Vietnam's most remote islands — dark history, pristine sea
Con Dao is an archipelago of 16 islands off the southern tip of Vietnam, famous for two things that exist in extraordinary tension: the brutal French and American-era prison camps that held thousands of Vietnamese political prisoners (and remain as haunting memorials), and some of the most pristine marine environments in Southeast Asia, including nesting beaches for the endangered green sea turtle. The main island has one small town, one airstrip, no mass tourism, and perfect snorkelling and diving. The national park covers most of the land and surrounding sea, and the relative difficulty of…
Con Dao's prison history begins in 1862 when the French built the first penitentiary on the islands — 'Poulo Condore' became notorious throughout French Indochina as the place where political dissidents, communists, and nationalists were sent to die. Under US-backed South Vietnam, the 'tiger cages' — solitary confinement cells where prisoners were kept in concrete boxes barely large enough to stand — became a global symbol of brutality when an American journalist photographed them in 1970, triggering international outrage. The prison system is now preserved as a museum. Vó Thị Sáu, a teenage…