TOP 15 Forbidden Places You’re Not Allowed to Visit

there are places that are off limits for virtually everyone from ancient human encampments to areas of great danger it's time to begin join me while we take a look at 15 forbidden places that you're not allowed to visit number 15 glasco caves france in september of 1940 an 18 year old was walking his dog in the countryside near the french town of montana when his pooch suddenly fell into a hole he gathered a few friends to help with the rescue effort and they entered the cave which at the time they thought was a secret tunnel entrance to a nearby manor what they would go on to discover however was one of the most important archaeological discoveries to have ever been made in france the lasco caves made up of a series of caverns that cover an area of around 75 acres they contain more than 600 paintings of large animals local plant species and various other symbols some of which have been dated back more than 17 000 years by 1948 the caves have been studied and were opened to the public with more than 1200 people venturing in to see them for themselves every day this began to cause some serious problems though because of the carbon dioxide heat humidity and other contaminants that were being released into the caves as a result the paintings were visibly beginning to deteriorate with signs of fungus and lichen beginning to grow on the walls too the decision was made to close the caves in 1963 and embark on a restoration project they remain off limits to everyone except for authorized researchers to this day instead a number of replicas have been made as well as a virtual reality version of the caves to hopefully give people the chance to admire the beauty of the paintings without causing any further damage to them number 14 maya bay thailand there's no doubt that thailand has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world covered in pristine white sand and leading out to perfectly blue waters and if there's one that stands out above the rest it's the maya bay beach on the island of kopibi lay it looks familiar that's because this was the location for the beach which was released in 2000 and following his prominence in the movie tourist numbers skyrocketed by 2015 as many as 1.2 million people were visiting each year almost 80 percent of whom were foreign all looking to relax in the waters and get a glimpse of the bioluminescent plankton that light up the sand at night this though began to have a devastating impact on the beach which along with the lasting damage caused during the shooting of the movie meant something had to be done to preserve it for future generations despite attempts to rejuvenate the region while still allowing people to visit the thai government decided to ban all visitors in 2019 a law that still remains in effect the intent is to reopen it at some point in the future though and there's a huge project that involves the cultivation of corals and cleaning of trash from the beach to prepare it for when this eventually happens number 13 grand shrine of ise japan there are said to be as many as 80 000 shinto shrines across japan with people being just as likely to worship at home as they are in a public building and while most welcome anyone who wishes to make use of them for their spiritual beliefs there's one that only a select few people can enter known as the grand shrine of ise it was built to honor amaterasu the goddess of the sun and the universe amazingly the construction of the shrine made use of traditional japanese woodcraft techniques which means not a single nail was used it was first built more than two thousand years ago but in accordance with the shinto ideas of death and rebirth it's actually fully rebuilt every 20 years and the last time this happened was in 2013 today in respect of how important the shrine is the only people allowed to enter are priests and the members of the imperial royal family the closest anyone else can get is to see the shrine from the outside through the wooden fences that surround it but it is permitted to walk around the grounds which include a forest and a series of ornamental walkways that were built around 150 years ago number 12 morgan island united states off the coast of south carolina there's a 4 400 acre rocky outcrop known as morgan island it's been completely off limits to visitors since 1979. historically because of its remote position it's never been permanently used by people but in that year a colony of free-ranging rhesus monkeys was relocated there from puerto rico and the risk of spreading disease meant it simply isn't safe for anyone to come into contact with them the reason why they had to be moved in the first place is that they were part of a research facility and there was a huge problem with the transmission of herpes virus b infections and the island was chosen so they could be studied and live their lives in a controlled environment now operated and overseen by the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases most of the more than 3 500 monkeys live in a semi-marine tropical forest that's on the island and the risk is so severe that they're fed by an automated system from a nearby building only occasional researchers are ever allowed to set foot on morgan island which is also often called monkey island and those that are allowed to go have to enter strict quarantine on their return to ensure nothing is spread into the general population number 11 uluru australia uluru is the most recognizable natural landmark in australia located around 208 miles to the southwest of alice springs it's deep within the outback of the country's northern territory and became a popular tourist destination in the 1930s when it was more commonly known as ayers rock the problem though was that the natural sandstone formation which stands 1142 feet tall has been a place of spiritual significance to the indigenous people for a long time and from well before outsiders settled in australia and the countless numbers of tourists that were walking up onto it were causing severe damage to its delicate structure there were also concerns about how visitors were disrespecting uluru after a number of incidents of tourists drinking alcohol and stripping on top of the sacred mound so in 2017 there was a unanimous vote to ban people from being able to climb it this new law came into effect in october of 2019 and now while you're able to witness it from a nearby visitor center no one's allowed to set foot on it even photos from certain angles are prohibited in accordance with traditional beliefs and offending images have been removed from google earth as a mark of respect number 10 ms gorai russia you may have heard