Travel Tuesday Office Travels: Nauru, Micronesia!
Nauru: An Introduction
On this snowy Tuesday in Philly, there couldn’t have been a more appropriate country chosen. Nauru, a part of Micronesia located in the South Pacific seems to be an incredibly beautiful island, with crystal clear blue water and beautiful beaches: exactly where I wish I currently was.
The country was originally settled my Micronesian and Polynesian people until it became a colony of the German empire in the late 1800’s. Following World War 1, Germany lost Nauru to the League of Nations mandate, meaning that control was transferred to a joint effort by Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It was occupied once again by the Japanese during World War Two. Once the war ended, the country became controlled again by Allied countries, and finally gained its independence in 1968. It is a part of the Micronesia region, not to be confused with the Federate States of Micronesia, which is an actual country! It used to be an economic power house in the region thanks to phosphate mining until that dried up and really screwed up the eco-system of the island. They were essentially screwed until they decided to join the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom and decided to open up their island for tourism.
The Basics
Name: The Republic of Nauru
Affiliate country: Micronesia
Location: The South Pacific
Languages: Nauruan and English
How to get there
Getting to Nauru is rather tricky, although they do have their own airline called, Our Airline. It has a total of 3 airplanes in the whole fleet, but the island is small so we don’t exactly hold it against them. There are only two different routes that are flown weekly, so depending on what other main airport you fly into will determine which route you would take to the island. Every Sunday and Monday, Our Airline flies the route Brisbane-Honiara-Nauru-Tarawa-Nadi, and every Wednesday, it reverses: Nadi-Tarawa-Nauru-Brisbane. This means that you really have two good options: fly out of Brisbane, Australia or Nadi, Fiji. Both have relatively good international airports that service a number of international airlines.
Other Travel details
- A visa is required to enter Nauru
Email: principal.immigration@naurugov.nr or visa@naurugov.nr
- There is no public transportation or taxis on the island, however it is only 21 square kilometers (aka tiny!) so usually you just rent a car through your hotel!
Things to do:
Fishing: Deep sea fishing to be exact. I guess you can catch a bunch of cool fish, including marlin, yellowfin, tuna, skipjack, and barracuta.
Scuba Diving: According to the official tourism site of Nauru, the island is home to a beautiful reef, as well as a ship wreck that are all accessible off the coast of the island with scuba gear.
Beach Chillin’: What else would you do on a remote island like Nauru?
Other Fun Facts
- It is one of the smallest countries in the world with only 10,000 inhabitants
- Its officially the smallest Pacific Island nation
- Nauru has no capital since it is too small
- The Nauruan language is surprisingly not similar to any other Polynesian island language thanks to the country’s isolation
Am I hopping on a plane now?
Probably not… Although this seems like a cool little island, I’m not sure how long I could be confined to 21 square kilometers of land, but with this weather outside, I may have to reconsider. I’m sure it’s nice, however, with islands like Fiji, the Seychelles, and the Maldives, all of which have really well established tourism industries, I think I’ll head to one of those first.
Traveling Kelsey 
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