having an effect on the local wildlife so what was decided to build an artificial s-shaped island in it the shape was chosen because it created to artificial bays and it was completed in September of 2006 after moving 26,000 tons of material to the site the plan was a success and the dam is now one of the most important breeding sites for lesser flamingos thanks to the presence of the algae and diatoms that they feed on this often leads to the unusual sight of more than 20,000 of the birds huddled together on the island something you won't see anywhere else [Music] number nine Hashima island japan Hashima island is now abandoned but it was once the center of Japan's Industrial Revolution it was found to sit above vast coal deposits so in 1887 it became the base of operations for a series of undersea mines to support the works seawall and land reclamation projects were undertaken which tripled the size of the island and four main shafts were dug one of which actually connects Hashima island to one of its neighbors at its peak more than 5,000 people lived there in the concrete structures but by 1974 the coal reserves began to run out but no other reason to be there the people soon moved away and it was left as a historical monument that year-by-year has slowly been reclaimed by Nature now it's protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as often referred to as battleship island because of the way it now looks [Music] before we move on be sure to subscribe to top 5s with notifications on number 8 Bishop Rock UK Bishop Rock is an eyelid on the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly which are an archipelago that lies 28 miles off the southwestern coast of Britain to warn approaching ships an iron White House was built on it in 1947 but was washed away so a second one which is the one that stands today was constructed in 1858 with no room around the structure it used to be the case that anyone leaving the island would have to rappel from the lighthouse into a waiting boat and upon arriving they'd be lifted up by a winch 1976 a helipad was added to make transport easier and as of 1992 it's fully automated requiring only occasional maintenance visits bishop rock currently holds the world record for being the world's smallest island with a building on it and when you see how tight the fit is you'll wonder whether it will be possible for anywhere else to claim this honor number 7 thela Fucci maldives we hear so much about the amount of trash that's produced every year but did you know there's an island that's completely made of it called Villa Fucci it's in the Maldives and was created as a municipal landfill for all the waste that's created by the tourism industry elsewhere the first loads were deposited in late 1992 and now the island covers an area of 4.6 million square feet the waste is put in pits that have been dug into the shallow sea bed then covered in industrial waste and a layer of white sand it's now become such a size that plots on the surface are rented by commercial operations such as boat manufacturers cement producers and methane modelers which means that this island that didn't even exist 30 years ago now generates more than a million dollars per year now around 330 tons of trash is brought to the island per day which is raising concerns about the long-term viability of thela foucha soon it may be necessary to stop using it as a landfill and efforts might be even needed to remove everything that's been deposited there before it pollutes the surrounding marine environments number six the world Dubai the world was a much heralded artificial archipelago that was constructed two and a half miles off the coast of Dubai and designed to look like a map of Earth at an estimated cost of around 10 billion dollars there are 300 different islands which are arranged into seven different continents and were formed from 386 million tonnes of rock and 321 million cubic meters of sand despite its seeming like a great idea at the time construction began in 2003 but was forced to halt during the financial crisis of 2008 while many of the islands were reserved in principle there simply weren't enough funds available to develop the intended buildings online and to this day only a few of them are on use this means it's a rather peculiar site of a series of sandy islands with an occasional one that has a structure on it we are now concerns that many of the islands are sinking back into the water and it's quite possible this will soon be remembered as one of the most expensive failed vanity projects that was ever undertaken number five the island of dolls Mexico City the island of dolls is probably the creepiest island in the world thanks to a dark history that has led a number of unusual trinkets being displayed in the trees and buildings it's to the south of Mexico City in the waterways of Xochimilco that was owned by Don Julian Santana in the 1950s according to legend a young woman was visiting the island and while swimming in the canal she became entangled in the lilies and drowned her body was found on the banks of the island Santana began experiencing supernatural events he kept hearing a voice calling out for her dolls so began to collect dolls from garbage dumps and floated past in the water and hung them on the branches of the trees around where she was discovered over the next 50 years he continued to do this driven by fear that he was being haunted by her spirit and resulted in hundreds of body parts and shrines being displayed across the island he died in 2001 supposedly at the same site where the girl had died 50 years earlier and since then the place has become a popular tourist destination people visit with their own tributes for the island and it continues to grow each year visitors describe an eerie silence around certain parts feel chills and even hear voices which adds to the mythology of the place and has solidified it as being warm the most unusual looking islands on earth number 4 the floating islands of Lake Titicaca Olivia you normally think of an island as being a natural formation or one that's been artificially created by moving hundreds of tons of rocks and sediment but in Lake Titicaca in