about several abandoned towns or cities around the world that are restricted in terms of who can visit but what about a fully functioning one that's the strange case with mezgorai which is in the southern ural mountains in the russian republic of bashkiria and despite having an estimated population of around 16 000 people it's completely cut off from the outside world it's believed to have been founded in 1979 and officially declared a town in 1995 and there is along with a base hidden in the mountains that a number of top-secret russian military projects are carried out the residents are all either the employees or the families of the employees of the russian government which is why it's been possible to keep it under wraps from what we do know about the town it's likely the place for example where russia kept 73 of their nuclear warheads during the cold war and there are suggestions it's the location of the country's dead hand project that can supposedly launch a nuclear assault on the rest of the world automatically the less that's known about the town the more rumors that spread about it too such as it being where the russians keep evidence of the existence of aliens and where they're developing the next generation of mass destruction weaponry whatever the truth may be it's certainly not something any ordinary citizens or tourists will be able to find out because if you get too close without permission you'll soon be faced with the barrel of a rifle and the suggestion that you turn away number nine north sentinel island bay of bengal north sentinel island is a part of the andaman island archipelago in the bay of bengal and falls within indian territorial waters while most of the other islands are open to visitors and tourists and offer exactly what you'd expect from a tropical island retreat travel to north sentinel is strictly forbidden to protect the people who live there known to outsiders as the sentinelese they're one of the last remaining tribes in the world that are fully isolated the reasons for this date back for centuries after a series of unfortunate encounters with passing vessels and now the sentinelese see any attempts by outsiders to visit the island as an aggressive act and they respond in kind two fishermen who became stranded on one of the beaches in 2006 were for example swiftly executed by the islanders and so was an american missionary who tried to make contact with them in 2018 to try and prevent this from happening there's a five mile exclusion zone around the island that's regularly patrolled by the indian navy with the intent that the sentinelese will be able to live their lives in peace without the risk of being interrupted by unwelcomed visitors number eight pratica brana czech republic located in bohemian switzerland which is a region in northwestern czech republic the pravdichia brana is a stunning natural sandstone arch with a height of 52 feet and a width of 26 feet a total span of 87 feet it was once one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region with people traveling far and wide to walk over the infamous arch it was realized however that the more people that visited the quicker that the arch was beginning to deteriorate and there was a huge concern that it would one day collapse not only meaning the country would lose one of its most important landmarks but also risk a huge humanitarian tragedy it was decided in 1982 therefore that everyone would be prohibited from walking across it and are instead restricted to looking at it from afar since the new rules were put in place there's been a noticeable slowdown in the rate of erosion but even without the assistance of tourists it's still wearing away it's most likely that it will collapse at some point in the future but that time is now a lot further away thanks to the ban number 7 poveglia italy the venetian lagoon in northern italy is an enclosed bay of the adriatic sea where there's a number of protected islands including most famously venice itself the city is actually built across 118 small islands that are connected by more than 400 bridges and it was first settled more than 2500 years ago and the surrounding islands have served in support of the maine center one known as poveglia is abandoned and access is highly restricted not because of anything taking place there today but because of its storied past it was originally inhabited but in the face of war the residents fled in 1379 and for almost 400 years it was left empty in 1776 though venetian authorities saw it as the perfect place to set up a quarantine station the city had become a hub for tourism and trade but there were increasing risks of people bringing illness such as the plague with them so anyone showing any symptoms had to go there it was used for this purpose for almost a century and then in 1922 the buildings were converted and turned into a mental asylum before finally being abandoned in 1968 during these two uses countless people died on poveglia both because of disease and mistreatment and it's more recently become known as the most haunted place on earth it's the potential presence of historical diseases within the soil that's seen as the greatest threat though and to prevent those from re-emerging and infecting the modern day city there are huge penalties for anyone who sets foot there number six heard island australia despite falling under the jurisdiction of australia heard island is one of the most remote places on earth lying around 2500 miles southwest of perth and 2600 miles to the southeast of south africa in the indian ocean it's on herd island along with the surrounding mcdonald islands that you'll find australia's only two active volcanoes and one of them mauson peak is the tallest mountain in australia reaching an elevation of 9006 feet because of where the islands are they're also covered in 41 separate glaciers and are home to a wide range of different plant and animal species although they're volcanic in origin they're made up of mainly limestone and scattered pieces of other rocks and this means that they're relatively fragile compared to most other islands and this is why australia forbids visitors from going there of course this is a place that's so remote that there's virtually no chance that anyone would reach hurt island without it being their specific destination so with the rules in place there have been fewer voyages to investigate the islands in the past half century than have been sent to the moon number five pluto's gate turkey ancient civilizations had a number of rituals and traditions that may seem strange to modern day cultures but there was often good reason behind many of their superstitions and there's one that's still dangerous