Started planning your summer holiday yet?
You're probably dreaming of a paradise island with white sandy beaches and crystal blue waters, warm enough to swim in all day. A place where delicious coconuts fall from trees any time you feel hungry and where the locals fire arrows at helicopters and try to kill you.
Hang on... what?!
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Well, that's exactly the situation on North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal.
This paradise island, not a million miles from "gap yah" hotspot Thailand, looks truly stunning. However, venture too close and, like a moth to a flame, you'll probably be killed.
Why? Because the Sentinelese tribesmen and tribeswomen have been calling this tropical paradise home for over 60,000 years and they'll be damned if they're going to let anyone come and fuck it up.
Credit: Indian Coastguard
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The Sentinelese tribe are believed to be the last isolated, pre-Neolithic tribe to remain anywhere on earth. They even managed to survive 2004's Asian tsunami, which left other regions devastated.
Very few people have managed to get anywhere near North Sentinel Island without being chased off by the tribespeople, shooting spears and arrows at them.
The islanders are thought to number anywhere between 50 and 200 and have sacked off any contact with the modern world, in favour of attacking anyone who ventures anywhere near.
Not all visitors have even been fortunate enough to live to tell the tale.
Credit: Christian Caron
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In 2006, two extremely unlucky fishermen, who were fishing for crabs off the island, dropped anchor for the night and fell asleep in their boat. Unfortunately for them, their anchor failed and they were carried into the shallows, where they were attacked and killed by the islanders.
After the men's families raised the alarm, a coastguard helicopter went to try and retrieve the bodies, but was met with the customary barrage of arrows.
However, it's worth noting that contact expeditions to the island in centuries gone by have resulted in Sentinelese tribespeople being kidnapped by foreigners and even dying - so perhaps this goes some way towards explaining why they're keen to keep their distance.
Either way, probably not the best place to plan a boat excursion to, unless you want a spear in the face.
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