If you’ve been out here in Kiribati a while and spend some time with the local expats/i-Matung, one peculiarities you will soon notice is that one of the main topics of conversation is…food!   That’s right, one of the main things we talk about is food, or more importantly what is available, where and for how much. Almost all the food here is imported. There is next to no land to grow anything on and even if there were the soils are coral sand, great for coconut palms but bugger all use for much else. The Taiwanese government has a small agricultural ttraining centre where they do grow/produce amazing variety of things and are teaching the locals how to grow more varieties of vegetables but this process has been extremely labour intensive- even getting the sand to a reasonable quality of soil using seaweed and other compostable materials was a major mission. And even though they are producing more varieties of vegetables- which are donated to local schools/charities- there are...

The Nippon Causeway is the main link between the heavily populated island of Betio (site of the Battle of Tarawa) and the other atolls in South Tarawa. It was built by the Japanese government in the late 1980s and prior to that boat was the only link between the main communities of Bairiki and Betio. The causeway is the only road linking Betio to the rest of South Tarawa and was badly damaged a combination of spring tides, strong winds and heavy rain following Cyclone Pam in March 2015. The causeway is not without controversy, some 3-4 kms long it is a vital connection for Tarawa but it only has one bridge. Traditionally each tide would have flushed the lagoon and this low lying gap between the atolls was one of the main points that the water flowed into and out of the lagoon with each tide but now the causeway blocks this from happening. The lagoon on South Tarawa is no longer flushed clean every day and so has become quite heavily polluted and is not safe to swim, at least for...

Another week in paradise and I must say it’s been quite a good one. I biked to work three days this week and really enjoy biking early in the morning before it gets too hot and observing the local i-Kiribati people going about their morning routines as they start their day. There isn’t too much traffic about and it is a nice way to begin the day. I quite like the ride home too and by the time I get there I feel like I’ve had some exercise which is good. The only issue really is the causeway is still being upgraded and biking across the hardpacked coral sand is a bit of a pain. On Friday afternoon we had a brief shower and so the surface was full of puddles and quite slippery. I was covered in fine, white coral mud by the time I crossed but it was about 10 minutes faster to bike across than take a car or minibus as they had to wait in several areas where it is one lane and then weave backwards and forwards across the road dodging the larger puddles of water and slushy mud.  T...