An Arctic island between the Chukchi and East Siberian seas where the woolly mammoth outlived everywhere else. The generally accepted last population survived here until roughly four thousand years ago, radiocarbon putting it around 2000 BC, which means mammoths were alive on this island while the pyramids at Giza were standing and the Minoans were building palaces on Crete. Nobody at the time knew, and the discovery has permanently changed how people picture the end of the Ice Age. It also has the highest density of polar bear dens anywhere on Earth. UNESCO listed the reserve in 2004. It has the highest level of Russian federal protection, no permanent civilian population, and virtually all activity apart from conservation and research is excluded, so this is one to read about rather than plan.
Chukotka, Russia
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