The Road Less Travelled Trivia Quiz

Answer: La Rinconada

A description of La Rinconada, the town in the Peruvian Andes that has the distinction of being the world's highest permanent settlement, sounds like a dystopian nightmare. Located at 5,100 m (16,700 ft) above sea level, near a gold mine, La Rinconada boasts about 50,000 inhabitants - a huge number for a town that lies far above the tree line, with an average yearly temperature of 1.2º C.

A huge glacier, called La Bella Durmiente (Sleeping Beauty) towers above the town. The worst thing about La Rinconada, however, is its lack of plumbing and sanitation, as well as the mercury contamination caused by the practice of using mercury to refine the gold ore.

The town's many small mines are mostly unregulated - therefore highly dangerous; most of the gold extracted there is also exported illegally. La Rinconada can be reached from the lowlands by a long, winding dirt road; the nearest airport is almost 100 km (62 mi) to the south.

Answer: Pitcairn Island

The Pitcairn Islands are a group of four small volcanic islands forming the only British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. Of these islands, only Pitcairn (named after the young British sailor who first sighted the island in 1767) is inhabited - very sparsely so, as according to a 2018 estimate the resident population amounts to 50 people.

The Pitcairn Islanders, or Pitkerners, are of mixed ethnic origin, as they mostly descend from nine of the Bounty mutineers (including Fletcher Christian, the mutiny's leader) and the 18 Tahitian men and women who accompanied them. Pitcairn Island is located 2,170 km (1,350 mi) southeast of Tahiti; it is only accessible by boat through Bounty Bay - where the wreck of the famous ship can still be seen underwater; passengers and cargo are transported by chartered ship from Mangareva (French Polynesia) and Tauranga (New Zealand). With its tropical climate, lush vegetation and thriving marine life, Pitcairn is an attractive tourist destination; however, the island's population is dwindling and at risk of extinction, in spite of the local government's efforts to attract new residents.

Answer: Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha has often been called the most isolated place on earth, and with good reason. Indeed, this group of six islands (the largest of which, Tristan da Cunha, is inhabited by less than 300 people) lies 2,400 km (1,500 mi) from the nearest inhabited land - the island of Saint Helena (of Napoleon Bonaparte's fame) - and more or less the same distance from the coast of South Africa, the nearest continental land.

The archipelago, together with the aforementioned Saint Helena and Ascension Island (which lies almost 4,000 km to the north), is part of a British overseas territory. Like most Atlantic islands, Tristan da Cunha is of volcanic origin; its wildlife includes various species of seabirds (such as albatrosses), whales and dolphins.

The island can only be reached by boat, and there is no regular service from either Ascension Island or Saint Helena. The island also lacks hotels and restaurants, which obviously does not provide any incentive for tourists.

Answer: Oymyakon

Oymyakon is a "selo" (rural locality) in the Sakha Republic (also known as Yakutia), part of Russia's Far Eastern Federal District. The town's peculiar location between two mountain ranges contributes to its extremely cold climate, as the mountains trap the wind in the space where the town lies. Though Oymyakon has never recorded above-freezing temperatures between late October and mid-March, summers can get rather warm, occasionally even hot, and much wetter than winters.

Indeed, the dryness of the winter climate is what allows such a town to survive.

In the town square, a monument stands commemorating a reading of the temperature (occurred in the 1920s) of -71.2º C (-96º F). While not as difficult to access as some of the locations mentioned in this quiz, Oymyakon is very remote, and the nearest town is a three-day drive away.

Answer: Socotra

Though closer to Somalia, Socotra and the other three small islands that form the Socotra archipelago are part of Yemen; the islands' sovereignty, however, is contested between the two countries. The island, located near the Gulf of Aden, was a trading base in ancient times; its name comes from the Sanskrit "dvipa sukhadhara", meaning "island of bliss". Socotra is one of the world's top biodiversity hotspots, hosting a high number of endemic plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth; for this reason the archipelago has been dubbed "The Galapagos of the Indian Ocean". Perhaps the most distinctive example of Socotra's unique flora is the striking, umbrella-shaped dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), whose red sap is used for a variety of purposes (such as varnish for violins). Socotra was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. Now the island is even more isolated than before, because the ongoing civil war in Yemen has caused most flights to Socotra to be cancelled.

