Kiribati, Tarawa

The Christian country of Kiribati, pronounced 'Kiribas', is a tough place to get to. It's on the Fiji to Brisbane flight which brings visitors to this excluded pacific nation twice a week. Apart from that, the Kiribati people live their mellow island life.

5.000.000 square kilometers!
A very long stretch of islands form the main string of activity of Kiribati, South-Tarawa. They are connected to eachother by a number of causeways that all put together actually take more then an hour and a half to drive down. In that way it's actually quite a long country. But in some places it's only 10 metres wide. Although small in that sense the whole country of Kiribati with all its outer islands is huge! A stunning 5.000.000 square kilometers! Although the actual landmass is only 717 sq. km's.

Where old ladies sell bananas

I had to drive down for about an hour daily over this one road that connects these islands to get to 'my photoplace'. Cramped toghether in one of the many minibusses that race up and down the road booming with enourmously load local music. You get used to it. Street Life takes place in and around the houses that are dotted alongside the road. There's not a real place where people gather on the road, unless maybe this place where the old ladies sell their bananas and everybody stops for a small chat about what's happening on their remote island. For instance the latest tsunami that was supposed to hit, but never made it there.