General information:

Nauru is a single raised coral island of about 21 sq. km with a circumference of 19 km. It is an independent republic and are an associate member of the Commonwealth. The island is located 41 km south of the equator at 166 deg 56 min E longitude. The closest neighbor is the smaller and slightly rarer Banaba Island which lies about 300 km east of Nauru. Both islands which for decades have been important phosphate mining places.

People:

The population on the island is in the vicinity of 8000 of which more about 50% is native Nauruan. The other half consist of mainly phosphate workers from various pacific islands a swell as asians. The natives have lived in high standards for years due to royalty agreements on the phosphate mined from the island. This is however changing as the phosphate in a few years will be mined out. Some not very good investments have been made by the government which are not paying of as planned. But so far the people have had good health care and a lot of free services by the government. Even if they are well catered for the people prefer to live the simple island-style life but with the addition of material things.

Geography:

The island has sandy beaches and inside those the island rises up to about 30 M above sea level. The high plateau consists of old coral cliffs which later became filled with guano which turned into phosphate. Highest point of the island is 70m. Due to the mining of the phosphate much of the island have been lying bare with very little fertile soil. However around the Buada Lagoon the soil is very fertile and have a lot of exotic fruits and vegetables growing around it.


Climate:

The climate is tropical and tempered by sea breezes with a normal day temperature of about 30 Degrees Celsius. The average annual rainfall is 1500mm but it can vary very much from year to year. The rainiest period is during the westerly monsoon season, between November and February. The rest of the year the easterly trade winds prevail.

Tourism:

The island nation has not been developed as a tourist destination and it has not been able to even visit as a tourist for years due to heavy restrictions saying that you must have a sponsor on the island before you could even by an airline ticket. These rules have lately been eased. There are two hotels which have been running for years but mainly to cater for the business men who have visited the island.

Transport around the island:

There is a sealed costal road around the whole island which links all the villages together. The Bauda lagoon district is also linked by a sealed road to the coastal road. Compared to the population there are a very high amount of cars so the few roads are very busy at times.

Getting to the island:

Nauru have its own Airline called Air Nauru which have been in service since 1970. There is flight connections to Hong Kong, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. They also fly to some of the pacific Islands. It can however be very difficult to find out their schedule as they usually don't show up in the computer network that the travel agencies around the world have.