We left the
hotel for the first morning train to Brisbane airport. The receptionist asked
where we were going – Na-u-ru – she had blank eyes
and had no idea of where we’re going – and I don’t think it was because I first
figured out an hour later that it is pronounced ‘Na-ruuuu’.
No one before or after have a clue of this country – a few may know it is where
the Australians place their asylum seekers – probably for the same reason. So
this short story is not about the refugee camps, but a traveller and a tourist
in Nauru – a rarely visited destination on earth.
Getting an
authorization to get on the Nauru Airlines flight was a huge task in itself. 4
months before, I was soon both on first name with Trent from the embassy and Fabiana from the Airline. The tickets are of course another
matter. I bought about 6 months ahead, as soon as they were available – 1000
AU$ for Brisbane-Nauru-Kiribati. The real problem was getting a hotel
reservation, a prerequisite for the authorization. I had contacted the hotels
with no response and I found out soon that because of the refugee camps,
Australian workers had booked out all the rooms in the country for months
ahead. My rescue was a guy I followed on Facebook who was travelling also
through Nauru and had had the same problem – and while in Nauru, gotten a
contact and a nice room to stay. I got an email, and instructions to keep
writing – it would take a few emails and that they were all booked up until June
– great! We were visiting in June, and I got my room reservation.
So we found
our again at the check in that we were a rare sight: tourists to Nauru. The
check-in guy had never seen a tourist authorization before, and had to talk to
two superiors before we got our boarding cards. The plane was 2/3 workers from
Australia, the rest people from Nauru. I had enjoyed Tony Wheeler’s chapter on
Nauru in Dark Lands and that all their aircrafts where confiscated the first
time then went bankrupt. They had then gotten a slightly used 737 from Taiwan
in exchange for recognizing the country (see the fact box later about this
strategy…). But now they have 4, the guy next to me told me. He had worked for
several years and was returning for his 14 day shift. A few years ago, it could
take many extra hours and he had even gone north one time to Kiribati to refuel
and again in northern Australia – to go to Brisbane. I think the one we were flying in was a second hand
buy from Lan Chile – at least the serving carts were
from there. The service was fine, and the flight was uneventful – lots of water
except for 10 minutes passing the Solomon’s. After 4½ hours we felt like one of
the sea birds that for thousands of years spotted the small island a place to
rest and take a crap.
Everyone
was quickly though the passports check – of course except us as we had to get
the visa. Only one of the two women doing the stamping knew the procedure for
this: They would take our passport, and we could go to the justice department
tomorrow for our visas. Our hotel would know where it was (the woman did not
know our hotel, and our hotel did not know…). Did we know that it came at a
cost? Yes, we figured…
As there
are two ways to drive around the island, we took the anti-clockwise variant to Ewa Lodge. It was a nice room for us that of course came at
a cost (135AU$) – but we were happy, and many told us that it was the best
rooms in the island. The government is building more places for the workers to
stay, and they have been equally priced as the hotels, so this is probably what
you are going to pay wherever you stay. When we visited in June, I saw the
reservation board – fully booked until October. We had brought a mat, but we
could have had an extra mattress. We rented a car for tomorrow (80AU$). About 30 degrees, visibility ‘very far’ in all directions to the
sea where the high clouds meets the sea. Pinnacles are protruding from
the coast many places, the beaches are all white coral sand, but very dirty
with lots of rubbish (think: beer cans, used diapers, shark heads). You cannot
swim from anywhere – you would put your life at. Do as the locals and swim in
the harbour built for Queen Elisabeth, should she be around some day with her
yacht.
Capella is
the importer of most goods and they have the best place to do shopping. Many
items on frost or refrigerator (meet, vegetables, dairy products). A bit above Danish prices. There is attached a well assorted
wine and champagne section, that I did not see similar on the rest of our
Pacific tour. Actually, very strange with the champagne
selection. Our room came with a small kitchen, so we cook sausages and
spaghetti and good red wine for dinner. Beautiful sunset.
