TUVALU TRAVEL GUIDE

Tuvalu is one of the world's smallest and most isolated independent nations. During British colonial times the group was known as the Ellice Islands, and while the current name Tuvalu means "cluster of eight," there are actually nine islands in all. The explanation lies with the smallest island, Niulakita, which was only resettled by people from Niutao in 1949. Due to high airfares, this remote group of low coral atolls gets only a handful of tourists a year and most of those never travel beyond the one hotel in the crowded little government center on Funafuti, Tuvalu's capital. This makes the almost inaccessible outer islands one of the most idyllic and unspoiled corners of the Pacific, particularly Nukufetau and Nukulaelae. On these, time seems to stand still, yet rising sea levels due to changing weather patterns caused by greenhouse gas emissions may soon bring the world to them.

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The Land

	Fast Facts Where Tuvalu is just south of the equator between Fiji and the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati). When Tuvalu shares a time zone with Fiji and New Zealand, 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Why Tuvalu offers the chance to visit one of the world's remotest independent states, a lonely island outpost of Polynesia just south of Micronesia. How Air Fiji flies between Suva, Fiji, and Funafuti, Tuvalu, twice a week. At $650 Fijian each way, it's an expensive trip. Who The population is around 10,000 and all nine atolls are inhabited. All are Polynesians, although the Nui people speak a Micronesian language.

The six atolls and three islands that make up Tuvalu together total only 25 square km in land area, curving northwest-southeast in a chain 676 km long on the outer western edge of Polynesia. Funafuti, the administrative center, is more than 1,000 km north of Suva, Fiji. Funafuti, Nanumea, Nui, Nukufetau, and Nukulaelae are true atolls, with multiple islets less than four meters high and central lagoons, while Nanumaga, Niulakita, and Niutao are single table-reef islands, with small landlocked interior lakes. Vaitupu is also closer to the table-reef type, though its interior lake or lagoon is connected to the sea. In all, the nine islands are composed of 129 islets, of which Funafuti accounts for 34 and Nukufetau 37. Ships can enter the lagoons at Nukufetau and Funafuti; elsewhere they must stand offshore.

It's feared that within a century rising ocean levels will inundate these low-lying atolls and Tuvalu will cease to exist. Coastal erosion is already eating into shorelines, and seawater has seeped into the groundwater, killing coconut trees and flooding the taro pits. Sea walls may slow the erosion, but as ocean levels continue to rise, the entire population of Tuvalu may eventually have to evacuate, third-world victims of first-world affluence. (View a map of Tuvalu.)

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Weather

The climate is generally warm and pleasant. The mean annual temperature is 29°C and the average annual rainfall 3,000 millimeters (the southernmost atolls are somewhat wetter). Rain falls on more than half the days of the year, usually heavy downpours followed by sunny skies. The trade winds blow from the east much of the year. Strong west winds and somewhat more rain come November to April, the hurricane season. Tuvalu is near the zone of hurricane formation, and these storms can appear with little warning and cause considerable damage. Otherwise, few seasonal variations disturb the humid, tropical weather.

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Climate Change

The gravest danger facing the atolls of Tuvalu is the greenhouse effect, a gradual warming of Earth's environment due to fossil fuel combustion and the widespread clearing of forests. By the year 2030 the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will have doubled from preindustrial levels. As infrared radiation from the sun is absorbed by the gas, the trapped heat melts mountain glaciers and the polar ice caps. In addition, seawater expands as it warms up, so water levels could rise almost a meter by the year 2100, destroying shorelines created 5,000 years ago.

A 1982 study demonstrated that sea levels had already risen 12 centimeters in the previous century; in 1995 2,500 scientists from 70 countries involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change commissioned by the United Nations completed a two-year study with the warning that over the next century air temperatures may rise as much as 5° Celsius and sea levels could go up 95 centimeters by 2100. Not only will this reduce the growing area for food crops, but rising sea levels will mean salt water intrusion into groundwater supplies --a troubling prospect if accompanied by an increasing frequency of droughts which has been predicted. Coastal erosion will force governments to spend vast sums on road repairs and coastline stabilization.

Increasing temperatures may already be contributing to the dramatic jump in the number of hurricanes in the South Pacific. For example, Fiji experienced only 12 tropical hurricanes from 1941 to 1980 but 10 from 1981 to 1989. After a series of devastating hurricanes in Samoa, insurance companies announced in 1992 that they were withdrawing coverage from the country. In 1997 and 1998 the El Niño phenomenon brought with it another round of devastating hurricanes. The usual hurricane season is November to April but in June 1997 Hurricane Keli struck Tuvalu --the first hurricane ever recorded in the South Pacific in June. In December 2002, Tikopia and Anuta in the eastern Solomon Islands were lashed by the most powerful hurricane in the region's history.