Answer: Motuo

Motuo (also known as Medog and Pemako) County is located in the southeast of Tibet Autonomous Region (China), at an average altitude of 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level. Because of the constant threat of avalanches and landslides, until very recently there was no permanent road access to this lush, wildlife-rich region, considered a holy land by Tibetan Buddhism.

In the 1970s, a highway was built, which was impassable for most of the year because of the weather; in 2010, a permanent highway was finally opened, connecting Motuo to the rest of China.

The county's location on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, its rich vegetation and mild climate make it an attractive, though demanding, trekking destination; indeed, Motuo is said to house one-tenth of China's plant life, comprising plants from both subtropical and cold climates.

Answer: Supai

The capital of the Havasupai Indian Reservation, Supai - located within the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona - is home to about 200 people. It is not accessible by road, therefore there are no cars in the community - which also makes it one of the quietest places on Earth.

The only way out of Supai is an eight-mile trail, though helicopter is also an option. Moreover, Cataract (Havasu) Canyon, a tributary canyon of the Grand Canyon at the bottom of which Supai is located, is prone to flash flooding from Havasu Creek (renowned for its beautiful waterfalls), and can be closed at any time.

Not surprisingly, Supai has been called the most remote community in the contiguous United States; in spite of that, it attracts about 25,000 visitors a year.

The village's inhabitants still get their mail delivered by mule six days a week.

Answer: Cape York Peninsula

Located in Far North Queensland, Cape York Peninsula is renowned for its unspoiled environment - comprising diverse habitats such as wooded savannahs, wetlands, shrublands and tropical rainforests. Its east coast borders the Coral Sea, and its west coast the Gulf of Carpentaria; Cape York itself, named by James Cook after Edward Duke of York, a brother of King George III, is Australia's northernmost point, situated at the tip of the peninsula.

The area is sparsely populated by mostly Aboriginal communities; it is connected to the rest of Queensland by two roads, which are only suited to 4-wheel-drive vehicles, and often become flooded during the monsoon season. Due to its humid tropical climate, Cape York Peninsula is noted for its flora and fauna; the latter includes a wide range of birds, some very rare, and dangerous reptiles such as the extremely venomous Eastern brown snake and the huge saltwater crocodile - the world's largest reptile, and a frequent man-eater. During the dry season, the peninsula is a popular destination for those who enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, fishing and bird-watching.

Answer: Easter Island

Of all of the world's remote places, Easter Island is probably the one most people know about. Part of insular Chile, the island is located 3,512 kilometres (2,182 mi) from the country's nearest continental point, and 1,850 km (1,150 mi) from the Juan Fernandez Islands, the nearest inhabited land. Like Tristan da Cunha, Easter Island is of volcanic origin, formed by three extinct volcanoes. Named Rapa Nui in the Polynesian language, the island - whose common name comes from the day of its discovery by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen (5 April 1722) - is renowned for its almost 900 mysterious stone heads (moai). Easter Island's remarkably tree-free state has been in different ways linked to the erection of these fascinating monuments, carved between the 12th and the 17th century. Easter Island was colonized by settlers from Eastern Polynesia towards the end of the first millennium of the Christian era; in the 1860s, its population was almost entirely wiped off by a series of disasters. The island's current population numbers around 7,700 people. Most of Easter Island is part of Rapa Nui National Park, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

The island's airport, Mataveri International Airport, has the distinction of being the world's most remote.

Answer: Barrow

Officially known as Utqiagvik ("place for gathering wild roots" in the Inuit language) since 2016, the city of Barrow, Alaska, lies north of the Arctic Circle, a few miles south of the headland of Point Barrow the northernmost point of the US. Home to about 4,000 people, Barrow is not connected by road to the rest of Alaska; however, it can be reached by plane from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Deadhorse.

The city's roads are unpaved because of permafrost. In winter, Barrow "enjoys" over two straight months of darkness, while the midnight sun during the summer attracts tourists to the area.

In addition, Barrow is also one of the cloudiest places on Earth, though it gets very little rainfall. Because of the city's remoteness, food is very expensive; therefore, its inhabitants still rely on hunting and fishing as food sources.