Trip Report Nauru (May 2018)

Hello

During the journey through Oceania I made a visit to Nauru for some days. Would like to share some information about it as maybe it can help someone going there soon.

The full report with photos and map can be found here Nauru Trip Report May 2018

MAY 13 – ARRIVING IN TINY NAURU
My flight with Nauru Airline this morning started from Micronesia’s Pohnpei via the Marshall Islands and via Kiribati, whereas at each landing passengers left the plane and new ones entered. Flying towards the third smallest country in the world made me exciting as it is said to be the least visited country in the world. Somehow this fact is fascinating but the same time a little bit creepy as hell.

After an hour flight from Kiribati, there was suddenly just a small piece of island visible from the plane and the closer we flew, the island still remained small :). Even seconds before touching the ground it was still possible to see over the whole island and therefore also the whole country of Nauru. There are only a few flights per week and all operated by Nauru Airlines.

When I wanted to leave the plane the flight attendant stopped me:

“Sir, we are in Nauru, you’re sure this is your final destination, can I see your boarding pass, please?"

There were a few people who left the plane with me, the only one who stepped on the visitor's lane in the immigration office, was me. The other 7 waited at the resident's lane.

GETTING TO NAURU IS A LOT OF EFFORT
I started to prepare for this trip almost a year ago. How to fly here, which route, visa stuff, accommodation?

The biggest problem was the accommodation, which was necessary when applying for a visa in advance. To make a reservation is even a challenge. The few hotels had email addresses on their websites which didn’t work, and the ones which worked, I didn’t get a reply for weeks.

Same with phone numbers, and the ones I was able to reach by calling them via Skype from back home weren’t really helpful. All the hotels were fully booked already months ago and some under renovation. Due to the refugee camp and the phosphate mining, all the foreign workers from abroad are occupying the hotels and therefore no hotel had a room for me.

The only option I found left was the only accommodation in Nauru on Airbnb and it was a house of some Nauruan local family. They gave me the whole house for my stay and moved to their second house. Prices for accommodation steep when considering the quality offered. The house I stayed in was AUD 110 per day, which was on the level of the most basic hotel rooms in Nauru. I knew I couldn’t expect luxury here but at least I had an air-condition and free wifi, which is indeed a real luxury in Nauru.

MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF NAURU
It looks a bit like a place that is shown in documentaries of villages or cities which have faced a detonation of a nuclear bomb 50 years ago.
People live in houses, which once many years back, probably were nice buildings. But now, everything is broken a bit, dirty and dusty and rusty.
If there would no people walking around it indeed looks like a contaminated area. However, even with all the run down and broken stuff, the atmosphere, the weather, ocean and these islands people are turning the whole place into one of the most interesting and curiosity triggering place I've ever been to.

MAY 14TH – WITH THE MOTORBIKE AROUND THE COUNTRY
The owner of the Airbnb house offered me to use the bicycle for a small amount and also gave me the motorbike to use for a trip around the island. They probably felt bad to send me on my way with a bicycle, as they are used to go everywhere by car or motorbike.
Also, I noticed there aren’t many bicycles at all. Everybody has a motorbike or car. Barely anybody in Nauru walks here a few hundred meters and for them, it may seem insane to them to drive the 20km around the island with a bicycle.

With a motorbike, it would easily be possible to drive around the whole country in 30 minutes. But that wasn't my intention :)

The scenery is wonderful and every kilometer was a full of unique views, houses and broken old cars.

MAY 15TH – AROUND THE AIRPORT AND AIWO DISTRICT
Today I covered the remaining places along the low parts of Nauru, along all the way to the airport.

I took it easy.

It’s nice to ride bicycle as there is always some mild wind and the bike smoothly runs over the concrete road.

There are no architectural masterpieces. But, it’s the whole scenery of Nauru which is NICE! , yes, even when run down and when it looks like a post-nuclear-bomb-testing-zone, I enjoyed watching the obese people on their motorbikes, the friendly people with smiling faces, waving and greeting me, the slow-paced lifestyle and laziness which is anchored in their culture. They enjoy sitting and sleeping and being lazy as hell.

But, I think when living in such a small country with no way out, its necessary to become like this, spending all day being slow and watching onto the great blue ocean.

This an many other things which I don’t know right now how to describe in words, made my visit in Nauru a wonderful pleasured stay.

The full report with photos and map can be found here Nauru Trip Report May 2018

So did you see any evidence of sea level rise? And why did you want to go there?

PS: your comments about fat lazy people reminded me of a documentary I saw about Kiribati.

Nauru isn't that dramatically affected by rising sea level as for example Tuvalu or Kiribati. In Tuvalu all along the shores palms are washed away by the salt water.. every day people carry away the dead trees.

Fabulous report! Thanks for sharing!

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