Funafuti

Funafuti is an atoll of at least 29 islets strung round a lagoon, and nearly all its 6,600 people live on one of them, Fongafale. That is around six in ten of everyone in Tuvalu. Vaiaku, the seat of government, sits beside the airstrip, which American forces laid in 1943 after moving islanders off to the smaller islets. About half of Fongafale is swamp that was filled in.

When no plane is due, the runway becomes the town’s common ground, used for games and gatherings. A fire engine sounds its siren to clear it before a landing. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles and boats can all be hired, though the island is small enough to walk. Rain is heavy all year, above 3,000 mm in most years, and May to October is the drier half, outside the cyclone months.

• The runway Watch the siren clear it for the Suva flight, then see it fill again with games by late afternoon.
• Funafuti Conservation Area Thirty-three square kilometres of reef, lagoon and islets on the western side of the atoll, open for snorkelling and picnics.
• The Royal Society borings The Royal Society drilled into the atoll in 1896, 1897 and 1898 to test Darwin’s theory of how coral islands form.