Butaritari

Butaritari is the green one. Rain falls on it far more heavily than on the dry southern Gilberts, the soil is rich, and breadfruit, pandanus and coconut grow into something close to forest, which no other island in Kiribati manages. The men of Kuma village practise binekua, the calling of porpoises in from the open sea, a tradition held nowhere else. The atoll was fought over twice in the Pacific war, first in the Makin raid and then in the landings, and the remains are still in the undergrowth. Butaritari lies at the northern end of the Gilberts and is served by air from Tarawa, and the lagoon on its inner shore is broad and calm.