The splendour of St Helena

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Bay tour operator Colin Dilland was lucky enough to experience the inaugural commercial flight to this historic island

It’s not often you get to say that you were on a highly publicised, inaugural flight to an exotic location, but today I get to boast about this fact! Earlier this month, I had the most incredible weekend as a guest on the first-ever commercial flight to St Helena, and got to spend two extraordinary days on the island.

Until recently, St Helena was only accessible via a five-day boat trip on board the RMS St Helena, which travels from Cape Town twice a month.

They officially introduced commercial flights to the island on October 14.

The flight takes roughly six hours from Johannesburg and includes a short stopover in Windhoek, Namibia, to refuel.

The airport was built at a rather large expense on the part of the British taxpayers, and there were a few issues surrounding the location of where the runway would be built.

The most sensible place for it to be situated was in the Deadwood Valley, but unfortunately there were endangered wild birds living in the area. Instead, the runway was then erected along a group of mountains by the sea.

The runway covers 2km and is designed to take large aircraft but, due to its position next to the ocean, there is an incredible amount of strong wind.

Thankfully, Airlink and the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer have successfully managed to fly an E190 which appears to be perfect for the conditions.

Some of the reports in the media have described St Helena’s airport as “one of the most useless airports”, but this could not be more wrong.

Prior to this month’s first commercial flight, seven medical evacuations have taken place, and three lives have been saved, one of whom was a newborn baby.

Can you imagine what can be done now that the island has a proper runway?

St Helena is just spectacular. The island is roughly 120km² in size with a small population of only 4700 people.

The weather is idyllic, with a semi-tropical climate and a year-round temperature in the mid-20°C.

It reminded me a bit of Reunion Island – where I visited some years ago – with its massive cliffs and lofty mountains.

Being a department of France, Reunion was completely French, from its road signs to its cars.

St Helena is exactly the same principle, but everything is British! It felt just like being back home in England – the island is a British overseas territory and as such they even use the British pound.

Walking through the island’s capital, Jamestown, was like being in Cornwall, and reminded me so much of Hugh Town on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly. I stayed at the Consulate Hotel, which is conveniently located along the main street of Jamestown. The hotel dates back to the 18th century, but has all the modern conveniences, such as beautifully furnished en-suite rooms, spacious lounge areas, a cosy bar and a balcony where you can just sit and watch the island’s daily bustle.

There is plenty to see and do, too. For instance, you can tour the island’s most notable places of interest, such as Napoleon’s last residence, the remotest golf course in the world and St Paul’s Cathedral – all in a magnificent 1929 Charabanc, a vintage motor coach of the type that was common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century.

Other activities include planting trees at Millennium Forest, tasting the local brews at St Helena Distillery, hiking through the Deadwood Plains to search for the wirebird or St Helena plover, a boat trip along the coast, and visits to the most popular historical buildings. St Helena’s beaches are mostly rocky but Rupert’s Beach close to Jamestown is safe for swimming. There is also an Olympic-sized swimming pool in Jamestown.

The sea is reasonably warm all year at around 20°C.

The trip was a massive success and, thanks to the new flights, holidays to the island will now be much more attainable, including for South Africans.

• Colin Dilland is the managing director of East Cape Tours. He was a guest of SA Airlink and St Helena Tourism.