Tuvalu

New Funafuti Airport terminal

  • 26 January 2017
New Funafuti Airport terminal

Funafuti is getting a new airport terminal building, which looks like it will be a lot more modern and spacious than the existing one.  It is being built next to the existing building.

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Reclamation relocates hotel inland

  • 7 February 2016
Reclamation relocates hotel inland

Apparently the Vaiaku Lagi Hotel (the only hotel on Funafuti Atoll) has moved inland. It's not the building that's moved, but land reclamation has pushed the shoreline out.

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New Year storm

  • 3 February 2016
New Year storm

Just before New Year, a strong storm went through Funafuti.  It looks like gale force winds caused damage to trees, branches and buildings, and a storm surge caused sea water to flood roads and houses,...

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Bulldozer

  • 22 January 2016
Bulldozer

Up near the Funafuti port by the side of the road sits an old relic of a bulldozer, rusting away.

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Nivaga II & III

  • 15 January 2016
Nivaga II & III

Being a country with atolls and islands spread over a vast area of ocean, but only one atoll having an airport, Tuvalu relies heavily on sea transportation to travel between islands.  The government owned...

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Vasafua Islet vanishes

  • 4 July 2015
Vasafua Islet vanishes

The storm surge from Cyclone Pam caused significant damage in Tuvalu earlier this year.  I came across a story on the Japanese language website of Tuvalu Overview about Cyclone Pam causing the loss of Vasafua...

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Pick the World – Tuvalu

  • 19 April 2015
Pick the World – Tuvalu

I came across the Pick the World weekly blogging event, with Chouett asking other bloggers this week to post about Tuvalu, having been randomly selected from among the nations of the world.  

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End of the Borrow Pits

  • 14 April 2015
End of the Borrow Pits

The “borrow pits” were created during World War Two when the American military “borrowed” earth from several sites around Fongafale Island to construct the Funafuti Atoll runway.  These are now filled...

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Maneapa

  • 12 April 2015
Maneapa

Tuvalu doesn't have a dedicated parliament building.  Instead, the parliament sits in a "maneapa" building near the main government administration building, next to the airport terminal.

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Cyclone Pam meets Tuvalu

  • 15 March 2015
Cyclone Pam meets Tuvalu

It looks like storm surges from Cyclone Pam have done some significant damage in Tuvalu, including flooding, washing away infrastructure and crops, and displacing communities.  

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Funafuti Airport

  • 1 March 2015
Funafuti Airport

Tuvalu only has one airport, on Funafuti Atoll.  By international standards, Funafuti Airport is rather basic.  There's no fencing around the runway, the island fire truck runs up and down the runway...

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Vehicle scrapheap

  • 14 February 2015
Vehicle scrapheap

How to dispose of old vehicles must be a real problem in a tiny country with few resources and an even smaller amount of land.  I found piles of old cars stacked up in a narrow space between the road...

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Tuvalu postage stamps

  • 6 February 2015
Tuvalu postage stamps

Probably not many people have ever received a postcard from Tuvalu, but Tuvalu postage stamps are quite the collectible items if you're a philatelist. 

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The hospital

  • 14 January 2015
The hospital

This is the Princess Margaret Hospital, the medical facility in Funafuti. I found a recent first hand, and really well written report of a traveller's experience of getting sick and being treated at the hospital....

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The weather in Funafuti

  • 4 January 2015
The weather in Funafuti

Mention Tuvalu and the topic climate change and its effects on the weather immediately comes to mind.  You may be interested to see where local Funafuti weather observations come from.

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Tuvalu mangroves on Synthesis Report cover

  • 2 January 2015
Tuvalu mangroves on Synthesis Report cover

Happy New Year!  2014 happily brought unexpected success for one of the photos appearing on Tuvalu Odyssey, with its publication on front cover of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report.

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Tuvalu Odyssey photo on IPCC report front cover

  • 6 May 2014
Tuvalu Odyssey photo on IPCC report front cover

I'm really thrilled that a photo from Tuvalu Odyssey website has been selected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to appear on the front cover of the Working Group 2's Fifth Assessment...

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Escaped Jeepney in Funafuti

  • 2 February 2014
Escaped Jeepney in Funafuti

How did a Filipino jeepney end up plying the streets of Funafuti Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a long way from home?  This was the question I asked when I came across it, parked in the back...

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Making sand

  • 25 January 2014
Making sand

At only a few metres above sea level, Tuvalu faces threat from rising waters.  One of the projects aimed at finding a way to shore up Tuvalu's shoreline is a project to "grow" sand.  The sand is really...

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The 10,000 project

  • 18 January 2014
The 10,000 project

Tuvalu is tiny, both in land area and population.  Only 26km² of land (across 9 atolls/islands spread over a vast area of the Pacific Ocean) makes it the fourth tiniest nation in the world by area. Its population...

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Another Odyssey to Tuvalu

  • 12 January 2014
Another Odyssey to Tuvalu

One of the reasons I set up this site was to add to the few online photo galleries showing what Tuvalu looks like.  It’s a beautiful place, and needs to be protected.  But who else has been to Tuvalu,...

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Welcome to tuvalu-odyssey.net

  • 5 October 2013
Welcome to tuvalu-odyssey.net

Welcome to tuvalu-odyssey.net.  This site hosts the photographic travelogue of my journey to Tuvalu in April 2010.  It showcases over 300 photos around Funafuti Atoll.

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