All covid restrictions for visitors to St Helena have been dropped starting this week.

Home to just 4,200 residents and lying almost 2,000km from the south-western coast of Africa, the island has enforced a strict entry policy since the first days of the pandemic due to its limited infrastructure and among the last destinations to relax restrictions on visitors.

St Helena was famously one of the least accessible destinations on the planet until its small airport opened in 2017, previously reached only by a five-day voyage from Cape Town aboard a Royal Mail ship. Now visitors can make use of fortnightly flights from Johannesburg to discover the extraordinary history and pristine natural environment of this little-known island.