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Continuation of the most inaccessible places to travel
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Gaza Strip

The Palestinian state consists of two enclaves: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A bunch of tourists go to the first one - visiting biblical sites, looking at Banksy's graffiti, trying Levantine cuisine. The second is a narrow strip of land about 40 by 10 kilometers, sandwiched between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. There is not even such a thing as a visit for the purpose of tourism. To enter here - as well as to leave - is not the most trivial task. The authors of the Lonely Planet backpacker's bible honestly admit that they couldn't get there either, and recommend their readers not even to try, citing the difficult military situation.

Until 2005, the situation in the Gaza Strip was about the same as in the West Bank: the Jewish settlements were controlled by Israel and the rest by the Palestinian Authority. Local Arabs even regularly went to Israel to work. There were hardly any tourists in Gaza in those years, but that could be explained by the insecurity of the region. In 2005, the Israeli army and its citizens abandoned the Gaza Strip - even graves from Jewish cemeteries were removed so that the Arabs would not desecrate them. The following year, the Islamic fundamentalists won local elections and a year later, in a civil war, they took full power in the Gaza Strip. The Islamists began to attack Israeli territories, and Israel, together with Egypt, set up a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip - by land, sea and air.

For foreigners, this means obtaining permits not only from the authorities in Gaza itself, but also from their neighbors - Israel or Egypt, depending on which side you want to enter. But it is mainly issued only to journalists, diplomats and humanitarian missions.

North Sentinel Island.

One of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, which are governed by the Indian authorities. This archipelago consists of nearly six hundred islands, of which less than forty are inhabited. It is a sunny paradise with jungle and bounty beaches, but only a couple of dozen islands are open to foreigners, and about the same number can be visited during the day without overnight stay.

The Andaman and neighboring Nicobar Islands are known for the fact that several indigenous peoples still live there. Most of them are no longer non-contact and have already begun to come into contact with our civilization, little by little taking from it all the good and bad: medical care, clothing, food, the destruction of traditional lifestyles, alcohol, tobacco, disease, and even children conceived by outsiders. To prevent this process, Indian authorities set up reservations in areas where aborigines live compactly and restrict traffic in these areas.

The North Sentinel Island stands out here. First of all, it is slightly away from the main archipelago, and secondly - the local guys are so aggressive to the newcomers, that as a result it has saved them. In the '70s, they attacked documentary filmmakers who were shooting a film on the island for National Geographic. In 2004, when Indian authorities were surveying the island from the air to assess the impact of the tsunami, the Sentinels shot at the helicopter with bows. The first peaceful contact didn't occur until the '90s, after longtime explorers brought the islanders coconuts and ironmongery, which are not found on the island, as gifts. Now even the number of Sentinels is not known precisely - the population of the island is estimated between 50 and 150 people.

They are considered direct descendants of the natives of Africa, who lived here for about 60 thousand years. To protect the Sentinelese from the ravages of civilization, the Indian authorities have prohibited access to the island closer than five nautical miles. The Coast Guard monitors compliance with this law. However, violators are usually punished by the islanders themselves. In 2006, the Sentinels shot with an arrow two fishermen who approached the island. The bodies of those killed were never recovered. And in 2018, an American who allegedly wanted to preach Christianity to the natives sneaked in. He paid Indian fishermen to bring him to the island, and two days later the fishermen saw the natives on the beach burying a body that looked just like the American.

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