Ball’s Pyaramid is located 20 kilometers southeast of Lord Howe island in the Pacific Ocean, It is the remnants of a massive volcano and and caldera that formed about 6.4 million years ago. It is the tallest volcanic stack in the world, 562 meters (1,844 ft) high, while. measuring only 1,100 meters (3,600 ft) in length and 300 meters (980 ft) across. Balls Pyramid is just 0.5 per cent of the mammoth volcano it was once a part of The pyramid is named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who discovered it in 1788. He also discovered Lord Howe Island. This barren sea spire is home to the world’s rarest insect. Dick Smith’s group in 1964 tried to climb the pyramid but forced to turn around due to bad weather, but a year later number of climbers from Sydney university successfully climbed it all the way. in 1979 Smith returned to the pyramid with John Wrorrall and Hugh Ward and successfully reached the summit where he erected a flag given to him by then premier Neville Wran. Mr Hutton’s company Lord Howe Island Tours takes tourists to the island about once a week.
The Pyramid is protected as part of the Lord Howe Island World Heritage area and
people can no longer climb the mountain without permission. Tourists can still get up close and personal. Along the way you will get a chance to see rare sea birds like the Kermidec Petrel, White Bellied Storm Petrel and may be lucky enough to see an Albatross. The remnants of a massive volcano, Ball’s Pyramid juts 1,843 feet out of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1788. the barren, rocky. Spire was thought to be devoid of life until 2001 when a group of scientists discovered what may be the world’s rarest insect. The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) had not been seen alive in over 70 years. Known as “land lobsters” or “walking sausages,” the six-inch long insects were once common on the neighboring Lord Howe Island, but were assumed to have been eaten into extinction by the black rats introduced to the island when a supply ship ran aground on its shores in 1918.
Yet in 2001, the scientists found a colony of the huge Lord Howe Island stick insects living under a single bush, a hundred feet up the otherwise entirely infertile rock. Somehow a few of the wingless insects escaped and managed—by means still unknown–to traverse over 14 miles of open ocean, land on Ball’s Pyramid, and survive there. Just 27 of the insects have been found on the rocky spire. They are currently being bred in captivity.
The Pyramid is protected as part of the Lord Howe Island World Heritage area and people can no longer climb the mountain without permission. Tourists can still get up close and personal. Along the way you will get a chance to see rare sea birds like the Kermidec Petrel, White Bellied Storm Petrel and may be lucky enough to see an Albatross. The remnants of a massive volcano, Ball’s Pyramid juts 1,843 feet out of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1788. the barren, rocky spire was thought to be devoid of life until 2001 when a group of scientists discovered what may be the world’s rarest insect.
The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) had not been seen alive in over 70 years. Known as “land lobsters” or “walking sausages,” the six-inch long insects were once common on the neighboring Lord Howe Island, but were assumed to have been eaten into extinction by the black rats introduced to the island when a supply ship ran aground on its shores in 1918. Yet in 2001, the scientists found a colony of the huge Lord Howe Island stick insects living under a single bush, a hundred feet up the otherwise entirely infertile rock. Somehow a few of the wingless insects escaped and managed—by means still unknown-to traverse over 14 miles of open ocean, land on Ball’s Pyramid, and survive there. Just 27 of the insects have been found on the rocky spire. They are currently being bred in captivity.