There's a chance – just a small chance – that we might all have become just a little too reliant on our phones. That we might now be hooked on modernity. That we might have become obsessed not with doing things, but with staying in touch with other people who are doing things.
You only have to flick through the apps on your phone to know this is true: Skype, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp, Messenger, email …They're all ways of remaining in contact 24 hours a day, of reading news, of passing on tales of your own. They're media for sharing, for letting friends and followers know what you're up to at any given point in your day.
It's stressful just trying to keep up. And when you add that to the other trials of daily life, to the boss that's haranguing you, to the bus that never shows up, to the restaurant that won't take bookings, to the traffic jams on the Westgate or the Spit, to the general worries about terrorist attacks, you could be excused for feeling a little frazzled.
So why not get away from it all? And we mean really get it away from it. The following are destinations that will truly take you away from it all. They'll quite often take you away not just from phone signals and Wi-Fi and all of your family and friends, but from civilisation itself. These are among the genuine wild, exciting and remote places remaining on the planet.
THE MONGOLIAN STEPPE
WHERE IS IT? In Central Asia, the Mongolian steppe is a huge area of high-altitude grassland that's inhabited mostly by nomadic families.
There's life in Ittoqqortoormiit. Most of it, however, is not human. It comes in the form of the polar bears, musk oxen, reindeer and walruses that call this sometimes bleak but always beautiful land their home.
WHY GO? If you ever want to feel a deep sense of isolation, try standing in the middle of the Mongolian steppe, the wind whistling in your ears, the treeless landscape stretching to the horizon on all sides, with not a soul to be found. It's beautiful; it's scary. There are, however, people out here. The nomadic families of Mongolia still live in the white, felt-covered gers that dot the barren landscape, and tourists are usually welcome to spend a few nights with them, watching as they eke out a living as farmers and herders in this barren but beautiful place.
WI-FI CONNECTION Poor to non-existent.
NEAREST STARBUCKS Almaty, Kazakhstan
HOW TO GET THERE: There's an international airport in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator; from there, you'll need a local guide to set up accommodation with a nomadic family.
MAKE IT HAPPEN beyondtravel.com.au.
PATAGONIA
WHERE IS IT On the southern tip of South America, spread across Chilean and Argentinean territory.
WHY GO It's the sheer size of Patagonia that impresses people. Not just the size of the territory itself, but the size of everything within it: the towering, jagged mountain peaks; the huge glaciers calving ice into frigid waters; the endless, barren valleys marked with petrified forests. It's also, however, the silence. Though it's accessible by sealed road from several established towns, Patagonia is so wild, so rugged and so unpredictable that it truly does feel as if you're standing on the end of the Earth. And at nighttime, as you curl up in a tent or a cabin and listen to the howl of the wind outside, it's a truly awe-inspiring experience.
HOW TO GET THERE The best access to Patagonia's national parks is via the towns of El Calafate, Rio Gallegos and Ishuaia in Argentina, and Punta Arenas in Chile. All are accessible by air from Santiago or Buenos Aires.
WI-FI CONNECTION Patchy at best
NEAREST STARBUCKS Santiago, Chile
MAKE IT HAPPEN chimuadventures.com.au.
KARAJINI NATIONAL PARK
WHERE IS IT In the Hammersley Ranges, part of the Pilbara region of north-western Australia.
WHY GO This is one of Australia's most remote and most beautiful national parks, a rugged expanse of mountains and escarpments, high plateaus and deep, narrow gorges. Plenty of visitors come here not just for the isolation, but the wildflowers, which bloom throughout the year. There are also birds, kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, geckos, lizards and snakes. However, at a four-hour drive from the nearest major airport (which in turn is 1500 kilometres away from the nearest capital city), the main attraction here is the feeling that the modern world no longer exists. Switch off your phone – it's useless. Put down your camera. Simply take in one of Australia's most beautiful landscapes.
HOW TO GET THERE From Perth, fly north to Karratha and hire a car – 4WD is recommended. From there it's a 4½-hour drive in to the Karajini Visitor Centre.
WI-FI CONNECTION You're kidding, right?
NEAREST STARBUCKS Melbourne or Sydney.
MAKE IT HAPPEN parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
TRISTAN DE CUNHA
WHERE IS IT In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Cape Town and Buenos Aires. This is the world's most remote inhabited island.