The next morning, we enjoyed a nice
breakfast brought from Australia (toast bread, Nutella, cheese). Got our rental
car – the first one did not start, so got the ‘captain’s car’. We drove
anti-clockwise, saw children going to school. Birgitte
said that they probably were more motivated to go to school than Danish
children – where our contact laconically replied that the parents got 5$ per
day for making sure the children got to school, otherwise it would be empty. We
went to the government offices – tree barracks behind the parliament – near the
airstrip – several enquiries about where to locate the office. It took 20
minutes to get the visa invoices. A couple of kilometres to the civic enter and
the public revenue office to pay the 4 x 50AU$. It took half an hour in waiting
time. The lady in charge was obviously bored and wanted to talk and ask a lot
of questions instead of receiving the money. She could have done it in 1
minute, but spend 20 minutes typing in a receipt on her computer and chit
chatting. She had even heard about Europe. Return to the government building
and in 10 minutes we got our passports back with the rare tourist visa. I asked
how many they had issued this year (until June) – about 20! Add to that the
four of us. Half a year ago, an Australian on tourist visa had filmed the
refugee camps and published it in Australia – where the response was of course
not to do anything about the camps, but ban Australians to enter on tourist
visa… As Australians made up the largest ‘tourist’ group, it figures why so few
had been issued in the first half year of 2016.
We also
visited the post office – they actually had two types of post cards in a drawer
– a Christmas postcard from a few years back and one with Nauru airlines with
their old plane. Thought it would also be a rare thing to receive a postcard
from Nauru…
Continued
anti-clockwise to our place (the ring road is 16 km) for lunch before taking
the next round. This time visit to the cantilevers at the harbour – there is
both an old defunct and one that looks to be working. Next we drove to the
upper part of the island, which is very different. Passed a dump of old cars,
it was dusty (unpaved roads), black and white pinnacles of which they try to
extract more of the phosphate. Far inland on the road, we ended up at the
refugee camps where it was obvious that we were not welcome and turned back.
There was a lot of traffic from busses and machines. It looked like the
refugees came back from school – we only saw a couple on the low-land ring
roads, they were effectively hidden away. On the high-ground, is also a lake
(the Buanda lagoon) which we drove around – and saw
what we had also been described, but not believed: when Nauruan go to one of
the Chinese shops, they don’t bother go out of their cars or stop the motor
bike: they yell into the shop what they want, and the Chinese come out with the
goods. Otherwise not much to see here. Except we
should have gone to the Commando Ridge nearby where there also should be a
crashed plane from the war. Missed out on that one. We
stopped at the harbour to watch the locals meet to learn to swim, use the free kayaks and enjoy the sunset and
cooler temperatures. The life guards actually looked like refugees or
immigrants who put their skills to good use.
Dinner at
‘the Bay’ – the only ‘regular’ restaurant we saw. Only foreign workers (many)
and two parties with refugees in their best clothes. Indian/Western cuisine –
we regretted not trying the sashimi which looked very good.
Fresh food
comes by plane. There is a container ship every two months. We saw many cars,
since the Nauruan do have money. The government has tried to limit this import
by adding a 6000AU$ toll on each container.
We left the
next day, bound for new adventures in Kiribati. As a traveller, Nauru is super
interesting on a curiosity scale – so I thank my family for this adventure. You
don’t want to come here for a beach holiday, the restaurants, the low prices – well, you’d come here because no one else
have…
Random facts:
1. Nauru has the most overweight
population in the world with over 95% of its population overweight.
Incidentally, it doesn’t have a McDonald’s…
2. Nauru does not have an official
capital but Yaren is the largest settlement and the
seat of parliament.
3. The country makes more money than
its GDP by recognising breakaway and disputed countries. A state aiming for
sovereignty can only be taken seriously if it is recognised by other UN member
states (the more, the better). In 2009, Nauru recognised Russian-backed
Abkhazia and South Ossetia in exchange for $50m in Russian aid. There have been
other controversial examples involving Kosovo and Taiwan.
4. Other facts: the country has no
capital; it is the third smallest country in the world and has the second
smallest population.
5. Nauru is the world’s least visited
country in the world
source: Source
- interesting facts about the worlds least known countries – the
25 least visited countries in the world
How to visit:
-
Book
a flight from Brisbane or Fiji – see route map and flight schedule and book
online: http://www.ourairline.com.au/
-
Book
room at Menen hotel, Od-N-Aiwo
Hotel, Budapest Hotel or Ewa lodge (good luck) –
phone numbers and email are available in the ‘Visitor entry permit requirements’
you can get from the consulate
-
In
August 2016 the process changed, so you no longer can apply at the Brisbane
consulate – you now need to apply directly with the Immigration department – on
Nauru, I guess.
-
For
the application you need to provide hotel reservation, air ticket reservation, copy
of passport, picture, criminal record, and – now it get’s
funny: a certified chest x-ray pictures and blod test
with no diseases!, and payment
-
From
New Zealand or Australia? Tough luck: you need to provide a sponsorship letter
as well
-
Books:
Moon Handbook: Micronesia (2003) and Tony Wheeler: Dark Lands
Homepage and email details: http://www.futtrup.name
© Erik Futtrup 2016