Maninita Island, Vava’u Group, Kingdom of Tonga
Today we awake with a sense of anticipation and apprehension that only a true expedition day can bring. Leaving our berth in Neiafu harbor early this morning, National Geographic Endeavour and her guests sail south, heading towards the most southern and remote islands of the Vava’u group, Maninita and Taula. No one onboard has ever landed on these islands before, but the draw is impossible to resist, especially for the birders among us.
These islands are important seabird and landbird nesting sites, with 19 different species of birds recorded on them over the years. Additionally Maninita and Taula are part of a very special program designed to eradicate the rats on the island. On islands across the world, rats severely endanger the population of ground nesting birds, by raiding their nests and eating their eggs. For the last 20 years, the New Zealand Department of Conservation has been a worldwide force in rat eradication, recording successful projects from the Sub-Antarctic Islands to the Tropics. Applying for assistance from NZAid in 2002, the owners of Maninita and Taula have carried out a rat eradication program, and to date it has been successful.
We land on Maninita in the morning, the calm azure lagoon a sharp contrast to the bright white breakers crashing on the outer reefs. But here we have truly found the calm in the storm, where a warm pacific breeze blows and the sun shines as we explore this seldom visited island. A white sandy beach occasionally broken by reef flats surrounds the island, and many of us take off to beach comb. Tall trees create a canopy over the inner island, but it is only canopy with no ground cover, something we find as we break through the shrubbery and enter into a branch strewn bubble, where almost everything open in the middle, we have only to avoid the tree trunks that reach for the sky.
Flitting through the branches is where we see one of the many bird species we encounter during the day, the White Tern (also known as the fairy tern). The White Tern, Gygis alba, is a beautiful small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. This tern is famous for laying its egg on bare thin branches in a small fork or depression without a nest. This balancing act is a predator-avoidance behavior, but still does not completely protect them from marauding cats, lizards, and rats. Safe from predators, but still vulnerable from strong winds, the White Terns are also quick to relay should they lose the egg. The newly hatched chicks have well developed feet to hang on to their precarious nesting site with. It is a long-lived bird, having a recorded surviving age of 17 years. The White Tern is not considered threatened as it is a wide-spread species with several large colonies around the world.
The day continues to stretch on, and we all revert back to childhood days on the beach, splashing and laughing at the water’s edge, taking longer snorkel runs out to investigate what lies at the reef edge, and gleefully collapsing onto our towels, warmed by the sun. This is what the South Pacific is all about.
Today we awake with a sense of anticipation and apprehension that only a true expedition day can bring. Leaving our berth in Neiafu harbor early this morning, National Geographic Endeavour and her guests sail south, heading towards the most southern and remote islands of the Vava’u group, Maninita and Taula. No one onboard has ever landed on these islands before, but the draw is impossible to resist, especially for the birders among us.
These islands are important seabird and landbird nesting sites, with 19 different species of birds recorded on them over the years. Additionally Maninita and Taula are part of a very special program designed to eradicate the rats on the island. On islands across the world, rats severely endanger the population of ground nesting birds, by raiding their nests and eating their eggs. For the last 20 years, the New Zealand Department of Conservation has been a worldwide force in rat eradication, recording successful projects from the Sub-Antarctic Islands to the Tropics. Applying for assistance from NZAid in 2002, the owners of Maninita and Taula have carried out a rat eradication program, and to date it has been successful.
We land on Maninita in the morning, the calm azure lagoon a sharp contrast to the bright white breakers crashing on the outer reefs. But here we have truly found the calm in the storm, where a warm pacific breeze blows and the sun shines as we explore this seldom visited island. A white sandy beach occasionally broken by reef flats surrounds the island, and many of us take off to beach comb. Tall trees create a canopy over the inner island, but it is only canopy with no ground cover, something we find as we break through the shrubbery and enter into a branch strewn bubble, where almost everything open in the middle, we have only to avoid the tree trunks that reach for the sky.
Flitting through the branches is where we see one of the many bird species we encounter during the day, the White Tern (also known as the fairy tern). The White Tern, Gygis alba, is a beautiful small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. This tern is famous for laying its egg on bare thin branches in a small fork or depression without a nest. This balancing act is a predator-avoidance behavior, but still does not completely protect them from marauding cats, lizards, and rats. Safe from predators, but still vulnerable from strong winds, the White Terns are also quick to relay should they lose the egg. The newly hatched chicks have well developed feet to hang on to their precarious nesting site with. It is a long-lived bird, having a recorded surviving age of 17 years. The White Tern is not considered threatened as it is a wide-spread species with several large colonies around the world.
The day continues to stretch on, and we all revert back to childhood days on the beach, splashing and laughing at the water’s edge, taking longer snorkel runs out to investigate what lies at the reef edge, and gleefully collapsing onto our towels, warmed by the sun. This is what the South Pacific is all about.
