Looking for tropical South Pacific perfection without the crowds? Look no further than the island nation of Kiribati. Pronounced Kiribas, the name is an indigenous pronunciation of Gilberts (say it quickly and you’ll hear the connection), from the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who “discovered” the islands in 1788. Independent since July 1979, the Republic of Kiribati is comprised of just over 30 atolls.
Kiribati is one of the few places in the world where the government regulates surfing, requiring licenses for those who wish to surf there, and allowing no more than eleven surfers in the water at a given time. Sounds like a dream right? Wrong. Though the atolls are ringed with numerous perfect reef breaks, the republic is in dire need of help as it remains among the poorest nations on the planet. Widespread health issues persist, technology and communications date back to the 1920s, population overcrowding is out of control, sanitation infrastructure is virtually non-existent, and inter-island flights are completely unreliable. Conditions on the islands are so poor, even the U.S. Peace Corps has been rumored to be pulling out of Kiribati in recent years.
Problems aside, it’s not a bad place to go for a surf trip, though getting there won’t be as easy as just getting on a plane. There’s quite a bit of info on the web about various reefs and breaks on a few of the atolls, as well as a surf travel company or two who specialize in arranging local surf guides. Do your homework online and go well prepared. Get out there, get off the surf map and go explore.
The Peace Corps did pull out of here because conditions were too unreliable. I had served there as a volunteer from 2000-2002 and even at that point, before the flooding/rainy season, there were a number of problems with transport.
nice post , and thanks for shearing information with us.Conditions on the islands are so poor, even the U.S. Peace Corps has been rumored to be pulling out of Kiribati in recent years.
newreleaseairjordan
“the name is an indigenous pronunciation of Gilberts”
Kiribati is NOT a pronunciation of a European name thanks very much!
Gilbert and Ellice Island is yet another European name given to an island nation that already had it’s own name…typical…bloody invaders.
Yes indeed, Kiribati, which is pronounced KEE-ree-bes (the TI in their language makes an S sound), the word is indeed a local “corruption” or pronunciation of the English word Gilberts
I lived there in the early 90s
The chain of islands was originally known as Tungaru, but when they became independent in 1979, the Ellice Islands had already chosen to call their new nation Tuvalu (the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were in reality 2 separate nations or island groups, with distinct people and languages, but Britain administered both as one single colony), so Kiribati was chosen because Tungaru would have sounded too similar to Tuvalu (among other reasons……..) So the Gilbert and Ellice Islands are now respectively, 2 nation states, Kiribati and Tuvalu. Yes, KEE-ree-bes (Kiribati) is the local pronunciation of GILBERTS, because the Kiribati language has no G, which turns into a K, and no L, which turns into an R, etc., say KEE-ree-bes fast and you can almost hear GILBERTS.
Yes it is strange and complicated, but true
I was led to believe that they stuck with Kiribati at Independence because the Tungaru group(called the Gilbert Islands by I-matangs) consists of only the eastern islands. With independence in 1979, the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands were also to be part of the new nation – so there was not much point in calling it Tungaru, and the name Kiribati is inclusive of all three island groups. But it would be good for more use of Tungaru when discussing the eastern group and on maps, etc.
Yes, Ric, I think that was the other reason for the name Kiribati. I guess it was both reasons apparently, the fact that Tungaru only referred to the chain of islands that their people originally inhabited, and the fact that the name Tuvalu had already been chosen for the other nation, sounding quite similar…….
But who knows? One would have to ask someone like Kiribati’s first president, Ieremia Tabai, for the answer. I used to visit his wife, former First Lady Meleangi Tabai (who is actually a Tuvaluan woman) when I was living there in Kiribati, I would see her there at the Presidential Home, but never got to meet Ieremia. It would be nice if someone who was present for those nation-building times, to fully answer the question about the choosing of the name, the Tungaru thing, etc.
The only reason Peace corps is pulling out is because the Peace Corps Director at that time is a very selfish man and does not care about anyone but himself. what a jerk.. that is the only reason why peaco corps is pulling out and not because of the country being poor.
