Fun things to do in Kiribati

If you dare.... one of their two little planes crashed. And when I was on Air Kiribati, there were 3 more passengers than seats - passengers were sitting in each others' laps !

Here is the view of Marakei atoll from the air.

Abaiang is a 4-hour boat ride (or 15 minute plane ride) from Tarawa. I really enjoyed it. It offers a more traditional and more rural Kiribati than Tarawa. There is one ring-road through Abaiang. You see people employed with coconuts - harvesting them, cutting them open, drying them, etc.

Electric power comes on only at night, for a few hours.

When I was there, there appeared to be only one other tourist on the atoll.

In December 1941, a few days after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese occupied 3 of the atolls of Kiribati. They remained until a US offensive in November 1943 - this was the Battle of Tarawa, and took place at Betio (the island at the extreme southwest of Tarawa atoll). The US won this battle, but at great loss of life (thousands of dead on both sides).

You can still see many remnants of the Japanese military occupation. You can see eight-inch guns, anti-aircraft guns, the remains of some tanks, and many bunkers.

Do this during the day only (see my danger tip). Tarawa's population is most heavily concentrated at Betio, which is at the far southwest emd of Tarawa. This is also where the WW2 battle took place between the US and Japanese.

In general, you see very little economic activity happening in Kiribati. But take a trip to Betio harbour and you'll see some activity. This is where the boats go to the outer atolls. It's also where many fishing vessels come in. Kiribati makes a fair amount of its revenue from concessions to Japanese fishing vessels to fish its waters.

Kiribati's modern parliament buildings are on Bairiki Island, north side, on Tarawa atoll. A photo of them appears at the top of my Kiribati intro. They are a stylized version of traditional Kiribati huts.

Just in front of them is this map of Kiribati. This gives you a good idea of the vastness of the area over which the islands are scattered - apparently they are scattered over an area of ocean as wide as the United States. Also, Kiribati straddles both sides of the equator, and both sides of the International Date Line.

Kiribati consists of dozens of atolls. Each atoll consists of many long narrow islands arranged in a circle; by 'narrow', I mean usually less than 200 metres wide. The whole circle of islands in an atoll may be 50 km or 80 km long. Here is a view of Tarawa atoll from the air; this is the most populated atoll, and the one considered to be Kiribati's capital.

4 more images

If you're feeling more adventurous and have enough time to see more than Tarawa, then fly to one of the outer Gilbert Islands. They are all serviced (relatively) regularly by Air Kiribati, although these services are subject to delays and cancellations as the fleet consists of ONE aircraft! So allow a significant buffer zone around your plans.

If you can make it to another Gilbert Island, you'll find real Micronesian lifestyle and culture, with communities living off the land and from the sea in harmony. Most people live in traditional houses and wear traditional clothes. Your presence will be at least a novelty, and more than likely the village you visit will consider your presence to be an honour. I stayed with a family in Bikewa village on Butaritari island and I was looked after very well, including a song and dance performance to welcome me!

You will not enjoy mod-cons or even the level of comfort you are used to, but that is compensated by the environment you will stay in; pristine tropical scenery, happy communities and no crime. The outer islands of Kiribati offer one of the few intact indigineous cultural experiences in the world. I stayed in Butaritari, but believe the other islands offer roughly the same experiences.

The other islands groups - the Line and Phoenix islands - are even further flung than the Gilberts and with the exception of Christmas island, are only accessible by boat.