Coral bleaching occurs when an organism's symbiotic algae are expelled in response to environmental stresses, such as when water temperatures rise as little as one degree Celsius above the local maximum for a week or longer. Bleaching is also caused by increased radiation due to ozone degradation, and widespread instances of bleaching and reefs being killed by rising sea temperatures have been confirmed in French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Fiji, and elsewhere. The earth's surface has warmed 1°C over the past century and by 2080 water temperatures may have increased 5°C, effectively bleaching and killing all of the region's reefs. Reef destruction will reduce coastal fish stocks and impact tourism.

As storm waves wash across the low-lying atolls, eating away the precious land, the entire population of Tuvalu may be forced to evacuate long before they're actually flooded. The construction of seawalls to keep out the rising seas would be prohibitively expensive and may even do more harm than good by interfering with natural water flows and sand movement.

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Funafuti

The government offices are at Vaiaku, 50 meters west of the airstrip, the Funafuti Fusi cooperative supermarket is a kilometer northeast, and the deepwater wharf (built with Australian aid in 1981) is a little more than a kilometer beyond that.

The area between Vaiaku and the wharf has developed into a busy little township with street lighting installed by New Zealand in 1990, the roads paved by the U.S. in 1991, the airstrip sealed by the European Union in 1992, and a new airport terminal erected by Australia in 1993. Heavy motorcycle traffic circulates on the one main street, and the litter is piling up along the lagoon as imported bottles and cans dampen the South Seas dream.

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Entertainment

	Public holidays January 1 New Year's Day mid-March Commonwealth Day March/April Good Friday & Easter Monday mid-May Gospel Day June Queen's Birthday August National Children's Day 1 & 2 October Tuvalu National Days 25 & 26 December Christmas

Tuvaluans love dancing, be it their traditional fatele, more energetic than Gilbertese dancing, or the predictable twist. Traditional dancing is performed on special occasions, such as when opening a building, greeting special visitors, or celebrating holidays. Get in on the singing, dancing, and general frivolity taking place at the falekaupule almost every night. On Funafuti, migrants from each outer island have their own falekaupule, so ask around to find out if anything is on. Or just listen for the rhythmic sounds and head that way. Sometimes the local I-Kiribati do Gilbertese dances. On festive occasions many people wear flower garlands called fou (rhymes with Joe) in their hair. Each island has its own style.

Ask where you can watch te ano (the ball), the national game. Two teams line up facing one another and competition begins with one member throwing the heavy ball toward the other team, who must hit it back with their hands. Points are scored if the opposite team lets the ball fall and the first team to reach 10 wins. Obviously, weak players are targeted and the matches can be fierce (but usually friendly). The game ends with the losers performing a funny song and dance routine intended to bring the winners back to earth.

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Practicalities

Funafuti is the only port of entry. There are no visa requirements for any nationality, but you must have a passport valid for another six months and an onward ticket. Those arriving or departing by boat also require an air ticket to leave. The maximum stay is three months, but visitors are usually given only the time until their onward flight or 30 days.

Australian currency is used, with Tuvaluan coins. The Tuvaluan one-dollar coin is of the same size and edging as the Australian 50-cent piece. It pays to be alert when handling these coins, or face a 50% devaluation. Tuvaluans do not expect to be tipped.

Tuvalu is an expensive country to visit due to the high cost of flying there. Otherwise, prices are comparable to other South Pacific destinations, with hotel rooms beginning around A$35/50 single/double on Funafuti.

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Getting There

The Fijian domestic carrier, Air Fiji, operates between Suva and Funafuti twice a week. Air Fiji charges F$650 each way between Fiji and Funafuti. Tuvalu collects an A$20 departure tax.

About four times a year the government-owned ships Nivaga II and Manu Folau travel Suva-Funafuti.

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Getting Around

There are no internal flights. The interisland ships Nivaga II and Manu Folau make the rounds of the outer islands roughly every fortnight stopping at each atoll for about an hour, depending on the tides. The southern trip to Nukulaelae and Niulakita takes three days; the northern trip visits about three of the six islands up that way in four days. If you decide to stop off at one of the islands, you could be there two weeks or more before the ship returns.

abridged from the 8th edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific
Copyright © 1999, 2004 David Stanley, reproduction prohibited

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