Of course Kiribati is a developing Country but the definition of the word poor does not fit into the country itself. Kiribati has a unique culture and it is one of the most special place in the world. In Kiribati it is a hard to find people lived under the bridges or walking with a homeless sign or begging for money as they did not depend of money in order to survive unlike other countries out there.
interesting article, i have just returned back from Kiribati after having lived there for two years. Kiritimati (Christmas) Island and Fanning Island on the east part of the country – around two and half hour flight south of honolulu are great surf destinations with a range of surfing and fishing lodges to choice from. For more information log on the Kiribati National Tourism Office which has a great surfing section which include a number of videos. Check it out http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki
Kam na mauri-
I have lived six of the last twelve years in Kiribati, lucky to be married to a beautiful Butaritari woman, have 3 ‘abwa kaati’ kids, and we are now back in Australia after having a recent 2 year stint of real culture. I bloody wonder why I ever came back! Yeah sure Kiribati is poor – poor in dysfunctional sociey, poor in material fantasy world, and of course poor in all that most wondrous & glorious of all things on earth printed paper, yellow metal, and crystal stones!! But you won’t know what real culture or real community life is until you have gone to a place like this. Westerners have corrupted the words culture and community because we have largely obliterated them from our lives during the last sixty years. But Kiribati is rich in the real stuff. If you are going to go, get out to the outer islands. Urbanised villages in places like South Tarawa are seeing some changes in attitudes due to the infiltration of western material culture – when I was there in the mid to late nineties, I never came across a grumpy Kiribati person, but with our recent return we came across about 5 during a 2 year stay!!! Their biggest problem is they are getting bombarded with egocentric- orientated western education backed up by dvd-life as a model for development, and meanwhile the developed world is busy about ensuring their culture and homelands will be drowned under the rising tides of global warming.
About the Peace Corps not staying – what do you expect? Americans – they are too soft, too use to the so called “good life”. Mind you many city-slicker Australians are going the same way. Need their electric toothbrushes, microwaves, GPS’s, gym memberships, psychoanalysts, financial advisers, surround sound, designer-label-made-in-China plastic-clothes, HRT, lip injections, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.They wouldn’t know a real “good life” and will never know if they don’t get out of their box.
Surfing – I haven’t been to the Line Isands in the west, but was told by Chuck Corbett in the 90′s that Tabuaeran (Fanning Island) has the best surf. An expat friend went and taught there for a year so he could check out Chuck’s claims and confirmed it.
In the Tungaru group, good breaks are at the Dai Nippon causeway on South Tarawa with both lefts & rights either side of the channel. Mini bus services will drop you right at the bridge with your board and then its about a 200m paddle out! Breaks around the eastern end of Tarawa at Temaiku can be a bit hairy – once went on my own and never again. I heard that Naa at the northern tip of North Tarawa can be good, but having been there a number of times have never seen it going off. I have seen good breaks on Marakei and after went back with my board for 4 days, only to get way-layed by the cultural feasting of the bootaki- only stayed one night in the hotel, two in the maneaba, and one on the beach! Nice barrels seen breaking close to shore on the Butaritari islet of Tikurere – but only once. And lastly surfed the leeward side of the lagoonless Makin in Jan. 2009. The waves were good for most of our 2 week stay, but scared of the noahs as a boat had been rammed just before we arrived – the diving is also magic here.
Just remember – if you go you gotta get out to the outer islands to experience the lifestyle.
Cheers & Tia boo
Ric
(ricfennessy@gmail.com)
Thanks for your comment Ric! I love the pacific, its beaches and its culture, its people, its food, its colors , everything. and i would love to go to kiribati. i agree so much with you when you talk about the meaning of being “poor”. I’m sure in north america or europe they are much “poorer” than in kiribati. with all the problems that they have(one that i can think is the rising sea levels) they are (I,m sure) “richer” than any other place on earth. Just the fact that there is no lonely planet guidebook on kiribati says a good lot about the place(without wanting to offend lonely planet). I had enough of the cliches & falsities of this so called “civilized society”. i’m really thinking of visiting kiribati , and i know that south tarawa is sort of “to be avoided”. I’m acutally thnking that i would love to live there but i know it mustn’t be that easy for immigration (unless u marry an i-kiribati or come as a volunteer or else). we’ll see….Thanks again for ur post
Surfing to Kiribati sounds like fun! Not to mention the adventure waiting for us on getting there. But it’s a sad thing that Kiribati is a poor place. But I think getting more surf tourists will help alleviate the present dilemma of that place. Thanks for sharing!
i love discovering, kiribati is on my map.
We just came back from Kiritimati, Kiribati in the lIne Islands. I really hope that Western Culture does not destroy this beautiful culture. How refreshing to be in a place where money has no place and happiness is found in friends and family not material possessions.
