My trip to every UN nation in the Pacific took me to the small island nation called Kiribati, the only country placed in all the four hemispheres. Once again I had heard that it was one of the most overpriced Pacific Islands, so I was well prepared with a fake hotel booking (one that I had cancelled) that I could show to the immigration officer when he asked me upon arrival.
When I got out of the airport around 6pm the food sellers were about to close, but I managed to get the noodles that they had left over and walked from there into the forest where I pitched my hammock and had my camping dinner. I was at first a bit worried that I would see that same immigration officer I had lied to there, but after a short time I realized that I should be more worried about the stray dogs which I could hear barking in the distance. I just stayed quiet in my hammock and luckily they didn’t come close.
The next morning I woke up early, packed up my hammock and went to the beach for a snorkel, which was quite nice considering how much I had been sweating the last night. After the dip I walked along the road to have a couple of hours of exploring before my next flight, and a friendly Australian asked me if I wanted a lift on his scooter. I hopped on and joined him for a overpriced 6AUD sandwich at a café called Chatterbox. Apparently he went here every morning to have a smoothie, and meet up with the other expats that were there.
They told me that I should visit the WWII sites in Betio, but that was pretty far away (about an hour drive), and I only had a couple of hours before my next flight, so instead I hopped on a 1AUD minivan that took me back to the airport. I didn’t experience much in Kiribati and hope to be back one day, but the highlight was really the snorkeling with waters that were very clear with reefs that were very healthy. Probably because Kiribati is one of the countries in the World that receives the fewest tourists. They make this clear with their tourism slogan “Kiribati is for travelers, not tourists”.
