Contact Admin. A prehistoric land looms as the sea succumbs to unforgiving terrain -- craggy, jagged and mountainous. Forged by fire, the island destination is a few hours boat ride from the icy mainland of Greenland. Its landscape is completely different from the rest of the Arctic country because a volcanic past gave Disko black sand beaches and rugged landscape.
But its most striking features are huge, red flattop mountains that locals call the Grand Canyon. They tower over Qeqertarsuaq, the island's only settlement. It's a small town of colorful houses where people never fail to wave hello and smile to anyone passing them on the street. Qeqertarsuaq is home to about people, including a lone taxi driver who, surprisingly, is called Steve.
Steve and his taxi are pretty much all the tourism infrastructure there is on Disko. Anyone wanting to see the island's beauty will need the help of a local fisherman or at least someone who owns a boat. You'll see some today," he says as we climb aboard his boat.
But, for the time being, that remains just a dream. They jump and land on the water and then splash! Heading east from the black beach, glacial melt water sends little waterfalls over coastal cliffs. Farther on, basalt columns -- natural formations of rock that look completely unnatural -- rise out of the water.
Exploring this terrain requires a jump from the boat onto a relatively safe piece of rock and a scramble up the side of one of the basalt cliffs.
