Do you enjoy visiting islands? There are so many islands around the world that you are unlikely to tour them all. However there is a great amount of fascinating man-made islands as well that provide remarkable places to visit. The good thing is that many of them are actually accessible to tourists. The following are some of the captivating artificial islands that you should seriously consider touring.
Ile aux Cygnes, France
Ile aux Cygnes alias “Isle of the Swans” which is a narrow man-made island found in river Seine in Paris, was formed in 1872 to shield the port of Grenelle. It houses a tree-lined walkway running the entire length of the island and a replica of the Statue of Liberty. It stands 72 feet high facing west towards its big sister in New York.
Danube Island, Austria
Situated along in central Vienna, in between the Danube River and the parallel dug out channel called Neue Donuo, this rather long and narrow island is home to various bars, restaurants and clubs, as well as the most-loved music festival. Even though citizens currently visit the island to part take in the open air events, initially, the Island was created as a part of Vienna’s flood protection system. As the mighty Danube River crosses the city, flooding has perpetually been a worry for Vienna.
The building of the island started in 1970s. Excavation rubbles were deposited between the present river bed and the New Danube creating thirteen miles of man-made island. Between 1974 and 1988, almost 2 million bushes and trees were planted here. Currently, the island is subdivided into three parts; a city-park zone in the center and natural areas to the north and south.
Peberholm, Denmark
The construction of this artificial island on the Danish side of the Oresund resulted from the creation of the Oresund Bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. Peberholm was intended to serve as the crossover section between the bridge and the tunnel. The building of the tunnel was necessary because a bridge covering the whole link between, Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden) would have disturbed the obstacle-free zones near Kastrup Airport. A tunnel would permit huge ships to cross the Oresund regardless of the height of the crossing bridge.
Officials created Peberholm bearing in mind ecology preservations. Scientists anticipated that, minus human intervention, nature would eventually colonize the island. Thus, only the biologists are permitted to go beyond the railway and the freeway routes. By June 2007 biologists recorded 453 different species of plants on the island. It is also home to between 8 and 10 breeding species of birds.
Kamfers Dam, South Africa
This man-made “S” shaped island is located beyond Kamfers Dam in South Africa. It has been a crucial breeding ground for Lesser Flamingoes from its creation in September 2006. As many as 50,000 flamingoes, a better portion of the sub-region’s population, frequent the dam. Ornithologist Mark Anderson, who pioneered the construction, sought the help of a local company Ekapa Mining that moved a total of 26,000 tons of excavated material to form the island.
The flamingoes are unfortunately in dire risk. Increasing water levels and declining water quality continually make Kamfers Dam inappropriate for the flamingoes. More than 2/3 of the island is flooded, plus two crucial railway lines are in jeopardy.
Thilafushi, Maldives
Maldives are famous for their white beaches and magnificent natural environment. Out of the 200 inhabited islands a whopping 99 are devoted to resorts. One of its many islands is Thilafushi, which is an artificial island that was constructed in 1992 on reclaimed coral reefs. It is not a home to any five star hotel, though. It was constructed to serve as a municipal landfill, hence the nickname “Garbage Island”.
Thilafushi is situated towards the west of Male, in between Kaafu Atoll’s Gulhifahu and Giraavaru, and is the dumping site for 300 tons of garbage. It was approximated in 2005, that 31,000 truckloads of rubbish are carried to the island every year, where it is deposited in huge piles and later used for land reclamation, increasing the size of the land. Thanks to that the island is growing at the rate of 10 square feet per day.