Tuvalu - Will this country soon be gone?

This isn’t a joke, nor is it sensationalism. Tuvalu is slipping, inch by inch, into the ocean - and you don’t need a biologist’s eye to see it happening. A walk along the shore tells the story loud and clear: palm trees soaked in saltwater, trunks standing in silent defeat, caught somewhere between “dead,” “dying,” and “death is watching you.”

May 22 - Arrival in Tuvalu

The journey wasn’t simple: From from Tonga to Fiji, then Tuvalu. Flights to and from Tuvalu are rare, operating only on Tuesdays and Thursdays - strictly from Suva, Fiji. That meant choosing between a nearly week-long stay or a short, strategic visit. I opted for Tuesday to Thursday.

From the air, Tuvalu is a narrow ribbon of land barely holding its ground against the sea.

In Fiji airport at the customs, I was heavily asked by the immigration security officer, due to my stop and goes in and out of Fiji the last few weeks and about my itinerary in general. They asked everything about my trip from where to where and what I have done. She wanted to see all my visa and even asked how expensive it was but denied to answer that question. After 15 minutes of probing, I was finally waved through, just in time to board my flight.

To my surprise, the plane departed exactly on schedule - remarkable for island-time! The smooth flight landed in Tuvalu’s tiny airport, where immigration was a single counter, manned by a lone officer.

After six years I finally have the chance to visit here....

I first heard about Tuvalu six years ago in a news report about rising sea levels, water creeping into the streets of Funafuti. 

Then there was a documentary in cinema: ThuleTuvalu. A film connecting Thule, an Arctic region losing ice, with Tuvalu, drowning under its meltwater.

Back then, I traveled an hour just to watch it - alone in an empty cinema. And now, years later, I finally set foot in Tuvalu, only to see the destruction unfolding before my own eyes.

Saltwater is swallowing the island, tree roots rotting beneath the weight of the ocean. It's real and visible.

So this is Tuvalu and its layout:

With only a couple of days in Tuvalu, I pre-booked accommodation at L’s Lodge - a cozy stay with much-needed air-conditioning.

Wi-Fi exists here but - unsurprisingly - is expensive. The monopoly? Tuvaluan Telecom.

A first walk through the streets. Life in Tuvalu moves slowly, effortlessly. Families relax outside, embracing the gentle pace of island life.

The first day dinner I had at the Chinese restaurant. And when I say THE Chinese restaurant then I mean the Chinese restaurant, as there are only about three restaurants in total anyway and this was the only proper and fair priced restaurant that was open. They had good pork-rice.

May 23 - Riding a Motorbike, Like a True Tuvaluan

So many motorbikes here. Feels like every Tuvaluan has a motorbike. The narrow streets are cramped and flooded in rush hour with big wide people on motorbikes, sometimes even with two or more persons on a small motorbike, a fascinating sight.

When I started to ride the motorbike I asked some pedestrian which way I best should ride to visit something of Tuvalu. They chuckled:

Friend, welcome to Tuvalu. There’s only one road. This way? It ends at a big palm tree. The other way? The dumpsite.

The whole island of Tuvalu and its capital Funafuti is a long slope of an atoll and there is one long main road from north to south which can be driven with about 15 minutes by motorbike drive.

Basically, that's it, no further "long-distance" roads. The slim stretch of land is surrounded with very high sea level and at some points its visible to see both sides of the water, the lagoon side, and the ocean side.


The water is very high all along the whole country.

The south of Tuvalu

At the south of the Funafuti is ... nothing. Just some bush and then the shore. The water is almost at the same level as the street and there about 1 meter left. When the water rises, there is no way to go. You can climb like Chuck Norris, but you won't be Chuck Norris enough to escape the rising sea level in Tuvalu.

Unfortunately, the US resigned from the Paris Agreement and therefore don't contribute any further to stop climate change, together with other countries. Of course, they don't admit that. Did they maybe the best they could do and sent this blue bucket to Tuvalu as help, to get rid of the water?

The north of Tuvalu

At the north of Funafuti is the Tuvaluan dumpsite and as I found out being a waste manager to coordinate and organize dumpsites in Tuvalu is a very high paid job. Totally understand that this is a huge challenge!

A lot of waste as in many other Pacific countries. Almost anything can be found.

The airport "air-super-field"

And then there is the airfield, which is for multiusage purpose. Not much used by planes with two flights per week. Tuvalu’s airport runway isn’t just for planes - it’s for everyone.

During the day it is used as a small highway to travel from north to south of Tuvalu, or as a huge roundabout to bring food to the pig farms on the right side of the field.

Evening: The ultimate sports ground, for everyone, even Tuvalu’s national soccer team practicing there.

But for Tuvaluans its the event area and the holy piece of land. But that makes sense as it is the only big open area in Tuvalu and therefore it is used for playing volleyball, rugby, athletics. 

Among them also the police for improving their fitness level and playing football.

So yes the airfield is the main communal area for all Tuvaluans and every day around 4pm it starts becoming really busy, like a huge event, people from all over Tuvalu gather every evening and play sports there on the landing slope.

On the other side of the airfield and at the shore to the ocean, all pigs from the whole island are kept. Farmer goes there every morning and afternoon to feed them. They are all under shelter and have a fantastic view of the blue ocean with fresh wind. Pigs live couldn’t be better.

May 24 - Go to the airport and then to Country Samoa

The day started very early as right in front of the hotel a 15-headed construction team showed up to build a small piece of a 10-meter concrete road. Probably its necessary to have special skills or methods to build streets in Tuvalu, as on every full moon the water from below the earth is rising to the surface and floods huge areas of streets, including sometimes the airport.

It takes about three days to build a 10-meter piece of road (blue).

Bye Tuvalu

After breakfast, I packed the underwater camera and went to the shore where the Tuvalu-Ship was anchored. Wasn't able to go diving here in Tuvalu, but at least I wanted to make usage of the camera that I brought all the way from home.

These were the last hours in Tuvalu, a country which I never ever will visit again.

Not because I didn't like it, (I absolutely liked my stay in Tuvalu), but because this country is so very difficult to reach. And in addition, maybe in already a few years this country will be evacuated even more intensively anyway, as a living here on a vanishing country gets more and more difficult.

Continuing to Samoa now.