Approaching Tarawa Atoll from the air, you realize how narrow a strip of land it is. There is nowhere you cannot hear the breaking of the Pacific on the coral. The highest point is a few meters above sea level, the water table is fragile and polluted.
50,000 people live on this atoll.
Until the late 1980s the population was around 20,00, but a wealthy cashed up Japan poured aid money into Tarawa, building hospitals, roads and schools. The result was the population doubled in just five years, as people moved from other atolls to reap the benefits on Tarawa.
There is no room to support the large population. Betio, at the furthest end, has the highest density of single level dwellings in the world. People have squatted on every available piece of land, living packed side by side. The nine hole gold course at the Lagoon Club is now a mass of hastily erected houses, little more than thatched roofs with matting sides.
Land space isn't the only problem. The increased population drained the natural resources. The water table dropped so low that polluted lagoon water seeped in. Now Tarawa has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, due to polluted drinking water.
Sanitation is similarly problematic. Most of the population bathe, urinate, defecate and fish in the lagoon. It now has one of the highest e-coli ratios in the world. The Japanese built a causeway across the main entrance, and now the tidal flow no longer drains the lagoon. Trapped water remains for months, containing the pollution.
If the drinking water doesn't get you, then the fish from the lagoon does.
But the lagoon is multiple shades of brilliant turquoise, so colourful that you cant quite believe it. The ocean is deep blue, the sand is snow white, and the plants are vivid shades of green. On top of all that the air here is absolutely clean. There isn’t anther land mass for hundreds of miles, and even then it’s pretty small. There is no air pollution, and it shows up clearly in the stunning colours in the photographs.
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