We were married there, apparently the first foreigners to do so and it was amazing. Kiribati is a poor country due to greedy ministers who corruptly run the country, squandering money on holiday homes in various places around the world. Australia pulled its aid out due to the Kiribati government voting for the Japanese to kill whales for “research”. There is a spanish fishing vessel raping the sea by using asian fisherman, taking tuna and anything else that is caught in their nets. PLEASE DO NOT BUY canned tuna.
The surf is amazing and so too is the diving, snorkelling and fishing. We stayed for 2 weeks and are looking to live their next year.
We just came back from Kiritimati, Kiribati in the lIne Islands. I really hope that Western Culture does not destroy this beautiful culture. How refreshing to be in a place where money has no place and happiness is found in friends and family not material possessions.
We were married there, apparently the first foreigners to do so and it was amazing. Kiribati is a poor country due to greedy ministers who corruptly run the country, squandering money on holiday homes in various places around the world. Australia pulled its aid out due to the Kiribati government voting for the Japanese to kill whales for “research”. There is a spanish fishing vessel raping the sea by using asian fisherman, taking tuna and anything else that is caught in their nets. PLEASE DO NOT BUY canned tuna.
The surf is amazing and so too is the diving, snorkelling and fishing. We stayed for 2 weeks and are looking to live their next year.
Dear Mr. Ric Fennessy, it sounds like you have an axe to grind against Americans. Amazing how you generalize an entire nation of people like that, saying ‘Americans are too soft’ etc. And your rant against Western civilization is pathetic, seeing how you freely enjoy the use of modern planes for travel, jet fuel, things like Internet use, and you probably also own a car, ride a surfboard made out of epoxy resin, use a wetsuit made of modern materials, and enjoy all the benefits your modern, western Australian government provides you. If Westerners are so materialist and a$$-backwards, I challenge you to not drive cars, to not fly in planes, to not use the Internet, to hunt your own food, make your own boards form trees, sew your own clothes, etc… And until you do all that, please spare me your bleeding-hearted ‘Avatar’ and ‘Dances With Wolves’ rant about going native against the inroads of the evil West.
Mr.??- Ric will do just fine (I am not that soft to be a Mr.!)
Jet Fuel??- fuel saved for only mode of transport owned for 2 years was a bicycle???
Internet??- Laptop computer using wireless modem. That’s a high energy consumption of 65W.
Epoxy Surfboard??- a Kiribati friend leant me an old delaminating board given to him by an ex-pat.
Use a wetsuit??- maaate, the water in Kiribati is warmer than the air in Florida!!! I’d be cookin’!!!
Hunt my own food??- Thommo you should try it, and then be able to say afterwards “hey that wasn’t recreation – I really needed to do that.”
Sew my own clothes??- I will have to kick my wife off that manual machine she borrowed from her sister. But then again the second-hand pairs of shorts I bought in the markets are made of pure cotton unlike the rubbish man-made textiles flooding Kiribati shops and now the dominant item of sea-side rubbish in the outer islands.
An axe to grind against Americans??- I did say ‘Australians are going the same way’, and I am an aussie.
A rant about going native against the inroads of the evil West??- I could only wish. But its a hard job- you can always take the boy out of the west, but you cant take the west out of the boy. Afterall, Avatar & Dances With Wolves are a production of pining fantasy mainly produced for Western audiences!!!!
A bleeding heart??- but because I know my wife is too see her beautiful home and heritage swallowed up by the sea in her own lifetime, and it is only the ignorant who fail to see who are to blame for that. And so Thomas Vertigo, I do apologise for that bleeding heart, but I just can’t help it.
It doesnt matter if Kiribati is very poor but the very thing you cannot see in the beautiful island is that people in there they cannot beg for food, to steal. However, Only one thing you can see from them is their friendly and respected heart toward foreigners and toward themselves
Love Kiribati SO mUch
It doesnt matter if Kiribati is very poor but the very thing you cannot see in the beautiful island is that people in there they cannot beg for food, to steal. However, Only one thing you can see from them is their friendly and respected heart toward foreigners and toward themselves
Love and Miss Kiribati SO mUch
Do you think there is any scope for investment, esp in tourism, i.e. Dive charters, fishing charters, surf charters – they can all be done either land based or liveaboard. Also yacht charters, either crewed or bareboat, but pref crewed as it creates more employment.
Would appreciate your thoughts.
Eugene.