GUANTANAMO BAY, June 25, (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Tucked away on Cuba's southernmost tip, the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay is perhaps the world's most unlikely tourist destination, BBC Online reports.

Fifteen miles south of Guantanamo, up a steep road where the tarmac all but runs out is the Loma Malones observation point.

For a few dollars a driver will pick you up at the hotel in downtown Guantanamo. In good English, he will tell you the history of the Guantanamo military base, about the Americans and Cubans that work there, and the complexities of an international real estate that have left this piece of Cuba in American hands.

Back in 1901, the U.S. signed a 100-year lease for the base with a then friendly Cuban government.

Somewhere in the last century the deal went awry, and now the base will only be returned to Cuba with the consent of both governments. While relations remain so bad, that is unlikely anytime soon.

Tourists were always welcome here. But it is a long way from old town Havana or the beaches of Varadero - at least 17 hours by car. But the new inmates from half a world away have brought renewed attention to Guantanamo.

Even Cuban army chief Raul Castro, brother of Cuban leader Fidel, paid a visit and offered his help should any of the prisoners escape.

It is dry and hot up here. A wide, dusty road marks the boundary.

Behind the high fence, a line of cacti, and across some scrubland watchtowers built by the Americans.

The Stars and Stripes hang defiantly from each side that faces Cuba. From the Cuban side, you can hear and see the live fire exercises of the Cuban army.

The gunfire and explosions are clearly audible in the U.S. base. It is a reminder to the Americans if they needed one whose island this is.

Of course most of this is not visible to the naked eye. So the Cubans have provided a telescope for tourists to get a closer view. It is made in Alabama, USA.

Through the lens the base shimmers in the heat. If it gets too hot, you can adjourn to the bar, where the staff outnumbers the visitors.

They will serve drinks and a meal as you watch the valley below.

Today the tour guide has brought an American student. "It looks so boring," she says. "It's just like Los Alamos.”

She refuses to give us her name. American tourists are keen to come to Cuba but they are not so keen on the $10,000 fines their government imposes on people who visit the island.

In the foreground is what she came to see: Camp Delta, which replaced the Camp X-Ray detention facility.

The Americans have built a dozen or so low huts to accommodate the prisoners. Beyond are more robust buildings used for the interrogations.

Four watchtowers surround this camp within a camp. If you look closely you can see the U.S. soldiers keeping a watchful eye on the prisoners. It looks like the set from a bad World War II film.

A party of German tourists arrive, crowding round the telescope for a view of the world's most dangerous prisoners. But they are to be disappointed.