WHY GO Because there is nowhere else in the world quite like Tristan de Cunha. This tiny island nation, some 2000 kilometres from the nearest inhabitance, doesn't even have its own airport. It takes a week-long ride on a polar supply ship from Cape Town for tourists to visit Tristan and its 267 inhabitants. The island has no mobile phone coverage, and the only way to access the worldwide web there is at a single internet cafe. There are also no hotels, meaning visitors stay with local families, and are often expected to help out with daily chores.
HOW TO GET THERE There are nine ship passages annually from Cape Town to Tristan de Cunha. It's a week-long voyage, and visitors will have to stay on the island for a month before being picked up again.
WI-FI CONNECTION Don't go near that internet cafe
NEAREST STARBUCKS Johannesburg or Buenos Aires
MAKE IT HAPPEN tristandc.com.
CHADA KATAVI CAMP
WHERE IT IS This six-tent safari lodge is in Katavi National Park, a game reserve in far western Tanzania, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
WHY GO There are plenty of isolated safari camps out there, but this is one of the most remote. It's a three-hour flight by private plane from the tourist centre of Arusha to get to Chada Katavi, a tiny campsite on the rim of the Chada Plain. Unlike Tanzanian hotspots such as Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, it's doubtful that you'll see any other tourists in Katavi. Instead you'll spot lions, buffalo and elephants on the vast flood plains, crocodiles and hippos in the river systems, and birdlife in the air. And at the end of the day? A luxurious permanent tent. And silence.
HOW TO GET THERE Chada Katavi is open from June to mid-November; during that time there are two weekly flights from Arusha to Ikuu airstrip, and it's a further 20 minutes by 4WD to the camp.
WI-FI CONNECTION In your dreams
NEAREST STARBUCKS Johannesburg
MAKE IT HAPPEN classicsafaricompany.com.au.
ITTOQQORTOORMIIT
WHERE IS IT? Ittoqqortoormiit​ is a tiny, unpronounceable settlement of only 450 people on the east coast of Greenland.
WHY GO There's life in Ittoqqortoormiit. Most of it, however, is not human. It comes in the form of the polar bears, musk oxen, reindeer and walruses that call this sometimes bleak but always beautiful land their home. And it's an isolated home. The surrounding sea is completely frozen over for nine months of the year. The nearest neighbour to Ittoqqortoomiit is Daneborg, a national park patrol station some 600 kilometres north. In winter there's only one flight in or out a week. The main form of transport in town is a dog-sled. The local pub is only open one night a week. However, despite everything, the people are friendly, and the landscape is like nothing you've ever seen before.
HOW TO GET THERE During summer there are two weekly flights to Ittoqqortoomiit from Reykjavik in Iceland. Some cruise ships also call into the port.
WI-FI CONNECTION Try your cruise ship, if you have one.
NEAREST STARBUCKS Trondheim, Norway
MAKE IT HAPPEN greenland.com.
ATACAMA TO SALTA
WHERE IT IS This stretch of Andean high country, across the north of Chile and Argentina, is covered with a nine-day "Travesia" hike.
WHY GO There are no hotels up here. There are no cafes, no bars, no backpacker hostels and no traffic. In fact there's very little of anything except spectacular Andean scenery, condors soaring high above, and the feeling of being the only person left on Earth. During this nine-day trek from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to the town of Salta in Argentina, travellers spend nights in an old schoolhouse, as well as in converted shipping containers that truly have been plonked in the middle of nowhere. And it's far more luxurious that it sounds.
HOW TO GET THERE Flights from Australia land in Santiago, Chile; from there, connect by air to the city of Calama, and then take a transfer to San Pedro de Atacama to begin the trek.
WI-FI CONNECTION Don't even ask
NEAREST STARBUCKS Santiago
MAKE IT HAPPEN explora.com.
THE YUKON
WHERE IS IT This Canadian territory is set in the country's far north-west, bordering Alaska on one side, and the province of British Columbia on the other.
WHY GO There's no way you're going to be thinking about checking your emails while you're embarking on one of the world's great adventures: a canoeing expedition down the Yukon River. And there's no chance you'll be considering checking Facebook while you're climbing one of Canada's tallest mountain peaks in Kluane National Park. And even when access to those trappings of modernity is possible, when you're hanging out in little towns like Whitehorse and Dawson City, there will still be very little urge to indulge in them. Because the Yukon is all about simple, beautiful pleasures: meeting locals, trekking mountain paths, eating hearty meals, and taking it all in sans technology.
