Ascension Island - Green Mountain
For my last day one of the local’s had offered to take me to Green Mountain. Green mountain is, as it’s name suggests green. In most places this wouldn’t be worthy of comment but on Ascension it makes the mountain an oasis, a place of welcome shade.
The drive up green mountain is a perilous affair, with blind hairpin corners every couple of hundred metres. The view from the top is spectacular with the whole of the island laid out below you. In the photo below you can just about see Georgetown, the couple of white spots on the coast near the centre of the photo. The domed hill to the right separates Georgetown from Comfortless Cove . The village in the foreground is Two Boats. To the far left of the photo is the army base and part of the runway may be visible (I can’t remember) as the light patch partly hidden by a hill.
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Green mountain is covered in foliage, some native, some introduced. Ginger was prolific and in flower. People used to live on the mountain and a large house had gardens and greenhouses which grew fruit and vegetables. It’s all in disrepair now and everything is imported. There used to be cows and pigs kept there but all that’s there now is one guy keeping some chickens for the eggs and, once they get too old, the meat which he sells. It seems strange that everything’s imported but I suppose no-one would be there if it wasn’t for the military so they have become completely reliant on them, for food as well as work.
Green mountain was used to collect rainwater and there are several places where the hill-side has been covered to prevent water from seeping into the soil so that it can instead run into storage ponds. An emergency supply of water was stored at a pond near the summit called the dew pond. It’s a nice, sheltered walk up although the boardwalk put in place is extremely slippery and in places extremely steep. The pond is small and has some goldfish and waterlilies. It’s surrounded by bamboo and is a lovely spot and a welcome relief from the arid lava on the rest of the island.
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In the afternoon we headed back downhill and out to the army base. The base is known as Wideawake and we were off to see the source of this name, the sooty terns. There is a massive colony of terns near the airport. We drove most of the way then walked the 10 minutes or so to the main base. Before we’d even started walking the birds could be heard and the sky was thick with them. A couple of frigate birds could be seen flying around, probably keeping their eyes out for abandoned chicks. As we got closer to the colony we began to get mobbed by birds. They weren’t afraid of getting close.
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It was quite amazing to see so many birds. There were birds with eggs and birds with chicks. They were everywhere. The smell was something else, but the sight was so incredible I didn’t care.
Having seen the turtles, the wideawakes, Green mountain and the devil’s racetrack I’d seen everything I’d come to see and was ready to leave. I’m glad I went to Ascension, it’s somewhere that’s always fascinated me, but I’m not in a hurry to go again and I’d definitely recommend going for no more than a few days. There’s not really much to do there and there’s more interesting places to visit, but it’s certainly one of the most remote places I’m probably going to go.
The drive up green mountain is a perilous affair, with blind hairpin corners every couple of hundred metres. The view from the top is spectacular with the whole of the island laid out below you. In the photo below you can just about see Georgetown, the couple of white spots on the coast near the centre of the photo. The domed hill to the right separates Georgetown from Comfortless Cove . The village in the foreground is Two Boats. To the far left of the photo is the army base and part of the runway may be visible (I can’t remember) as the light patch partly hidden by a hill.
Green mountain is covered in foliage, some native, some introduced. Ginger was prolific and in flower. People used to live on the mountain and a large house had gardens and greenhouses which grew fruit and vegetables. It’s all in disrepair now and everything is imported. There used to be cows and pigs kept there but all that’s there now is one guy keeping some chickens for the eggs and, once they get too old, the meat which he sells. It seems strange that everything’s imported but I suppose no-one would be there if it wasn’t for the military so they have become completely reliant on them, for food as well as work.
Green mountain was used to collect rainwater and there are several places where the hill-side has been covered to prevent water from seeping into the soil so that it can instead run into storage ponds. An emergency supply of water was stored at a pond near the summit called the dew pond. It’s a nice, sheltered walk up although the boardwalk put in place is extremely slippery and in places extremely steep. The pond is small and has some goldfish and waterlilies. It’s surrounded by bamboo and is a lovely spot and a welcome relief from the arid lava on the rest of the island.
In the afternoon we headed back downhill and out to the army base. The base is known as Wideawake and we were off to see the source of this name, the sooty terns. There is a massive colony of terns near the airport. We drove most of the way then walked the 10 minutes or so to the main base. Before we’d even started walking the birds could be heard and the sky was thick with them. A couple of frigate birds could be seen flying around, probably keeping their eyes out for abandoned chicks. As we got closer to the colony we began to get mobbed by birds. They weren’t afraid of getting close. The main colony was massive, stretching as far as the eye could see.
It was quite amazing to see so many birds. There were birds with eggs and birds with chicks. They were everywhere. The smell was something else, but the sight was so incredible I didn’t care. Having seen the turtles, the wideawakes, Green mountain and the devil’s racetrack I’d seen everything I’d come to see and was ready to leave. I’m glad I went to Ascension, it’s somewhere that’s always fascinated me, but I’m not in a hurry to go again and I’d definitely recommend going for no more than a few days. There’s not really much to do there and there’s more interesting places to visit, but it’s certainly one of the most remote places I’m probably going to go.
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