Nauru Travel Guide

Nauru OVERVIEW

Unlike most Pacific islands cherishing a dream-like holiday destination status, Nauru is a land ravaged by decades of mining industry. Although this small South Pacific Ocean land has golden stretches of sandy beaches and a stunning coral reef, hardly anyone comes over with a pack of glossy brochures and prospects of a relaxing holiday in a palm shade. Most visitors are not holidaymakers in their flip-flops but rather politicians, development workers, contractors and diplomats. Chances are though that, with the Nauru airline resurrected and signs of vegetation covering the postindustrial interior with some hopeful green, more adventurous and curious travelers will soon turn up.

Tourism has never been the mainstay of Nauru's economy. For over a century, right after vast phosphate deposits were discovered in 1900, the country supplied Australia, South Korea and New Zealand as well as other numerous countries with the fertilizer, briefly giving the Nauruans one of the highest per capita income in the Third World in 1980s. Unluckily, with the deposits beginning to run out and an unexpected reversal of fortune, the economy took a downward turn and faced the country with the specter of ruin. Today, the nation's budget is fuelled mainly by the sale of fishing licenses, substantial development cooperation with Australia and Taiwan as well as cash injections from other countries to carry on.

Should you ever be one of the more curious of tourists and land on Nauru's runway, don't lose nerve. It's not the easiest place to visit, true, but the island still offers some glimpses of its heyday and scenic views. History buffs shall be delighted with WW II remnants of Japanese occupation scattered here and there, the sunbathers should find their cozy sandy pit as well and the impressive skeletal, lunar-like landscape of the mining infrastructure might inspire photographers.