Tigres, the largest island of Angola, once was a small peninsula in Tigres Strait known as Península dos Tigres with a well established fishing Portuguese village called Saint Martin of the Tigers. The ocean broke through the isthmus of the peninsula on March 14, 1962, and the water line was severed. Hence, Tigres became an island overnight with no water supply and was abandoned.

Rarely traversed, the path to the island is known as the Death Acre and is one of the most dangerous coastal passages in the world. It’s essentially a narrow stretch of beach along the Namib desert – an area the locals have dubbed ‘Os Riscos’, The Risks. We experienced this but were able to get to the island and back with an experienced crew and rugged vehicles.