Any Travels

Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, has the largest land area of coral atoll in the world, with about 321sq km of land. A large tidal lagoon with an area of about 160sq is situated at the western end of the island. At the eastern end of this lagoon, there are a series of several hundreds of lands-locked lagoons, which cover a total land area of about 168sq km.

If you love nature, you will love Kiritimati Island! 63% of it is national park containing species of flora & fauna found nowhere else in the world! Probably the most noticeable local is the Red Crab with over 100 million of these vivid red creatures living on the forest floor.

Kiritimati Island provides visitors with sport fishing, bird watching and cultural tours. Exploring the waters surrounding the island is an experience not to be missed. Myriads of tropical fish swim by in only metres of water, while a short distance away, divers can cruise the drop-off which plunges dramatically into the abyss. You may even bump into one of our local spinner dolphins or at certain times of the year meet the majestic whale shark!

At the onset of the wet, which is their breeding season, most of the adult Red Crabs begin their migration down to the sea. This is a truly spectacular sight with the entire island appearing to come alive. The males appear to lead the migration and they take between five to seven days to reach the shore terraces. When they arrive they will fight for territory and burrow into the soil, waiting for the arrival of the females. The females arrive a few days later. They copulate and about two weeks after the arrival of the first males, the females, now laden with spawn, appear on the shoreline. The breeding activity is synchronised throughout the island and is dependent on the moon's cycle, the crab's eggs being released around the last quarter of the moon. Sadly there is a down side to this migration. About 700,000 to one million Red Crabs are killed by vehicles while on the move. This, in a population of about 100 million, makes it a one- percent death rate.

Places of Interest:

Tarawa
Tarawa is not a single town but a group of islands surrounded by a coral atoll, and apart from the south (linked by causeways), you'll need a boat to get around the main features. The international airport is on Bonriki in the southeastern corner, which also hosts the new hospital and fish ponds.

The central government offices, Parliament building, President's Office and Residence, central post office, bank, library and archives, and various other official buildings (including the Air Kiribati Travel Agency) are all on Bairiki Island.

Culture

Canoe racing, volleyball and soccer are all popular on the islands, but more traditional pursuits, such as intricate and beautiful dances - particularly on Tabiteuea - an indigenous martial art and making figures out of string are still practised. Also important in Kiribati are chants for one to four voices that honour particular achievements, such as initiation rites. The chants are not normally accompanied by dance.

The I-Kiribati (as locals are known, pronounced 'ee-kee-ree-bus') speak a Micronesian dialect, although English is widely used in official communications. The local alphabet has only 13 letters, with 'ti' standing in for 's'. The missionaries got their talons in early, and the Kiribati Protestant Church today has over 28,000 followers and the Catholic Church close to 40,000. Religion is taken very seriously, and the further south you go the more you should avoid doing anything that looks remotely like work (even darning your beach towel could be frowned upon). Traditional customs and beliefs still survive, which is not surprising for a people who have lived so closely to a force as mysterious as the sea for so long. Belief in the power of magic and the existence of ghosts (anti) is widespread, and small shrines are common in the bush. The clan is the basic building block of society, and authority throughout the islands is invested in the maneaba (meeting house), councils of elderly men who are leaders of a clan.

Islanders have traditionally lived in a subsistence economy based on root crops like taro and sweet potato, coconuts and produce from the sea, but as the cash economy makes inroads this is starting to fall by the wayside. Imported foodstuffs are becoming more common and growing in the popularity and status stakes in rural as well as urban areas. The local drop is the unfortunately named sour toddy, which missionaries frowned upon but were never able to wipe out. It is brewed from the coconut palm, (and, uh, you should drain the beetles out of it before you drink any).