T32TT Kiritimati Island. From DXNews.com

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Wildlife Sanctuary – Kiritimati Island

Do you know who is the first person on our planet to celebrate the New Year? It’s just over 5,000 people living on the unique coral Christmas Island, another name for it is Kiritimati.

Geographical features of Kiritimati

Christmas Island is located in the center of the Pacific Ocean and is one of the eleven islands of the Line Archipelago.

Kiritimati’s closest neighbors are Tokelau Islands (New Zealand) and the island-state of Samoa on the southwest side, the Cook Islands (New Zealand) on the southeast side, and the Hawaiian Islands (USA) on the north side.

Kiritimati is the largest coral atoll in the world with an area of incomplete 400 km². The island is 70 km long and 36 km wide. This atoll rises 13 meters above the level of the world ocean.

The navigator James Cook discovered the island on Christmas Eve 1777, giving it the name “Christmas Island”.

Kiritimati is located in the equatorial belt, which is the reason for its dry and warm climate. Temperatures are between 24-30ºC. The rainiest months are March and April, while the hottest and driest months are October and November.

Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. Author – Calvin Smith.

What is remarkable about the nature of Christmas Island?

Kiritimati is one of the most extraordinary and unique atolls in the Pacific Ocean. It has the appearance of a flat island with a dozen internal lagoons, the total area of which is almost 160 km². It is impossible to swim in most of these lagoons, although there are some very picturesque beaches.

Kiritimati is a wildlife sanctuary and has 5 closed protected areas. One zone is a bird sanctuary, the rest are plant sanctuaries.

The total number of birds living on this island is almost 6 million. Of the 37 species of seabirds spotted here, 20 species nest permanently. The status of “bird kingdom” the island officially received in 1960, becoming a bird sanctuary. And in 1975 5 more islets, declared closed territories, such as the North-West Cape, where terns nest, were added to this reserve.

The fauna of the island of Kiritimati is not characterized by great diversity. The only trees here are the forest dweller Pisonia, which grows up to 10 meters in height, and the coconut palm. All other plants are a variety of shrubs. Many representatives of flora were brought to this island in the last century, they took root perfectly and feel well among the local “natives”.

Among the mammals we can name only the small rat and pigs and cats introduced by man, which have become a threat to the representatives of the feathered world living here.

Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. Author – Mingxhi Yang.

Kiritimati Tourist

Tourists come to this lovely island mainly for fishing, in fact, this is the main direction of tourism development here.

Captain Cook Hotel even has a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records that the world’s largest fish weighing 39 kilograms was caught here. And you should not compare this fish with giant Yakutian taimen, as there is its own system of records.

As for hotels, in addition to the Captain Cook Hotel, there are several hotels near the airport, many small guesthouses in the inner lagoons, and numerous guesthouses for fishermen.

Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. Author – Michael Schrimpf.

How to get to Kiritimati Island

You can get to the island by flying to Kiritimati International Airport. Further around the island you can move by cab.

You should take into account that flights from Honolulu and from Fiji fly on the same day, and only once a week. Therefore, you will have to rest on Kiritimati for at least a week.

T32TT. Where is Kiritimati Island located. Map.