Tarawa over Easter was great.

We were somewhat concerned about being on Tarawa over Easter, but those concerns were unfounded.
In fact there was lots of traditional dance and singing competitions that we were very privileged to witness.
We stayed at Marys Motel, did Mollies tour of the WW2 sites in Betio and attended the ANZAC dawn service followed by breakfast at the Australian High Commissioner's residence.
We also walked north a couple of hours to Broken Bridge for a snorkel collected some wonderful local crafts, spent a few hours each at the Disabled School and St Annes PreSchool.
A simply wonderful 6 days.

Cheers,
Peter

Please post links to pictures and any details you can give about costs, food, and the like. I would love to make a trip to Kiribati, but always talk myself out of it when I read the negative posts. Yet it sounds like a place where one can really experience the local culture and not just some staged version for tourists.

Have not uploaded any pics yet tilos, but hope to do so in the future.
Getting there was the biggest cost for us.
Marys Motel was A$66 for a double in the old wing, $95 in better rooms. Meals $8 and up to $20 but generally around $10. Beer $3 per can (VB and XXXX). Mollys tour $50 per head including lunch. Local bus about $1.50 per person from one end of South Tarawa to the other, less for shorter trips.
We spent almost $1,000 for the 2 of us in 6 days including some handicrafts, shirts etc.
It does take a while to get to know where stuff is and the local cultural experience may have been a lot different had it not been Easter.
Be ready (if you can) for a 'poverty shock'.
Apart from expats, other volunteers and a group of Australian high school kids (who were volunteering for a couple of weeks), we never saw another "tourist" in the whole 6 days that we were there.
I have a 20mb slide show (can't seem to be able to compress it for some reason) I could send you if you PM me an email address.

Cheers,
Peter
EDIT: the slide show (66 slides) is down to 8mb. :-)

Edited by: Peter_n_Margaret

Greetings,

thank you for your posts!

I'm going to Tarawa (July/August 2011) for 6 days, too. I'd love to have your sliding show, so, I'll pm you.

You say you've walked north for snorkeling. Were there many aggressive dogs on the way? Was the snorkeling good? How is swimming there? I've read the south part of the lagoon is polluted and one can't swim there. Is it still the case?

Do you know anything about getting to the north and accommodation there?

Thank you in advance for any help at all.

Slide show sent.....
From the last bus stop north of the airport we walked about 30 minutes to the end of South Tarawa. From that spot you can walk (about 200m) across to North Tarawa at low tide or take a local canoe (for 25c each) if the tide is too high. On the other side there is Tabon Te Keeke homestay. Very friendly bunch. They offer traditional accomodation @ AUD$140 per double (including breakfast and dinner) or $170 in huts over the water.
They made us a 'picnic lunch' and we then walked 1 1/2 hours further north via 2 villages, scattered dwellings, crossing over to a couple of islets along the way, to a spot called "broken bridge" (for obvious reasons). We snorkled under and around the bridge. The fish life is OK there, but not spectacular and the water was cloudy. The walk was worth the effort just to pass through the local villages, rather than the swim.
There were dogs along the way, but not a single one barked or even stood up especially for us. They were certainly no threat.

Swimming from South Tarawa is not advised. We were told that the E-colli readings there were the highest recorded anywhere in the world. South Tarawa is quite polluted and rubbish is a problem.

You can get a ferry to Abaokoro and Buariki in North Tarawa from behind Marys Motel in Bairiki. We did not do this but I certainly would if we go again. I understand that there is accomodation in both places.

http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/ is a great reference site. It is worth calling in to the tourism office when you arrive.

Cheers,
Peter

Thank you very much for the reply and for the slideshow!!! Thank you!