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Topside
Nauru and surrounding
Unusual places
Unusual places

A long time ago, the central plateau of the Nauru Island or Topside, looked like a small tropical paradise, densely covered with forest and shrubs. It was nice to rest there and enjoy the beauty of nature.

But after the scientists found the large deposits of phosphates under a thin layer of soil, the landscape has changed a lot. In just a couple of decades, not a trace of the rainforest was left. A completely unearthly landscape appeared on the place of the bright green: the white rocks, the little towers of petrified corals of the most bizarre shapes and different sizes, the ugly pits and deep quarries.

But surprisingly, exactly this view attracts a large number of tourists to Nauru Island. The industry demolished the nature and did damage to the environment, changed the culture and traditions of residents, but began to attract people who wanted to see the effects of the phosphate mining with their own eyes.

To get to the plateau, it is better to use a taxi service. Firstly, the way from the central regions is rather long, and secondly, local drivers know the roads very well and take you to the most interesting places, avoiding dangerous parts.

Though the "lunar" landscape of the plateau is very popular among guests, the island authorities want to reduce the production of phosphates in the nearest future, because this industry has a significant impact on the environment. In the place of the lost tropical paradise, they plan to recreate the original park, plant trees, and make a recreation place. Almost all the locals are looking forward to this moment. How many years it takes to restore balance and the ecosystem is still unclear. That is why the tourists continue to come to the plateau to see how a man can turn a magnificent forest to a lifeless desert with unusual “sculptures” over several decades.

Address: Command Ridge

Published by

Uliana Vedenina

All content and media files are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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