East Rennell

Rennell is the world's largest raised coral atoll - an old reef hoisted whole above the ocean, its interior cliff-ringed like a fortress - and its eastern end holds Lake Tegano, the insular Pacific's largest lake, brackish, islet-studded and wrapped in UNESCO listing since 1998. The lake villages are Polynesian outliers in a Melanesian nation, hosting the rare visitor in family homes; endemic white-eyes and flying foxes work the forest, sea kraits thread the lake (the harmless-if-unbothered kind), and wartime Catalina wrecks rest in the shallows. Getting there is the adventure's admission price - small planes, rough tracks, boat legs - and the reward is a World Heritage site with visitor numbers in the dozens. It has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013, over logging pressure on the island.

History

About 800 people live in four villages around Lake Tegano as subsistence farmers and fishermen, drawing what they need from its forests and waters. A management plan drawn up with the islanders in 2007 recognises their right to keep their traditional ways of life, which are not thought to harm the site, and the IUCN has observed that customary ownership can favour conservation more than control by a distant government office. In 2013 the World Heritage Committee put East Rennell on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the threat of logging (Wikipedia, East Rennell).

What you'll find

• Lake Tegano - the vast brackish lake and its coral islets.
• The endemics - Rennell white-eyes and the lake's own sea kraits.
• The Polynesian villages - Tegano's outlier communities as hosts.
• The Catalina wrecks - wartime flying boats in the shallows.

When to go

May to November for flyable weather and drier tracks; flights are few, small and changeable - pad the itinerary both sides, and confirm the lake-village arrangements before committing.

Good to know

This is remote-travel truth: basic homestays, limited supplies (bring essentials and cash), transport that negotiates with weather, and custom fees at each layer - all of it the price of a place tourism forgot. Swim where hosts indicate; the kraits mind their business if you mind yours.

Nearby

Bellona island's cliffs and villages, and Honiara's flights.

Key facts