HOW TO GET THERE The only major airport in the Yukon is Whitehorse, which has flights coming in from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Frankfurt.
WI-FI CONNECTION Possible but resist.
NEAREST STARBUCKS Fairbanks or Juneau, Alaska
MAKE IT HAPPEN canada.travel.
RAPA NUI
WHERE IS IT The place otherwise known as Easter Island is a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean about 3700 kilometres off the coast of Chile.
WHY GO If you've seen photos of the large stone heads that dot Rapa Nui – and, no doubt, you have – then you already possess all the reasons necessary to visit this tiny, remote island. Because those "moai", which are actually entire carved figures rather than merely heads, say so much: they represent all that's amazing, and different, and mysterious on Easter Island. This outcrop in the Pacific is home to only 6000 people, though it does have a smattering of eco-resorts, and activities such as hiking, snorkelling and surfing on offer. Most visitors will be drawn, however, to those moai.
HOW TO GET THERE LAN Airlines flies seven times a week from Santiago to Hanga Roa on Rapa Nui (a five-hour journey), and there's one flight a week from Tahiti.
WI-FI CONNECTION Limited to non-existent
NEAREST STARBUCKS: Santiago
MAKE IT HAPPEN explora.com.
SVALBARD
WHERE IS IT About halfway between continental Norway and the North Pole. In other words, it's quite chilly.
WHY GO There are more polar bears than people in Svalbard. That might at first sound like a very good reason not to go, but it's also a perfect demonstration of just how remote and isolated this Arctic archipelago really is. Svalbard's largest town, Longyearbyen, is a four-and-a-half-hour flight north of Olso. The entire area is only home to about 2500 hardy souls, and there's very little to do in winter but hunker down and watch the occasional showing of northern lights. Once the sun rises, however, Svalbard is a haven for those who like to do their exploring on snowmobiles, or dog sleds, or even on foot across huge glaciers. Just … keep an eye out for bears.
HOW TO GET THERE There are seven flights a week between Olso and Longyearbyen, as well as five a week from Tromso.
WI-FI CONNECTION Non-existent beyond Svalbard.
NEAREST STARBUCKS Trondheim, Norway
MAKE IT HAPPEN visitnorway.com.
PUROS
WHERE IS IT This tiny village is set high in the north-west corner of Namibia, a good day-long drive on dirt tracks from the nearest settlement.
WHY GO Puros is marked on the map as a town, but it won't feel like any other town you've ever visited. There's really nothing there save for a few galvanised iron huts and a campsite. But people come for the isolation, for the beautiful, rugged landscapes that surround on all sides, for the chance to see marauding desert elephant in their natural habitat, and for the opportunity to visit a local settlement of Himba tribespeople still living the same way they have for centuries. It's unlike anywhere else.
HOW TO GET THERE From the Namibian capital of Windhoek, you'll need a 4WD to get you up to Palmwag, where you can overnight before completing the drive to Puros the next day.
WI-FI CONNECTION Dream on.
NUMBER OF STARBUCKS Johannesburg
MAKE IT HAPPEN classicsafaricompany.com.au.
TARANSAY
WHERE IS IT Taransay is an island in the Outer Hebrides, off the far north-west coast of Scotland.
WHY GO There's no one that lives permanently on this windswept outcrop of heather-covered land. Taransay is a hiker's paradise, a place where you'll be completely undisturbed as you tramp across the twin islands (connected by a thin isthmus), walking along rugged cliff tops, down past flawless white-sand beaches, and along the island's charming moors. There are three self-catered accommodation options on Taransay which offer a total of 22 beds, meaning very few people will be able to share this experience of true Scottish wilderness. But it does get lonely. Be sure to pack the whisky.
HOW TO GET THERE After flying to the town of Stornaway on Lewis and Harris, make your way to Horgabost Beach, where transfers run to the Taransay guesthouses.
WI-FI CONNECTION Down another dram
NEAREST STARBUCKS Inverness, Scotland
MAKE IT HAPPEN visitscotland.com.
TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTRE
WHERE IS IT Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, about a seven-hour boat ride from the town of Puerto Maldonado.
