Henderson Island is an uninhabited raised coral atoll in the eastern South Pacific, part of the Pitcairn Islands group. UNESCO describes it as roughly 3,700 hectares and about 200 kilometres northeast of Pitcairn, the only inhabited island in the group. Its isolation is extraordinary: UNESCO notes that no major landmass lies within a radius of about 5,000 kilometres. This is not a resort island with a regular ferry, hotel or visitor centre.
The atoll rose from coral limestone and is one of the world’s best remaining examples of this type of island ecosystem. Low cliffs, rocky shores, beaches and a central plateau create different habitats within a relatively small area. Fresh water is limited and the terrain is not suited to agriculture, factors that have helped keep permanent settlement away. A place can look inviting in a photograph and still be logistically demanding and ecologically vulnerable on the ground.