Tonga
Kao Island
A lone volcanic cone rises 1,009 metres straight from the ocean, Tonga's highest point, entirely uninhabited.
Kao appears first as a silhouette, a near-symmetrical cone growing taller with every sea mile. Its slopes rise at better than thirty-five degrees nearly the whole way round, dense jungle giving way to bare upper rock, and no one lives on any of it.
Kao is a basaltic andesite stratovolcano about six kilometres north of Tofua, its 1,009-metre summit the Kingdom of Tonga's highest ground. Apart from one small flat area on the south-west coast, the island climbs at angles exceeding thirty-five degrees to a crown of small coalescing craters, densely jungled below and almost bare of vegetation above. The only report of an eruption came in 1847, when a missionary on a ship anchored at Tofua watched smoke pouring from Kao. There is no settlement and no maintained trail: getting ashore takes a chartered boat, the climb of about three hours is entirely self-sufficient, and everything you eat, drink and shelter under arrives with you.
Solo
This is an expedition to plan rather than a walk to join: charter, provisions and the self-service climb all sit with you, and so does the summit.
Friends
A group of up to four fits one charter; share the loads on the three-hour ascent and the long boat ride back through Ha'apai.
- Kao's summit stands at 1,009 metres, Tonga's highest point.
- Except for one small coastal flat, the island rises at angles exceeding thirty-five degrees, dense jungle below and nearly bare upper slopes.
- The last report of activity is from 1847, when a missionary anchored at Tofua saw smoke pouring from Kao.
- Climbing Kao is a steep, entirely self-sufficient scramble of about three hours; everything you need lands on the beach with you.
Kao has no inhabitants and no kitchen: each meal was carried ashore and cooked above the tide line.
Fish you take yourself, by spear or line, makes the other meal, ocean to fire pit above the tide line.
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