WHY GO This is as wild as it gets: a tiny settlement of scientists and travellers in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. The accommodation is comfortable, if a little basic. All rooms only have three walls, with one side open to the sights and sounds of the jungle outside. This area is known primarily for its population of macaws, the world's largest parrots, richly plumed birds that flock here to feed on mineral deposits in the soil. A dawn viewing of the macaws at play should be on ever nature-lover's bucket list.
HOW TO GO Tourists will need to fly from Lima to Puerto Maldonado, and then catch a narrow boat for about seven hours up-river.
WI-FI CONNECTION Focus on the real twitters.
NEAREST STARBUCKS Trujillo, Peru
MAKE IT HAPPEN chimuadventures.com.au.
MASOALA NATIONAL PARK
WHERE IS IT This 2300-square-kilometre reserve of rainforest and marine parks is in the north-east corner of Madagascar.
WHY GO There's only one road into Masoala, and it's often closed. The only other way to access this spectacular, wild area of national park is by boat, a three-hour ride from the town of Maroantsetra. Once you're in, however, you're in another world. On land, there are 13 species of lemur to be found, including the red-ruffed lemur, and the nocturnal aye-aye. There are also such exotic-sounding beasts as leaf-tailed geckos, Madagascar red owls, serpent eagles and tomato frogs. In the ocean humpback whales glide serenely by, while 3001 fish species swim below. The only accommodation options are one luxury lodge, or three basic campsites. This place is seriously wild.
HOW TO GET THERE From Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, make your way north to either Maroantsetra – where boat transfers into the park can be arranged – or Antalaha, where access to Masoala is via bush taxi or mountain bike.
WIFI CONNECTION Set your "out of office" message
NEAREST STARBUCKS Johnanesburg, South Africa
MAKE IT HAPPEN travelmadagascar.org.
REMOTE CHANCE:
FIVE WI-FI FREE RESORTS
SAL SALIS, AUSTRALIA
One of Australia's best luxury resorts is completely phone- and internet-free. This beachside beauty, near Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef, is all about getting away from the hassles of modernity. See salsalis.com.au.
LAPA RIOS, COSTA RICA
The Lapa Rios rooms have comfy beds, private decks with outdoor showers, and stunning views of rainforest and ocean. But no Wi-Fi. See laparios.com.
WOLWEDANS, NAMIBIA
In the desert, no one can hear you Skype. That's because Skype doesn't work. Neither does Whatsapp, or Messenger, or Instagram or Facebook or even plain old email here at Wolwedans, deep in the Namibian desert. See wolwedans.com.
BAMURRU PLAINS, AUSTRALIA
There's luxury to be had at Bamurru Plains, just west of Kakadu National Park, in the form of safari-style bungalows with views over the plains. It doesn't come in the form of phone or internet access. See bamurruplains.com.
LIZARD ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
Your phone becomes a glorified paperweight the minute you step on Lizard Island, on the Great Barrier Reef. In fact the only place to communicate with the outside world is in the guest lounge, where you can nab the island's only Wi-Fi signal. See lizardisland.com.au.
WHY FI?
FIVE CLASSIC GREAT ESCAPES
ANTARCTICA
It takes a three-day boat journey across some of the world's most treacherous seas to reach the great southern continent, but once you're there, what an experience. The silence in Antarctica is complete. See chimuadventures.com.au.
ULURU, AUSTRALIA
It's easy to see why the traditional owners of Uluru believe the rock has spiritual significance. There's something otherworldly about this giant monolith plonked in the middle of the Australian desert. See ayersrockresort.com.au.
THE GRAND CANYON, US
In some ways, the Grand Canyon isn't particularly isolated. You can get there via a helicopter or plane ride from Las Vegas. There are sealed roads for everyone else. But when you're standing on the lip of the canyon gazing across the emptiness the sense of remoteness. See nps.gov/grca.
THE SERENGETI, AFRICA
This is a place where mobile phones are useless. They won't work. There's no chance of checking your emails either. All you'll be able to do is wake up early every morning and enjoy another day in one of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the world. See classicsafaricompany.com.au.
THE SAHARA, MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
The most surprising thing about the Sahara is definitely not the heat, the dry air, or the sand dunes. It's not the complete lack of anybody else around. It's the beauty of the place. Who knew an endless sea of sand dunes glowing in the late-afternoon sun would look so amazing? See intrepidtravel.com.
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