Nauru
Buada Lagoon
On an island with no rivers, one green lake shimmers where Nauruans raised reef-caught milkfish.
Coconut palms lean over still green water, their reflections barely disturbed. Buada Lagoon fills a fertile hollow deep inside an island that has no rivers and no streams. Fish stir the shallows, dark shapes moving under the surface like slow punctuation.
Buada Lagoon is a slightly brackish lake of three to four hectares, ringed by marsh and gardens in a sunken basin about 1.3 kilometres inland from Nauru's coast. On a raised limestone island without a single river, it is the largest permanent water the country has. For generations Nauruans collected milkfish fry from the reef at low tide and released them here to fatten, a delicacy harvested eight or nine months on; introduced tilapia wrecked the practice, and successive projects have tried to bring it back. The wet soil around the water is planted with bananas, breadfruit, mango, papaya and pandanus between the houses of Buada District. Listen for the itsirir, Nauru's endemic reed warbler, in the trees where black and brown noddies also breed.
Solo
Come early, before wind finds the lagoon. The gardens, the birdlife and the sheer oddity of a lake on a riverless island make this the gentlest place on Nauru to sit and think.
Couple
The calmest corner of the island: palm shade, still water and the slow business of village gardens. An afternoon here disappears without either of you noticing.
Family
Flat, shaded and an easy drive from the coast, with fish to spot from the bank and a story children can hold onto: Nauruans once carried baby milkfish up from the reef to grow in this lake.
Friends
A natural regrouping stop after the plateau. Bring cold drinks, linger at the water's edge and argue about how a lake ended up in the middle of an island with no rivers.
- Nauruans collected milkfish fry from the reef at low tide and grew them in this lagoon, harvesting a delicacy after eight or nine months.
- A slightly brackish lake of three to four hectares, it is the largest permanent water on an island with no rivers or streams.
- A three-kilometre road climbs from Aiwo on the coastal ring to still water and palms, the green counterpoint to the mined plateau above.
- The itsirir, Nauru's endemic reed warbler, lives in the lagoon-side vegetation where black and brown noddies also breed.
No café rings the lagoon, so bring provisions and picnic beside rare fertile ground growing breadfruit, banana, mango and pandanus.
For a cooked meal, drive back down to the coast: The Bay at Anibare Bay serves curries and baked pizza.
Alte Rheinbrücke
Liechtenstein
A 135-metre timber tunnel over the Rhine; somewhere inside it, you change countries.
Buracona
Cape Verde
For two hours around midday, sunlight sets a submerged lava cave burning electric blue.
Puerto Deseado
Argentina
Tiny black-and-white dolphins spin through a flooded river canyon meeting the open sea.
