Banaba Island

Banaba lies far west of the Gilberts, a raised limestone island rather than an atoll, and it was mined for phosphate from 1900 until 1979 on a scale that stripped most of the surface to bare pinnacles of rock. Its people were resettled to Rabi in Fiji in 1945 and only a few hundred live there now. The mined ground, the ruined works and the pinnacles are what remains.

Background

Banaba, once called Ocean Island, is a lone raised coral island and the westernmost point of Kiribati, 185 miles east of Nauru, its nearest neighbour. It covers 6.29 square kilometres, and its highest point, at 81 metres, is also the highest in Kiribati. In the local language the name is spelled Bwanaba, and it means hollow land. People settled the island over 2,000 years ago, arriving in at least three waves. Captain John Mertho of the ship Ocean sighted it in 1804 and named it after his vessel. Phosphate mining between 1900 and 1979 removed 90 per cent of its surface. In 2020 it had 330 residents.

Source: Wikipedia, "Banaba"

What's there

• The mined surface - bare limestone pinnacles left where the soil was taken.
• The ruined works - the remains of the phosphate operation.
• The raised island - limestone lifted clear of the sea rather than an atoll.
• The small population - a few hundred people on a largely emptied island.

When to go

April to October is the calmer season. Ships call very rarely and unpredictably. Permission is required.

Good to know

Access is by very irregular ship and requires permission; almost nobody goes. There is essentially no infrastructure. The island's history is a difficult one and visitors should approach it with that in mind.

Nearby

Nauru is west, and Tarawa is east.

Key facts