Bolivia there are around 120 islands that are completely different they belong to the Guru people whose ancestors laid claim to the waters of the lake to help defend themselves that access remote regions to fish they built a series of floating islands from reeds this method is still used to this day and it's amazing to see they begin by making boats from totora reeds and then collect further reeds and roots that are tied together by rope by building them up layer after layer the floating platforms are up to six feet thick and are anchored in position by being tied to eucalyptus poles that are buried into the lake floor the largest of the islands have room for homes of up to ten families and require a new layer to be added every few weeks to remain stable the islands lasts for around thirty years before needing to be completely replaced and are still the main residences for several hundred people the surface of the island is soft in each step you'll tick you'll notice your foot sinking a few inches unsurprisingly there now a popular tourist destination and rather than working the lake for income most residents now offered tours and lessons on how to prepare the reeds for construction number three now Shima Japan now Shima Island is the largest island in Japan's Kagawa district and is in the Seto Inland Sea the town on the island is a population of just over 3,000 people but it has become famous around the world for all of the art museums and are located there the three most popular are the Jeju Art Museum the benasi house and the James Bond Museum but the islands embrace of the Arts also means that installations can be seen everywhere it's affectionately known as the art Island where various pieces commissioned by the world's leading artists are either displayed in public or in their own specially designed venues the structures have been designed to look as natural as possible and the only things that really stand out above the landscape is the colorful artwork those common things you'll see there are the pumpkins one of which lies on the jetty you arrived on but there's also a series of underground stone mazes puzzles that are designed for visitors to figure out on their own and a huge crypt that's lined with copper bars and has a giant sphere at the center if you imagine your local museum of modern art but arranged over an entire island that's how no shima looks and feels making one of the most unique centers of culture you'll find anywhere in the world number two socotra island yemen support rrah island has been called the closest place on earth to what life would be like on an alien planet and for good reason nestled within a four island archipelago between the Garth Wade Channel and the Arabian Sea it's about 150 miles east of Somalia but officially part of Yemen unusually for an island like this Sakura wasn't formed by volcanic activity but instead is continental land that detached from the Gondwana supercontinent around 20 million years ago because it has been separated from everywhere else for so long it's developed its own unique flora and fauna the 700 species that aren't found anywhere else a number that's only eclipsed by New Zealand New Caledonia the Galapagos and Hawaii what's different there however is the extreme heat and lack of moisture that everything is evolved to survive it possibly the most famous tree that's endemic to the island is called a dragon's blood tree which looks like an umbrella shape and had a deep red SAP that oozes out of it other unusual species include the cucumber tree the psychotron pomegranate and various types of aloe deep caves have some of the most impressive stalagmite and stalactite formations on earth and some of the canyons and landscape look unlike anything you'll find anywhere else hence why it's described as an alien island animal life is also peculiar on socotra and includes various endemic bird species number of reptiles such as skinks legless lizards and a species of chameleons and a few spiders including a tarantula that's only found on the island and three unique species of crabs the island is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site but it's far more difficult to visit than any other due to its political affiliation with Yemen it's often reliant on donations from other countries to keep functioning these communities that live on the island only have basic amenities there is therefore very little tourism activity and for those who visit there are no hotels and just a few guest houses to choose from locals even protest and try to avoid the construction of new roads despite the benefits they may bring because of the damage they caused to the ecosystem and this all adds up to help keep the islands unique appearance so well preserved number one Madagascar Madagascar lies around 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa and is the fourth largest island in the world it's separated from the Indian subcontinent approximately 88 million years ago and as a result has been isolated from the rest of the world which has allowed life to evolve in a different direction and also the creation of highly unusual geographical structures 80 percent of the plant species there aren't found anywhere else in the world the same is true of around 90 percent of the animals - there are forests of dry deciduous trees ones of spiny trees and even a large forest of sharp jagged limestone structures that are unlike anything you'll find elsewhere in the world the islands position also makes it subject to unusual weather patterns with warmer winds blowing across from the African continent that meet the cooler winds that travel over the vast emptiness of the Indian Ocean if there's ever a place to visit to see something different than Madagascar surely has to be it subscribe to top 5s for more and check out some of our other popular videos

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 691,814

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Keywords: Dangerous Remote Islands On Earth, unusual islands, mysterious islands, weird islands, Most MYSTERIOUS Islands On Earth

Id: AzwBCBFhrOo

Length: 17min 7sec (1027 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2020