That's the mission. Next week I'll be on my own on an unihabited island. Not in the Pacific or the South-China Sea, but in the good old Dutch Waddenzee. The name of the island is Griend, and it is a very well protected nature reserve, that only receives a handful of scientists every year.

Griend is not big, maybe 1200 metres long. There is one simple hut, for the scientists and birdwatchers. And it is home to tens of thousands of birds, summer and winter.

Here I'll spend a week all alone. Without any contact with the outside world. No phone, no radio. No Facebook, no Twitter, not even a watch. All this for a couple of features in Dutch magazines. But the real reason of course is that I simply like to do things like this.

I have experienced loneliness like this many times before, especially in the Australian outback and in the Namibian desert. That's why I do not expect any big events happening, like huge new insights, or feeling teribbly lonely.

Then again, you never know.

For Dutch natives: here's an interview I had this week on BNR national radio about my trip to Griend.

PS April 29th here's the feature that Dutch newspaper Volkskrant published on this journey. It's in Dutch I'm afraid.