to this day known as pluto's gate it was a well-known site to the ancient greeks and was in the city of hieropolis in modern-day turkey it was a plutonian which means it was a site dedicated to the god of the underworld pluto and it's a small cave that's just large enough for one person to fit inside mentioned by several high-profile writers from the time it was said to be an incredibly dangerous place and one that only the most devout could enter and return safely from during the times of the greeks a further building was in front of the cave and this too was a deadly space so much so that vendors sold animals to visitors so they could put them near to the cave and see how quickly they would die what first sounds like legend actually has a scientific basis behind it and it was recently discovered that pluto's gate has a series of cracks in the surrounding rock that large quantities of carbon dioxide gas seeps through as it's invisible and denser than air anyone that goes in and breathes normally would soon start suffering the consequences but because of this danger visitors aren't allowed anywhere near number four snake island brazil of all the islands in the world that are dangerous for humans to visit the one that you'd experience the highest chance of death is the ilha de camara grande which is around 21 miles off the coast of sao paulo in brazil and it's for good reason that the navy patrols the area to prevent anyone from going there that's because it's more commonly known as snake island and it's home to arguably the deadliest species of snake in the world the golden lancehead viper and there are lots of them thousands of years ago rising sea levels caused the island to be cut off from the mainland and a small population of snakes has become trapped instead of having a wide range of food sources they were now restricted to the birds that migrated past and stopped off on the island so this necessitated an evolutionary change if they were to survive the result was the development of a much stronger venom that if bitten will cause a bird to die almost immediately and close by which ensures the snake is able to eat it with an estimated one snake per 11 square feet they're present in huge numbers on the island and if you were to go to the forested regions you'd be guaranteed to see them in every direction fortunately no one knows for sure how potent the venom is against humans because very few people have ever been bitten by one but if the effects on birds are anything to go by it would likely be fatal before any anti-venom or treatment could be administered number three surtsey island iceland on the 14th of november in 1963 a huge underwater volcanic eruption began off the southern coast of iceland and it would set in motion a series of events that would become one of the most unique scientific experiments ever by the time the eruption ended in june of 1967 a brand new chain of islands had been formed the largest of which was called surtsey and it gave scientists an incredible insight into the way that the islands are created the other formations soon worn away in the face of oceanic erosion but surtsey is still there to this day and is only expected to fall back beneath the waves in around a century it has long been a protected site with only authorized researchers allowed anywhere near but this isn't anything to do with safety instead it's to prevent contamination on the island so researchers can further study the development of new islands bacteria fungi and molds were for example the first living organisms to appear on surtsey and these provide the basis of the ecosystem that could support more complex life it is believed there are 89 species of birds and 335 invertebrates in the area and this number is only expected to increase as time passes number two niau island united states the westernmost and seventh largest island in the hawaiian archipelago is known as niyiau and covering an area of 69 square miles it's 17 and a half miles southwest of kauai despite being a lush wetland region that's as beautiful as the rest of hawaii you won't find any resorts to stay in there and the closest you'll get is a half a day helicopter tour to see the island from a distance that's because of an unusual political agreement that means only people authorized by the island's owners are allowed to go there and they're notoriously restrictive with who they welcome the island was sold to elizabeth sinclair by the kingdom of hawaii in 1864 for ten thousand dollars which is the equivalent of around 170 000 today and it's her descendants the robinsons that are still in charge only members of the family and their relatives along with u.s navy personnel government officials and the occasional invited guests are allowed on the island and this has allowed for the development of a community that's detached from the outside world this doesn't mean they have nothing to do with anyone else though and they've had a long-standing relationship with the us military to the point where there's a small installation on the island and it's also occasionally used as a site for specialist training operations there are now believed to be around 170 residents on ni'au after building an economy that was mainly sustained by farming they're all virtually self-sufficient no rent has to be paid by residents and meat is free to everyone that lives there all electricity is provided by solar power and there are no vehicles with islanders instead relying on horses for their transport number one heart reef australia coral reefs around the world are some of the most spectacular sights you'll ever see but there's one in australia that's the most photogenic of all known as the heart reef it's part of the great barrier reef but it's slightly detached from the larger structure and has by sheer coincidence taken on a shape that looks very much like a heart surrounded by crystal clear water and with countless species thriving in the reef it became a central part of a number of tourism campaigns and attracted a huge number of snorkelers and divers who wanted to experience it for themselves as is often the case however increasing foot traffic led to increased destruction of the reef structure and there were concerns that if things kept going at the same rate the heart reef would have been irreparably damaged within a few years the decision was made to ban anyone from visiting and now the only chance you have of getting your own photo of the romantic outcrop is by hiring a helicopter watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 6,940,279

Keywords: places, Forbidden Places

Id: nB_PwGn-ekw

Length: 19min 48sec (1188 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 14 2022